Jo from Juice Graphics has put together some brochures explaining what it is we do. She chose some great models and this is what she said:

‘I have chosen people who reflect individuality, honesty, integrity, confidence, chutzpah, fun…kids.
These are the traits I understand you wish to unleash in the people who do your workshops and courses. The idea…it’s ok to be YOU!’

During our workshops we ask participants to think back to when they were kids – what were their dreams when they were 5? What did they want to be when they grew up? What limitations have they put on themselves since becoming an adult? So using kids as our models is a great fit for REDgum Communications and we think Jo did a fantastic job – let us know what you think!

Download brochure 1

Download brochure 2

We have just sent out the ‘call to action’ reminders to the NAB Ignite Stream 14 participants one month after their ‘professional image and presence’ 2 day workshop.

At the completion of the workshop last month they were invited to commit to implementing their learnings in the form of ‘Stop, Keep and Starts’ – what will I stop doing, keep doing or start doing to optimise my personal brand – how others experience me.

As Aristotle said: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

We look forward to Stream 15 in November!

James Freemantle has been spending the last few Monday evenings at Brave Studios coaching the September graduates – check out our facebook page (click on the facebook logo at the top of this page) to see the next generation of TV presenters!

We’re travelling the state this month working with the Good Shepherd Microfinance workers – we’ve been everywhere, man …well…Wangaratta, Swan Hill, Melbourne CBD, Springvale and we’re off to Northcote and Horsham next week.

The Talking Stars project was developed over the last few months with the Microfinance workers, who starred in their own training videos. They gain skills in communicating and persuading their clients to ‘think green before they buy’ – to make sustainable choices when purchasing items with a NILS or StepUP loan that use water, electricity or petrol.

REDgum Communications had a lot of fun putting together the information videos starring Des Dowling, Andrea Powell & James Freemantle – humour is a great way to communicate. Visual messages are more powerful than printed words, so these videos are a useful tool to help the Good Shepherd clients make sustainable choices. You can have a look at all the training material here.

We need to keep ahead of the game, so the REDgum team reads a lot about personal brand! We’re always researching how to best define and communicate your personal brand, and how to create real, positive presence. There are plenty of ideas out there, and we’re constantly sifting through the best of them, analyzing, assessing and adding to our bank of resources.

So here’s what we’ve been reading. Please feel free to add your thoughts, comments and reviews…

The article The Brand Called You by Tom Peters was published in the August 1997 issue of Fast Company.

REDgum Communications often ask these questions from the article during coaching and training:

• Do you deliver your work on time, every time?
• Do your internal or external customer gets dependable, reliable service that meets its strategic needs?
• Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises?
• Does your client saves money and headaches just by having you on the team?
• Do you always complete your projects within the allotted budget?

In The Tipping Point, Gladwell explains why some ideas or behaviours or products spread quickly  – start epidemics – and others don’t. It’s an interesting and fun read and useful for anyone starting up a new business or wanting to promote a new product or idea.  He explains how ideas, products and messages spread in the same way that viruses are spread. Whether viruses become an epidemic depends on the behaviour of those who are contagious and the environment. Small changes can have a large effect. Changes can happen quickly – the moment that it all changes is called The Tipping Point.

Epidemics don’t follow the 80:20 rule – a small % of people does all the work. For an idea to become an epidemic, its need exceptional people to spread the word, a ‘sticky’ or memorable message and the right context or environment.

Gladwell calls the exceptional people Connectors – who have a gift for bringing the word together and have a knack of making friends and acquaintances, Mavens – who love to figure how to get something and then want to tell you about it too and Salesmen – who have the skills to persuade us.

These people can only help if the message or product is memorable – the ‘stickiness factor’.

Also epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur – the ‘power of context’.

Gladwell’s analysis of group behaviour is interesting – how small, close knit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic potential of a message or idea. Why you should limit organization sizes to 150 – so you know people well enough that what they think of you matters.

Worth reading!

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The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

Thin slicing refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience. In this book Gladwell explains that there are two ways to look at something  – consciously and below the surface of consciousness. Consciously, we think about what we’ve learnt and eventually come up with an answer. We’re logical, definitive, slow, and need lots of information. When we use the adaptive unconscious our brain reaches conclusions without immediately telling us that it’s reaching conclusions. It’s fast and frugal, you feel something. You don’t know why you know but you know.

Another way to describe this is the science vs. the art of making a decision.

Why does speed dating work – you don’t need a whole evening to decide whether you want to see the other person again – a few seconds is usually enough! Why do car salesmen behave differently to different customers?  Why do some doctors get sued and others don’t? Gladwell comes up with some answers to these questions.

REDgum Communications have developed a workshop or conference activity based on thin- slicing. The activity explores the idea that you can create a strong and lasting impression in the first 2½ seconds of an interaction. It’s a great exercise in ‘instant personal brand’, and has been extremely popular in the corporate sector.

Research by Ambady and Rosenthal quoted in Blink shows a strong correlation between the judgements made by students on their first impressions of college teachers and their evaluations of the same teachers at the end of a semester. In the study, the first impressions were non verbal and lasted only 2 seconds. We generously allow participants an extra ½ second to make that impression and also allow them to speak if they wish! A powerful impact can be made in the thinnest of slices. Each participant has 2 ½ seconds on screen to create a positive and lasting first impression.

The compilation of everyone’s work – precisely 2 ½ seconds each – is played at the end of workshop or conference dinner – smartly edited, with titles and music – and it’s a competition to see who stands out and why.

The REDGum ‘Thin-Sliced Personal Brand’ activity takes about 1 hour and can be run for any number of participants (generally between about 24 and 60). Participants are filmed one by one, but there is fun and excitement when the whole group is present, watching and responding to the filming of others. It is perfect as an activity within a longer Personal Brand Workshop or conference, when there is an opportunity to play the (24 to 60) x 2 ½ second compilation film after editing (which takes 4-6 hours).

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In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom,….

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Tom Peters has been writing about Personal Brand longer than just about anyone, so he knows what he is talking about and is worth reading even if his writing S-H-O-U-T-S!! at you. In this book he has heaps of great tips on how to define your personal brand (Brand You) and he summarises them in a list of 50 items at the front of the book. He is a bit alarmist in his thoughts that the white collar workforce is at risk and all current employees need to be defining them as Brand You, but this book is useful reading for those wanting to leave big business and start up on their own. However personal brand is just as important for those working within organizations, which is less well explained in this book. Tom Peters seems to think that all jobs in large organizations are as characterized by Dilbert cartoons. There may be an element of Dilbert within large companies, but this doesn’t stop any individual being remarkable and doing a remarkable job within one of these large organizations. Creating a positive presence and being aware of how others experience you is important in any work environment.

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Michael Goldhaber, writing in Wired, said, “If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won’t get noticed and that increasingly means you won’t get paid much either. In times past you could be obscure yet secure — now that’s much harder.”Again: the white collar job as now configured is doomed. Soon. (“Downsizing” in the nineties will look like small change.) So what’s the trick? There’s only one: distinction. Or as we call it, turning yourself into a brand . . . Brand You. A brand is nothing more than a sign….

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