Great strategy requires a solid grip on the situation. Here are five situational facts Obama missed in today’s economic address at Knox College. Urgency is needed to prevent a second recession. China is slowing. Europe is imploding. Rising interest rates are slowing the housing recovery, with continued government cutbacks strengthening the headwinds against US private sector recovery. We risk a double dip recession like the US Great Depression or the triple dips being observed in Europe. Therefore infrastructure investments, retraining of workers, and revitalization of manufacturing and aging cities are a necessity, not an option. Overseas job creation is the new reality. With the middle class growing across the globe, US companies should be investing in jobs abroad. Therefore our economic strategy should be to maintain US headquarters and create new companies – not prevent overseas job expansion. Corporate tax reform and incentives…
Four practices for creating an authentic brand
As an experiment, I followed the world’s twitters during the first Obama-Romney presidential debate. Amidst the flurry of messages passing by my eyes, I finally understood in my gut and not just my head how social media has changed the balance of power when it comes to controlling brand image. In an era when everyone single one of your customers can shout their opinions from an easily accessible “bloody pulpit,” how do you influence what these customers will say? They certainly aren’t going to copy messages from your mass market advertisements! The answer lies in making sure that your company’s actions live out the brand image you want to build. That is the only way to have an authentic message that will be repeated by customers you cannot control. How do you do that? Lessons about leadership apply. Leaderhip gurus Jim Kouzes and…