ThinkingSparks

Workshop on Positioning; March 24

This coming thursday I will be one of the speakers at the Women Event, an event for female entrepreneurs in The Netherlands. Check out the other speakers too: Annemarie van Gaal en Coco de Meyere (Dutch link only).

I will be doing a workshop on positioning in which we will do a quick scan of the positioning of the entrepreneurs' organization. There will be some homework to do and I will give each and every participant written individual feedback.

So if you are in The Netherlands and want to know if you have laid the foundations of your organization correctly come and join me.

How cheating students cheat everyone

Before I became an exchange student to the USA over a quarter of a century ago I was prepped. I was told about and explained American values that I would encounter and would have to adjust to. One that was profoundly hammered into my consciousness was "do not cheat at school". I had never cheated at school so I had no reason to begin now, but I was impressed by stories about American students being left alone in their classroom during an exam and not cheating. It was a matter of honor.

When I taught evening classes to adults at The Hague University I was flabbergasted when I found out that grownups cheated on papers and exams. What I found even more shocking was that they weren't kicked out onto the street. This probably has to do with the ludicrous rule that Dutch universities receive financial backing from the government based on the number of students that graduate. Quantity. Not quality.

At my university there was a formal rule that you couldn't do anything that would damage the institutes' repuation. I think it is evidence of the insight that an educational institution has many moments of truth and everyone involved is responsible to uphold the brand image.

In Dutch news over the last couple of weeks it has become apparent that at several universities students have been getting away with cheating.

I don't get cheating, because eventually you end up being caught. Maybe not by the school, but future employers and colleagues cannot rely on your knowledge and expertise. But that is not the worst of it. What does it say about your character? How many other lines are you likely to cross? How can Dutch organizations be socially responsible if they are hiring unethical cheating graduates?

This situation is bad in a lot of ways:

1. Of course not everyone cheats, but the ones that do, screw it up for all other graduates. If the news gets out that people cheated their way to graduation that piece of paper called a diploma becomes worthless. Not only for themselves but also for former, current and future students.
2. The brand of the insitution becomes weak. And as lots of regional universities have merged over the last decade or so, one brand name covers a range of programs at different locations. So the cheating may have been going on in Amsterdam at the Economics bachelor program, but everything else is infected too. So you apply for a job in Rotterdam, with a degree in Communication from Arnhem and they confuse you with the Finance cheater in Amsterdam. Tough luck!
3. Organizations will have hired the cheating graduates with questionable morality. This is not good for the morality of the organization in particular or Dutch organizations as a whole.

So what to do? A couple of things I think:

1. Become aware as a school and as a society that these practices damage your educational brands and in the end your national knowledge economy. Become aware that the quality you deliver in education results in good quality graduates. They in turn lead to a society with organizations that are able to perform and compete succesfully.
2. Parents, educators, schools and society should emphasize the positive: knowledge is power in the sense that it creates individual possibilities.
3. Honor those who do well in school. Don't scoff people for being a good student.
4. Don't keep your exams where the students or an accomplice can get to them. (I know this is basic but apparently people haven't thougt of this yet, otherwise it wouldn't have happened.)
5. Make it a rule that cheating is rewarded by being kicked out of school and not being able to apply to any other university in The Netherlands. Any cost incurred or financial backing lost by the school must be paid by the student.
6. Communicate the rule to future and current students.
7. Have students (and their parents if underage) commit to this rule when registering and enrolling. It then is a contract.
8. Live the rule. Be honest and honorable in other aspects of life too.
9. Enforce the rule if necessary.

Of course ideally, parents raise kids that aren't morally challenged. Ideally we do not need rules or laws to govern us. Ideally our moral compass would be enough. Unfortunately it isn't the case for everyone.

This is not just a Dutch problem. In the 28 years since I graduated from my American highschool, American society has shown not be immune to cheating students. Just google "cheating students" and you'll find that even in Communist China students cheat. If we should have learned one thing from the collapsing of banks and the economic crisis it is that integrity is important.

From a perspective of branding your school, your organization, your country, integrity is important. From a perspective of civil society, integrity is important too.

Am I exaggerating? I don't think so.

Are there other solutions possible? Sure! Please share them.

 

TNT's can do attitude towards social media

When working with TNT Post in 2008 en 2009 on employer branding we often talked on how to work social media. Frank van Os's tweet announced that TNT has formulated excellent guidelines for the employees. I am impressed.

What impressed me is that the guidelines are based on the values on which not only the corporate culture is based, but also the TNT brand. This organization is in so much turmoil and has so many employees that there are many moments of truth and a lot of things to say that may not be positive for the company. There is no way you can or should want to control it.

Any other good examples of such guidelines out there?

The psychological dimension of The Voice of Holland

The Dutch tv show The Voice of Holland is causing a commotion. Not only because there are some real exciting talents on the show, but also because the show is causing a controversy.

The idea behind the show is that it is all about the voice. When candidates were auditioning, the jury sat with their back towards the talent. They could just hear the voice and could not see them. In the remainder of the program they can see the talent.

That sounds like a good idea but if singing talent is all that is needed to become a popular singing brand, Madonna would never have made it and Susan Boyle would have been a star years ago. The proof is in the show also. Beautiful Jennifer Ewbank has a lot of fans, but also a large following of "anti-fans". I must admit I am one of the latter. So far she has ruined "Can't get you out of my mind" by Kylie Minogue and a Burt Bacherach classic. Jennifer Ewbank in my opinion could be an Idol but not The Voice of Holland. And I think that this is why such a large part of the Dutch audience think there is some major conspiracy going on behind the scenes.

It can be explained by the Dimensions of Customer Value (Dipak Jain, p. 137). These dimensions are the dimensions by which customers select a new product (or service, or artist):

• economic
• functional
• psychological

When liking musicians, writers, or actors it never really is about the economic dimension. You do not like an artist because the music is cheaper.

The functional dimension is about prefering a product that has the most sophisticated set of features. When it comes to singing this could be applied. I would translate it as being able to sing as the most basic feature. The ability of timing, high notes, different genres and all kinds of other musical technicalities rank higher on the dimension (and is only for the few). The Voice of Holland is looking for someone who scores high on the functional dimension. In my opinion Jennifer Ewbank scores very low on this dimension.

The psychological dimension is generally "driven by several intangibles such as service, brand name, trust, relationship and reputation. Customers seeking these benefits care about total satisfaction with the product and desire peace of mind." (Direct quote from Kellogs on Marketing, p. 138). This is Idols, where the search is on for a person with the x-factor. The search for a performer that has many attributes rolled into one; not only singing talent. With her good looks and sense of style Jennifer belongs in this category.

The problem with The Voice of Holland is that the audience gets to cast a vote. But the "functional dimension" program is watched by an audience of which a majority is a "psychological dimension" customer (read: viewer). The result is a disgruntled group of "functional dimension" viewers.

So there is a disconnect. I think the flaw in thinking is on the side of the makers of the show. Firstly, they should know that most of the audience will look at the total package and not just listen to the voice. It is naive to think otherwise. But not including the audience is from an era gone by. Besides they are making money when including the audience through all the phone calls and texts when it is voting time. And if only the voice were the object of judging it should be a radio show. Secondly, Madonna has proven that you don't have to have a great singing voice, other aspects factor in also. Madonna is a strong personal brand. She could teach not only Branding 101 but the Masterclasses too.

So who is going to win The Voice of Holland? The person that can sing and has the x-factor too. Fortunately there are some who can beat my unfavorite. And with all that it is just another "psychological dimension" talent show.

Employee led

An interesting Tweet by YoxaTweet about research done in The Netherlands by the Hay Group (in Dutch). The outcome of this research is that companies start rewarding their employees according to the Anglo Saxon model. At Hay Group they aren't surprised. According to them it is a logical consequence of:

1. the trend of individualisation,
2. the fact that the reward system is more and more determined by HQ's in other countries, and
3. The Netherlands is turning into a services economy in which the individual makes the difference.

I must say I was surprised by these results. I follow the logic, but I was under the impression that with the financial crisis this whole short term stimulating behavior was not acceptable anymore. I cannot speak for other countries, but I sense that in The Netherlands the public speaks out against (high) individual bonuses and the culture that goes along with it. I also felt that the Anglo Saxon model has received a lot of criticism lately and seen as the root of all evil of the financial crisis. Read this, this, and check out the criticism in the Google search result.

Even greater my surprise when reading an interview with knowledge management expert Mathieu Weggeman yesterday in Management Scope (Dutch only) who states that the new generation of knowledge workers has an attitude that is more congruent with the Rhineland model. He even goes as far as to say that he believes that this new generation will not blossom in organizations with an Anglo Saxon business model.

I find this contradiction between the outcome of the research of the Hay Group and the statements of Mathieu Weggeman very interesting. Intuitively I side with Weggeman and wonder if this whole Anglo Saxon based rewarding model is a question of organizations failing to connect with a new generations of employees. In other words are these organizations not enough "employee led" and implementing a reward system that will not jive with a new generation? It is similar to organizations failing to be customer led. I also wonder what the employer branding strategies of the organizations that participated the Hay Group research are.

Please let me know what you think.

Molblog

It has been quiet for the last month. I have been "auditioning" for Molblog (Dutch only) over the last month. Molblog is the Marketing On Line weblog of the Dutch journal on marketing. It is also the most popular blog in the Netherlands.

Molblog is different from ThinkingSparks as the latter will try to give food for thought of just present my questions on certain topics. Molblog has much more of a signaling function of what is going on in marketing at the moment. Interestingly enough my posts that come close to what I do on ThinkingSparks generate more comments then when I post current marketing happenings.

My auditioning was rewarded with a spot on the molblog team. :-) It means I have to divide my time between those two blogs. So after this month long break, I will be back.

Chance at a $ 25.000 MBA scholarship

Along with other people I am one of the sponsors of the "The Minority Talent Scholarship for the Americas" offering a chance to do an international MBA at Nyenrode Business University (founded 1946) in The Netherlands. For more information check out the link.

This year we could not give out the scholarship as no students applied for it. I am asking to the readers of this weblog to help us in finding eligible student for the coming year and please forward this information. The deadline is less than two months away.

Of course people could always chose to (not) attend NoBS, but then they would miss out on the experience of going to business school in a beautiful castle in The Netherlands.

Nip tuck marketing

I wrote about attending the launch of the Dutch magazine Vrouw the other day. The day after the lunch I checked on Telegraaf (the largest Dutch newspaper) what their journalists had to say about the launch.

Apart from my observations on networking, I observed the event and its goings on. There was a fair amount of people. I would estimate between 80 and 100. In next day’s newspaper (which is the same publisher as the magazine) they made it seem that the launch had been overrun by an enthusiastic crowd of female readers. They were bending the truth a little I would say. And of course it’s not the only organization that does it. Individuals do it too.

Some time ago I read an interview with an acquaintance of mine in a business magazine. I do not know him well enough to know all his inner secrets, but I know enough. Enough to know that he wasn’t completely truthful in the interview. I have seen other people do it too. And I have seen people believe them.

I understand why people and organizations do it. It makes for a better story. When I know the truth behind the story however, I wonder if misrepresenting the facts makes for a better story. I sure do not see the benefits in some cases. What about being found out? Is enhancing the truth understood? Is it ok and accepted just like fake boobs and botox filled faces?

Nip tuck marketing sure is at odds with the whole concept of authenticity. Can these two concepts exist together or are they mutually exclusive? Who offers an opinion?

Culture based brand or Brand based culture?

The other day I was reading an article in which the Dutch consultancy Business Openers was quoted. They call themselves the pioneers of Internal Branding in the Netherlands. I am not sure if they really are pioneers, but apparently they like to position themselves as such.

If I interpret them correctly, they use the brand as a basis for culture change. They call that ‘internal branding’. I agree with them that behavior has to match the promise, but I am not sure if I agree with their views on causality. I am also not sure if this is what internal branding is.

On their site (in Dutch) the working through this process with Albert Heijn (grocery retailer that is part of Ahold) is described. What struck me is that in the whole process the starting point is the external brand. From the external brand the brand values are inferred. These then are the basis for behavior. Hopefully resulting in a brand based culture.

I always wonder if that works. Everyone involved in change of (organizational) cultures knows that it may take some time to replace one set of values by another. An organizational culture already had a set of values driving behavior before the brand values where conceived. So unless an organization has a (soon to be) dysfunctional culture, why not do it the other way around: a culture based brand? Build on the good behavior that is already there. It has the same results of living up to the promise, it is authentic and you avoid the long period of the culture change process. And the pain and resistance that comes with change. Don't get me wrong. I am not against change. But if it ain’t broke why fix it?

I fear the incessant and continued internal branding process being fueled by external advertising or brand agencies, the changes in those, the changes in marketing or brand directors that each want to do it better, different than their predecessors. It is something that comes natural. And with every such change, the organization has to change along with it. It might keep ‘internal branding’ consultants busy but I am not convinced that it is the right way to align organizational behavior and brand promise.

Any insights anyone?

Vote against sheepwalking bureaucrats!

Yesterday I wanted to cast two votes in the provincial government elections; for me and my partner. I could vote for myself without an ID, but in order to vote for my partner I had to ID myself. The polling station can ask for an ID, but are not required to. I forgot my ID so they wouldn’t let me vote for my partner. I could cast my own vote without any ID.

I saw noo point in trying to convince the sheepwalking bureaucrats that this is an illogical rule and serves – in my opinion – no use at all, I just cast the one vote yesterday. So this post is my vote against sheepwalking bureaucrats!