Courage and the Employer Brand

Courage is a vital EB ingredient

Any one who thinks that Employer Brand work is an endeavour that does not need courage is unlikely to produce an effective result. Something which is really distinctive, compelling and true will usually need it. Sadly, one only has to see the number of predictable working experiences, and the platitudinous ways they are described in second rate copywriting, to see the need for greater courage among HR and Marketing people. That in turn may reflect on the precision of the demands which their senior management place on them

Courage in business starts with one individual and I saw three examples of this in the past few weeks. People like that develop great EBs

‘The Bravest Man in Britain’ was how the Daily Mail described Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of BALPA, at the recent TUC conference. With the whole conference supporting a motion to resist all public service cuts (despite them not yet being identified), McAuslan’s hand was the only one to vote against it. The Chair initially thought he was joking but up he went to the platform and said that he could not support the motion since the TUC must first understand the views of the general public ‘beyond this hall’. Without doing so he believed that the TUC were presenting the coalition government ‘with an own goal’. He walked back to his seat in total silence.

Small wonder that ,with him as General Secretary, the British Airline Pilots Association commands the respect it does as partners with employers, supporters of 75% of UK pilots and pioneers on safety management, pilot fatigue, cabin air quality among many other relevant subjects. Furthermore, when BALPA thinks right is on its side it can be a formidable opponent. Leadership like that deserves a following and his BALPA colleagues and members will have been proud of him.

Catholics will have been proud of the Pope on his UK visit for the same reason. Given the negative publicity on clergy wrongdoing and cover ups, the atheist attacks and apparent apathy, it is hard, whatever your spiritual views, not to admire the clarity of his message and the strength of his beliefs

Final example. A large European company kindly invited me to a dinner to thank University Careers leaders for their support in helping to recruit some outstanding graduates this year. We were addressed by graduate recruits who were about to join and by three members of the executive. They took some toughish questions and overall it left us all with the evidence of a courageous and innovative business with a clear idea of its role in the community. Passion is an overused word in business but in this organisation you could feel it

I am reminded of the Chicago writer Philip Bliss’s famous lines

‘Dare to be a Daniel
Dare to stand alone
Dare to have a purpose firm
Dare to make it known’

So many people who could be Daniels somehow fail to deliver.
I mention the graduate recruiters evening not only because the company had such a clear point of view and meant every word but also because of the venue hosts. The dinner was held in the west nave of the vast Liverpool Anglican Cathedral where earlier the Canon had welcomed us in the Lady Chapel proudly stating that St Pauls would fit comfortably into this building.. We then walked to dinner to the sound of an immensely powerful organ.

Now for the Daniel moment. We got to the round tables and found our names. Some sat down, others stood or shuffled about and then dinner started. I just wondered why the Canon had not given a short interdenominational grace. OK perhaps he felt that night he was just the venue operator as he might be if we were dining at the Adelphi Hotel nearby. Yet here we were in a building dedicated to a faith which is the Canon’s life’s work. Did he feel it was non PC and therefore, even in the most modest way, believe he was not able to recognise what he believed this great building was all about? Surely a missed opportunity.

We all have to answer the question ‘what do you do?’ and those who are proud of their job and organisation let it show.in their answers. Particularly the leaders.

Many people find it difficult. I once interviewed an engineer who worked for the Metropolitan Police – he said when asked what he did that he was an engineer who worked in the civil service. A great EB should have helped him to stand up for his employer

Simon Barrow

M&A and 'Mad Men' - an employer brand disaster

From the mid seventies to the mid eighties I ran an advertising agency. We worked for Sharp Electronics, Chanel, Mercedes-Benz and Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts. It was a bit later than the early sixties period which is the subject of the acclaimed TV show ‘Mad Men’ but close enough to remind me of the extraordinarily delicate task of balancing client needs, new business development, getting the creative work right plus managing the egos and ambitions of the most talented people in a market always short of them. 'Simon, can I have a word with you? was a question I dreaded – it was always the start of a conversation about money or another job.

Mad Men’s writers are either brilliantly briefed or they too have been there and no better than when in Series 3 they cover the acquisition of the middle grounded New York agency Stirling Cooper by a large British company aiming to strengthen its US presence. Given People in Business’s work on the cultural integration aspects of M&A (27 transactions to date and just starting our 28th) this was a vintage lesson on some of the classic pitfalls which management can and does still fall into.

Misreading the business benefits.
The London firm has lots of mouth-watering global clients who they feel will be an easily persuaded to use the newly acquired US agency. Of course they aren’t. Just as the London clients chose the London shop for its own skills, their NY counterparts are just as picky. The agency must be a great choice in its own right. Common ownership is never enough.

Damaging the existing leadership.
London puts in a Brit to manage NY who predictably makes some classic errors like firing the Head of Client service and appointing two internal replacements while not telling each of them that this would be a joint role.

Chemistry misfits.
The Brit boss and his wife take the NY Creative Director Don Draper and his wife Betsy to an excruciating dinner in a grand restaurant where the Brit wife succeeds in insulting both guests by complaining about NY cockroaches. On the drive home to Rye, Don tells a surly Betsy Listen, I didn’t enjoy that anymore than you did

Interference on new business.
Stirling Cooper is close to winning Madison Square Gardens property development – a prize piece of business likely to lead to the imminent Worlds Fair project in NY. London blackballs the pitch on the grounds of high service costs..

It sounds like the last straw. Don Draper pushes back, asking “why on earth did you buy us ?” the Brit boss, at the end if his tether, replies “Frankly I just don’t know”

The aftermath of all this makes for more great writing in the rest of Series 3 and now Series 4. In real life of course, events like this continue to happen when deal makers and top management anticipate the rewards of doing a deal (in Stirling |Coopers case to pay for a partners expensive divorce) without sufficient planning of what is likely to happen in real life on the ground.

Of course deal makers don’t spend much time helping to assure sustained value post merger. M&A advisers are paid for getting a deal done not making it work by building a shared Employer Brand reflecting the best of both organisations and contributing to future success.

As a great Editor of Campaign, Bernard Barnet, once said ' There are many ways to ruin an advertising agency but I have never come across anything more effective than merger or acquisition'

Simon Barrow