Are you overwhelmed by fear? Does the economy, disruption in your industry or aggressive competition leave you with a knot in your stomach? Do you feel isolated and vulnerable?
As a result, these feelings disorient and cause panicked or irrational decision making. Surprisingly, there are many similarities between operating a business and the devastating, often fatal, stories of those caught in terrible disasters in the wilderness. Fortunately, there’s help! Because I don’t want you to experience the tragedy of avoidable catastrophe, I highly recommend an excellent new book that was just released called Brand vs. Wild.
The stories will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will pick up some new survival skills. Listen in to my interview with the book’s author, Jonathan David Lewis. Jonathan is a partner and strategy director at McKee Wallwork + Company and author of Brand vs. Wild: Building Resilient Brands for Harsh Business Environments.
Jonathan led his firm to recognition by Advertising Age as a national leader in branding and marketing as well as winning the Southwest Small Agency of the Year, national B2B Campaign of the Year, and national Best Places to Work awards. A branding and business strategist, Jonathan’s opinions are highly sought by numerous business and marketing publications, including Forbes, Digiday and Advertising Age.
He’s an engaging and authoritative speaker and author on shaping a brand that can survive, and thrive, in today’s tough, uncertain world.
Listen in and get helpful tips on:
- Why Millennials are so good at handling the unknown
- Using fear to your advantage
- How marketing inconsistency damages a brand
- Why mutual gain requires a suppression of selfishness
- Celebrating achievements – team morale matters
- Listening to the market and more importantly, interpreting what you are hearing
- Shifting from risk averse to opportunity driven
- Three ways companies can get focused while navigating the wild
Often, we are our own worst enemy because we respond or act out of fear and complicate the situation or even make it worse. The best thing we can do is STOP: Stop, Think, Observe and Plan. It’s not too late: you can survive this; however, it will require being open to doing things differently than what got you here in the first place. Once you’ve listened to the interview, then go do the most rational thing possible: buy the book and get some much-needed perspective on surviving in this difficult environment!
You can get more information about Jonathan David Lewis and his book, Brand Vs. Wild here:
Website:
www.jonathandavidlewis.com
Purchase Brand vs. Wild:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJonathanDavidLewis
Twitter: @JonathanD_Lewis
Instagram: @JonathanDavidLewis
Also, during the interview, Jonathan recommended The Connected Company by Dave Gray:
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Now, go lead like someone you would want to follow!
Diane Slemons says
I thought this was a great interview–useful and applicable whether positioned in corporate America, a small mom-and-pop enterprise looking to succeed, a recent college graduate with aspirations to be creative in today’s economy, or merely a family looking for answers to today’s many fearful questions about survival. Some of the questions answered in this interview can be applied in simple day-to-day situations such as 1) the spelling of “success” as “s-e-l-f-l-e-s-s”, 2) recognizing distractions that lead us away from the focus necessary for our success, 3) the necessity for connection because isolation causes us to be vulnerable and can equate to decay and death.
Mark Slemons says
Thanks Diane! Being selfless is not easy. Stopping to think is not intuitive when we are panicking. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in life where these lessons don’t apply. Thank you for listening!
Simcerely,
Mark