Tag: greg hoffman

Making an IPO

I’ve invented an approach to getting a favorable outcome in the workforce. It shouldn’t upset followers that I propose this. This is because allegedly a person forms an impression of you within 7 seconds.

All along I’ve had ideas about how to dress. I’m 59. No longer do I care what others think of me. Nor do I have any interest in trying to impress people who would hate judge fear or shame me.

In my Girl on the Left blog I wrote that I think if you’re dressed chic you can get away with being a radical on the inside.

A few years ago too I thought that everyone is a work of art. We can delight the viewer. Yet even with a work of art whether the viewer likes us is subjective for each person looking at the artwork.

I’ve coined the term Making Your IPO–your Initial Persona Offering. I think every interaction you have with another person involves sales.

To get them to buy into whatever you’re selling–either you; an idea you have at work; a belief you hold–each of us should demonstrate why they should buy in and the benefit in doing this.

The second thing is to give them equity like “stock options” that are ownership in the company whose product you’re selling. A person has to want to do what you say. Again attacking your target market that you want to convert will cause those people to resist and get defensive.

The idea of making your IPO upends the idea of creating a Personal Brand. I think too that the best personal brand is a reflection of who you are and what you stand for. It’s as simple as that.

We should make our Initial Persona that we offer others our own beautiful self. Acting true to yourself is the best way to sell your own unique brand. Jazzing up our appearance is not vain or calculating. It’s a way to level up your presence. Which in the end feels good to you. Not just to the viewer.

The real thing when you’re just starting out in recovery is that the hair could be uncombed. The shoes are scuffed.

Or like I did I wore regular sized clothing when I was a Petite size. So the blazer was as big as my Grandpa’s and the sleeves were too long too.

Even with all its scandals Nike is a brand to research for understanding how it generates fierce fans of its products. Read the book which I might have reviewed in here: Emotion by Design by Greg Hoffman who worked at Nike for decades.

In the next blog entry I will talk about things I’m doing to polish my persona. It’s not bulletproof that everyone will always buy into what you’re selling. Yet like I said in that other blog dressing well helped me recover. That’s the real impact of leveraging how you look: You take joy in getting up in the morning and going out the front door.

Earning by Learning

Though I’m an Advocate for mental health and other social justice issues I think Conscious Capitalism shouldn’t be written off as a viable economic engine for businesses and workers and individuals alike.

The founder of the Container Store wrote the book Conscious Capitalism. If I remember right he coined this term.

Another author has written a scathing expose of Nike. His book allegedly corroborates that Nike’s sponsorship of student athletes caused the rise of rapes on campus.

Going back years ago Nike was also excoriated for their sweatshop scandal involving workers who sewed their clothes.

Taking this as it might be and has been I was compelled to read the book in the photo despite the fact that Nike isn’t infallible.

Greg Hoffman the author is a biracial man whose father is Black and mother is white. His adoptive parents were white and encouraged his love of art and sports from an early age. After meeting both birth parents and their families it clicked where he got his innate art talent from: His birth sister was a graphic designer too. And his grandmother was an artist who painted.

No–I don’t like to single out people along the lines of their race. Yet the facts of who Gregg Hoffman is and what he stands for deserve a call-out. He rose from being an intern at Nike to becoming their Chief Marketing Officer. In a 27-year career with the company that spanned breakthrough product campaigns.

The number-one principle Hoffman espouses is that through storytelling you can build a brand by making customers feel they are a part of the story. Treat them as humans and appeal to their emotions to create a fervor for your product.

One of the Nike campaign videos that I viewed circa 2017 left a lasting impression on me. The message of the video played into having empathy for your customers.

As a brand marketer (and as an ordinary human being) you need to step outside yourself to understand the experiences of others.

The video in question provoked a lot of people’s ire. Colin Kaepernick is narrating the idea that the dreams of your youth should not be abandoned when you become an adult.

The theme of the video was Dream Crazy.

The last thing Kaepernick says in the video is: Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough.

Those last two sentences inspired me to dare greatly.

I recommend you buy Emotion by Design or check it out of the library.

In the coming blog entry I’m going to tell my story. I was crazy enough to think recovery was possible at a time when everybody thought it wasn’t.