{"id":295,"date":"2015-08-29T09:27:45","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T13:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.themesnoir.com\/borderland520\/?p=295"},"modified":"2018-02-11T15:56:54","modified_gmt":"2018-02-11T20:56:54","slug":"of-history-and-the-brand-consultants-of-today-part-2-of-2-the-ideal-brand-consultant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/29\/of-history-and-the-brand-consultants-of-today-part-2-of-2-the-ideal-brand-consultant\/","title":{"rendered":"Of History, and the Brand Consultants of Today part 2 of 2: the ideal Brand Consultant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"reader-article-content\">\n<p>Hello again. A couple of weeks ago, in Part 1, I recounted the history of Corporate Branding, saying that it was relevant because today\u2019s brand professionals are the result of a evo\/revolution that started about three decades ago. Here in Part 2, I\u2019ll complete the thoughts: who &#8216;does Branding today&#8217;, and who should be doing it?<\/p>\n<p>It is very different from the past. Before the data-driven branding revolution, (corporate) branding people were a fairly homogeneous bunch \u2013 following a few masters who had a brilliant right brain co-existing with a solid left brain (which however didn\u2019t need to be brought to bear that much), an uncommon intelligence, a combination of charisma and professional expertise &amp; experience, a gift for getting Complex become Simple (not simplistic), an intimate, complete, genuine, non-arrogant, unshakable conviction in what they said (these people often walked in a final client presentation with a single recommendation, not \u2018an option range\u2019), the capacity to take clients on a dreamy journey, and an enviable ability to present &amp; sell the solution &#8212; \u2018<em>nail jelly to the wall\u2019<\/em>, as the saying goes (which is actually much worse than that, considering that in our profession the nail and the hammer too, and sometimes the wall itself, have the consistency of jelly). We were all in awe of these individuals, and spent our days learning from and trying to emulate them.<\/p>\n<p>As Branding and Brand and the world in which they live have become far more complex, today there are a few different types of brand professionals. No one is \u2018better\u2019 than the other, and all of them are worthy and necessary in a brand consulting firm \u2013 just different minds for different purposes. In this post, please read qualifiers such as \u2018by and large\u2019, most often\u2019, etc. in between the lines as by necessity I\u2019ll generalize.<\/p>\n<p>Our industry today is composed of two kinds: those who <strong>talk<\/strong> about Branding and those who <strong>do<\/strong> the Branding work (and yes, in some infrequent cases the two can be the same person). I call the Talker a Brand Consultant, and the Doer a Brand Strategist (or, in industry parlance, \u2018a client guy\/gal\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>Within the <strong>Talkers<\/strong>, almost all left-brained, there\u2019s two types \u2013 depending upon the connection they make between Business and Brand:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <em>Business Talker<\/em>, business managers (from Business or Management Consulting and the like) who have a superficial understanding of \u2018brand\u2019 per se but figured a way to make or sell that connection; great people, and smart enough to do the promoting and the advocating while staying away from actually touching the work; in addition, they usually run the business of the firm, and rightly so; and<\/li>\n<li>the <em>Professional Talker<\/em>, either evolved Corporate Identity or allied fields individuals (advertising, PR, Marketing Communications) or professionals and academics from relevant fields (Behavioral Sciences, Analytics, Consumer Behavior, Organizational Behavior, Psychology, etc.) who actually understand that connection; great people, client-trusted, very articulate, with relevantly valuable perspectives, many of them innovative thinkers with intriguing insights. But some of them at times exhibit the annoying penchant to believe that their Common Sense Thinking (in the form of well-delivered Platitudes) is Genius Expert Insight; clients, the press, and industry outsiders are generally impressed, while Doers just roll their eyes and think \u201c<em>yeah, tell me something I don\u2019t already know\u201d<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Their genuine passion for Branding and Brands ranges from a bit to a lot, and their convictions tend to be dictated\/suggested\/supported\/denied by data and facts and documented trends. And as to the Platitudinal ones, they are unable to state anything that they can\u2019t support with data, and change their opinions too easily upon clients\u2019 pushback.<\/p>\n<p>Within the <strong>Doers<\/strong> (whether in Strategy, Verbal ID, or Visual ID), almost all right-brained, there\u2019s two types \u2013 depending upon how they balance the Creative vs the Meaning part of their work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <em>Creative Doer<\/em>, who does imaginative things because they are \u2026 greatly imaginative (then their experienced boss slices&amp;dices their work to render it appropriate); purebreds, great people, if they accept to be guided \u2013 as often their work lacks business appropriateness; and<\/li>\n<li>the <em>Thinking Doer<\/em>, who does imaginative things within the confines of what\u2019s strategically needed; rare breed, unique people, and the ones who come up with the essence of the genius solution \u2013 but at times with the stubbornly annoying penchant to feel they are the sole Repository of Brilliance that mere mortals just don\u2019t get.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both have true and genuine passion for Branding and Brands, and their intimate convictions need to be \u2018sold\u2019 as they are not necessarily stem from data and may or may not be fully supported\/denied by it.<\/p>\n<p>My examination below relates to the <em>Professional Talker<\/em> and the <em>Thinking Doer<\/em>, leaving out the other two which are most certainly needed in a firm but not as it relates to this post\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n<p>Both are indispensable today: without the knowledgeable presence and influence of the left-brained Talkers, who can strategically speak the clients\u2019 language and enter into a relationship of business-based trust, most Doers would be unemployed. And without the brilliantly insightful work of the right-brained Doers, most Talkers would be unable to proofpoint what they say every day. Generally speaking, the two types are not fond of each other: the left-brained Talkers tend to feel that they know stuff, are \u2018it\u2019, paint their thing as The Answer, and that what the Doers do is not that difficult after all; and the right-brained Doers tend to think that they do all the work and that all the Talkers do is \u2026 talk, failing to realize that the Talkers may very well be the reason of their very own existence. I love and highly respect both kinds, and I\u2019d just say \u2026 live happily together and respect one another, as one wouldn\u2019t have a paycheck without the other.<\/p>\n<p>The differences between left- and right-brained brand professionals should be far more recognized than they are &#8211; across the continuum, from business development to the extended client relationship. Talkers do it based on <em>Facts Interpreted<\/em>, while Doers do it based on <em>Dreams Explained<\/em>. Which perspective is the given prospect more inclined to listen to and connect with, according to who s\/he is and thinks? In my opinion, characterial mismatch is one of the biggest reasons for a sales pitch won or lost: some prospects will listen to a Doer and wouldn\u2019t give the time of day to a Talker, or vice versa. There are clients who demand and listen to Numbers, and clients who demand and listen to Ideas \u2013 and consulting firms generally pay little attention to the difference nor put a lot of time into finding out who the interlocutor is (beyond title and education &amp; career history), most often letting the lead person be the most senior one they have or whomever is most available within their executive team. And the separation of (brand)church and (brand)state is apparent in and is proven by the vast majority of the proposed Client Team: a Director of Research &amp; Analytics and a Director of Strategy in tight collaboration, plus a Director of Verbal Identity and a Creative Director in as tight a collaboration \u2013 accompanied by the promise that they constitute a fully \u2018integrated\u2019 team; clients see that all the disciplines are covered by dedicated specialists and don\u2019t give a second thought to it.<\/p>\n<p>Within this context, the work\u2019s outcome gets its primary colors from either the senior executive in charge of the project and of the Project Team (with whichever background s\/he has \u2013 today, typically left-brained), or by the collective mind of the strategy+creative team, or by the Verbal Identity professional who takes the data from the left-brains and puts it in inspiring words. If it\u2019s the senior executive, this person will be the decision-maker, and so it very often becomes rank-down opinion; if it\u2019s the team\u2019s collective mind, as everyone will need to agree, there\u2019s always a degree of compromise &#8211; maybe an intelligent and sensible one, but still a compromise; and if it\u2019s the Verbal Identity professional, which is happening more and more in the past few years, it\u2019s \u2026 hit and miss: conceptually it\u2019s a fair idea &#8211; give the facts and the direction it suggests to people who can dreamily verbalize it \u2013 and I have a great deal of respect for them, but only a handful of them are Thinking Doers (Paola, Jason, Jonathan, Ed, that\u2019s you), many are only creative writers, none of them is really a strategy expert, and all too often teams as well as clients fall in love with the inspired verbalizations and gloss over their strategic appropriateness and\/or implications. And overall, the work\u2019s key recommendations are (a limited number of) options \u2013 a \u2018range\u2019 typically. While it\u2019s a logical approach (I myself had created a good and repeatable framework) that facilitates development, let\u2019s recognize that it\u2019s a convenient way for us not to stick our necks too far out and read the meeting room for cues about what the client would buy. We are so good at it: we present and rationalize options, present pros and cons, and then shepherd the intelligent discussions that follows, wherever they may lead, to a final decision. And, thankfully, oh so rarely we hear a client say: \u201c<em>thank you, very well examined; before I give you my opinion, and given that I pay you a lot of money, can you tell me which option is the best for me?\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The interaction of left and right brains within a brand consulting firm, while it\u2019s currently being managed, needs to be optimized &#8211; as while they can and do collaborate they can\u2019t truly and intimately communicate. As the respected science writer Cal Zimmer states, <em>\u201cThe pop psychology notion of a left brain and a right brain doesn\u2019t capture their intimate working relationship. Today, neuroscientists know that the two sides of the brain collaborate to perform a broad variety of tasks and that the two hemispheres communicate through the Corpus Callosum &#8211; a wide, flat bundle of neural fibers that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p>If that\u2019s true, then the ideal Brand Professional would be either \u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; a person whose left and right brains work seamlessly, simultaneously, and at equal capacity; I do not believe this person can exist (sorry WhitneyV, I just don\u2019t \u2013 and I\u2019ve never met such a person); or<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; a <em>Corpus Callosum<\/em>-ed professional animal that sits at the table between the left and right brains &#8211; \u201c<em>a great synthesizer<\/em>\u201d as Eric Wedemeyer has smartly commented on part 1 of this post: a person who understands facts as well as ideas, balancing and melding the two or choosing one vs the other according to the challenge and the type of client at hand; these persons do exist, but they are not given a formally-stated middle-of-the-table seat; or<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; a real partnership between the two professionals heading their respective Leftbrain and Rightbrain teams, which hinges of course on each party\u2019s full understanding and appreciation of the other\u2019s world. But as that is not usually the case, these people end up agreeing (that is, as I said, compromise). Such true partnership is not easy to achieve, and in my career I\u2019ve seen it so very rarely (and I myself didn\u2019t find it possible more often than I\u2019d like to admit). And even when this magical union occurs, often it collapses not because of the parties\u2019 egos, as one might suspect, but under the weight of assuming final responsibility for the project\u2019s success or failure.<\/p>\n<p>As I see it, the Ideal Brand Professional &#8211; the Holy Grail of the brand consulting industry \u2013 should be a <em>Corpus Callosum<\/em> &#8211; a person \u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>respectful of data but not driven, governed, or impeded by it<\/li>\n<li>respectful of and able to recognize the value of an idea, or of its kernel<\/li>\n<li>able to sit in the middle of, and being respected by, a Director of Research &amp; Analytics, a Director of Strategy, a Director of Verbal Identity, and a Creative Director<\/li>\n<li>because of the three points above, and with the power of his\/her officially stated function, able to optimally bridge the facts and the dreams<\/li>\n<li>able to think holistically, without being shackled down by details<\/li>\n<li>with a feel for human\/consumer behavior and an understanding of how that can be molded, or as Edward Saenz in his response to Part 1 said <em>\u201cnon-linear thinkers \u2026 observers of human behavior (who) consciously and unconsciously assimilate what drives people to do what they do.<\/em>\u201d<\/li>\n<li>with a creative and flexible mind<\/li>\n<li>with an intimate appreciation of the function of Branding<\/li>\n<li>with a full understanding of the factual workings of the <span class=\"underline\">implemented<\/span> brand (that is, not just \u2018the brand\u2019 as shown in an executive recommendation PPT deck)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>and all of this \u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>contextualized, on any given day, within the characteristics and dynamics of the given client\u2019s business, company, industry, and decision-maker in the room.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Experience and Seniority? Important, but not critically so if it\u2019s not there yet: let this person run the show, with a senior executive working behind him\/her guiding and adjusting as needed.<\/p>\n<p>These individuals exists, I\u2019ve met some and recognized quite a promising few in my career. But growing them and getting them to perform would require a significant evolution of how they are identified and trained, of how the work is carried out, and of whom ultimately controls it.<\/p>\n<p>My suggestion? The creation of CCCOs (Chief Corpus Callosum Officers) <em>(naming experts, please help me come up with a better title)<\/em> \u2013 who will then also have the function to grow that breed over time. THAT should be the next first-step evolution in how the work is done within our offices: the hiring process will be more focused, teams will work more harmoniously, the development process will improve, the solutions will be richer, and the resulting firm-wide mindset will be the basis for our profession in the future. <em>(hmmm, \u201cThe Future of our Profession\u201d \u2013 good subject for another post.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Jeff \u2013 should we merge our two posts into the definitive <strong>Ideal Brand Professional<\/strong> description? We can then license it to every consulting firm and every recruiter at, say, $50 a pop \u2013 and finally spend our days playing golf, skiing, hiking, and writing. (oh wait, forgot, you\u2019re already doing all that).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,18,20],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quernels","tag-relaxing","tag-spa","tag-sunset"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51092,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions\/51092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandlink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}