Art of Branding

By Catherine Kaputa
American Management Association Newsletter
In the 1970s and ’80s, women began to make real headway in the business world. The popular wisdom back then was that in order to succeed like men, women needed to look and act like men. Businesswomen chopped off their hair, dressed in boxy suits, and learned how to be authoritative and emotionless.

Fast forward to today. In terms of progress, 2009 saw a 25% jump from the previous year in the number of women Fortune 500 CEOs. And in the last 10 years, women-owned businesses nearly doubled in number, now accounting for 40% of all U.S. businesses. What’s more, women are poised to become a majority in the workforce for the first time in history.

Now that women exert such impressive influence in the business world, it’s time they learned how to leverage their distinctly female aptitudes. New brain research and gender studies reveal that women are naturally “wired” for career success. That is, they have unique attributes that can give them a significant advantage in the workplace.

In today’s global marketplace, areas of female expertise—cooperation, collaboration, and communication—are especially valuable. Here are nine ways women can use their innately female traits to boost business success.

1. Tune in emotionally.
Women are intuitive and empathetic, thanks in part to higher levels of hormones such as estrogen and oxytocin. Use these strengths to be open and responsive to others’ feelings and to build strong work relationships.

2. Create an attractive package.
Attractive people not only make more money but are viewed as being smarter and more competent than others. Women possess an advantage here, too, having more “visual aids” to work with than men do. Accentuate your best features and develop a distinct look with a signature color, accessories, shoes, and so forth. If you don’t have the body of a fashion model, then do something wonderful with your hair and clothing. Work on your posture and gait. Think about what your visual image conveys and find visual “props” that add originality and make a powerful statement.

3. Reach out.
The larger your network, the more career capital you’ll acquire1great news for women, who are natural-born networkers and team builders. Make and keep friends. Ask others for help, ideas, and feedback. And continually grow your network of colleagues, advisors, and mentors.

4. Communicate well.
Women routinely outscore men on oral and written tests because they use both left and right hemispheres of the brain to process verbal, visual, and emotional stimuli. (Men tend to use only the left, “logical” side of the brain when verbalizing.) Ask great questions, listen carefully, and hone your business conversation and presentation skills. Become known as a master communicator, in both speaking and writing.

5. Be inclusive.
Choosing inclusion over exclusivity is an inherent female strength and a powerful advantage in today’s diverse, globalized workplace. Commit to inviting as many perspectives as possible and extending goodwill to everyone—friends and foes alike. Cultivate strong alliances and be loyal.

6. Read between the lines.
MRI studies show that women are much better at picking up subtle emotional messages than men are. This makes them especially attuned to body language and allows them to detect unspoken signals of distress, confusion, or other emotions, such as frustration. Pay attention to what’s going on behind the scenes. In meetings, for example, if you feel a topic hasn’t been adequately covered, initiate a follow-up phone conversation.

7. Empower others.
Gender studies show that girls tend to work together, forming a kind of committee, in order to accomplish tasks. This inclusivity helps everyone in the group succeed. The highly collaborative style of females is increasingly valuable in today’s interconnected global business environment. Lead in a way that doesn’t seek to have power over others but empowers them instead. Create teams and a “personal board of directors” who can advise you—and be sure to include men. Give public credit to people when they contribute.

8. Be a big picture thinker.
Studies show that women tend to take in multiple perspectives and consider a wide range of tangential elements when solving a problem or coming to a decision. Men’s style of problem solving is different–more linear and more narrowly focused. Leverage your enhanced ability to be a big picture thinker so you can bring more creativity and innovation to your work.

9. Be likeable.
Women’s gift for compassion, empathy, and intuition also makes them more likeable. Likeability is a key asset the workplace. Smile and be positive, as opposed to being serious and stern, and you will win everyone over and become more influential.

In my new book, The Female Brand and in some of these blog posts, I talk about women’s preference for deep, one-on-one relationships and men’s preference for more casual, group relationships. Here’s a new study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) using fMRI brain imaging with teenage boys and girls that establishes this preference. “Girls are hardwired to care about one-on-one relationships with their BFFs (best friends forever), while the brains of boys are more attuned to group dynamics and competition with other boys.

The purpose of the study was to look inside participants’ heads when they were highly engaged in a potential social interaction – something that had not been done before on MRI studies.

“The results suggest that as girls progress from early puberty to late adolescence, certain regions of their brains become more active when they face a potential social interaction. Specifically, when an older girl anticipates meeting someone new — someone she believes will be interested in her — her nucleus accumbens (which is associated with reward and motivation), hypothalamus (associated with hormone secretion), hippocampus (associated with social learning) and insula (associated with subjective feelings) all become more active. By contrast, boys in the same situation show no such increase in activity in these areas. In fact, the activity in their insula actually declines.”

Studies like this and others seem to show that men, compared to women, aren’t as interested in one-on-one interactions. Previous research has shown that males during adolescence become more focused on competition within larger groups (like between sports teams).

So what does this all mean for women in the business world? Both the male and female approaches to social interaction have their advantages, but in the business world, the larger your network of connections, the better.

That’s why I say, “men run in packs, women should too.” If women can master the deep, one-to-one relationships, we can master the more superficial kind of business relationships we need to succeed.  We just have to realize their value.

Do women do better in a recession?

Female managers just might have an edge in a rotten economy, says the author of a new book. Here’s why, and how men and women can learn from each other’s strengths.

By Anne Fisher

NEW YORK (Fortune) — There’s one sure-fire way to start a heated argument, whether around the water cooler or at a dinner party: Just say something that suggests women manage very differently from their male peers. Then stand back and watch the fireworks.

“The idea that female managers think and operate differently than male managers is controversial, especially among women in the Baby Boom generation who had to fight so hard to overcome stereotypes about women being ‘nurturing’ and ‘intuitive,’ which for many years was corporate code for ‘not tough enough, or analytical enough, to handle senior management jobs,’ ” notes Catherine Kaputa, author of The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business (Davies-Black, $24.95).

Controversial or not, it’s clear that women are doing something differently: Of the roughly 6 million Americans who have lost their jobs since the recession started in December of 2007, 80% are men, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. No doubt, a big part of the reason is that men tend to dominate in the cyclical businesses which have been decimated by the downturn, including manufacturing, construction, engineering and finance. Female-dominated fields like nursing and education have been less hard-hit, at least so far.

Still, says Kaputa, that isn’t the whole story. In this job market, standing out from the crowd requires a “personal brand” — a clear professional identity that highlights a candidate’s unique set of strengths and skills — and that’s one area where women may excel. I recently spoke with Kaputa about why female managers just might have an edge in this dreadful economy. Some excerpts from our conversation:

Q. You interviewed more than 150 boomer women for this book — the generation that has been working long enough to have attained senior management jobs. How do they manage differently from their male counterparts?

A. In general, women are most comfortable with a management style that is more collaborative and less concerned with rigid hierarchy and top-down directives. As it happens, that more inclusive, collegial style is what gets results in global companies today.

And it’s clear that collaboration comes naturally to women, starting at a young age. In one study of middle-school kids, which I describe in the book, the researchers gave the same task to a group of boys and a group of girls. The boys appointed a captain, who gave orders, while girls formed a committee of equals where everyone had a say. Both groups achieved the goal — they just got there differently.

That said, everyone has “masculine” and “feminine” traits to some degree, and some women could really benefit from developing their “masculine” sides, especially when it comes to things like self-promotion. A woman will tend to downplay her achievements, while men talk them up.

Unemployment gets political

I worked on Wall Street for a number of years, and one female senior executive I knew told me that the men who worked for her always started popping into her office a couple of months before bonus time, telling her all about the great stuff they were doing. The women never did, not once. Guess who got the bigger bonuses.

Q. Why do you think women may be better-equipped to deal with hard economic times than men are?

A. There are a number of reasons, starting with the fact that on average, women still earn less than men in the same jobs. So in many cases, when companies are looking for ways to cut costs, the more expensive people get laid off, while the less costly managers stay.

Another cost-cutting advantage women have is that they tend to seek out ideas from more different levels of the company. They reach out to a wider range of people. A man looking for ways to cut costs is likely to rely on his direct reports exclusively. A woman will call somebody she knows on the factory floor, and a shipping clerk, and a call-center worker, and some other people all over the organization. And because she has that ear to the ground, she’s likely to get more effective ideas.

Along similar lines, we all know by now how crucial networking is to everybody’s career. Women are natural networkers. This is an area where the available research demonstrates that men and women differ in interesting ways. For one thing, women tend to gravitate toward relatively close, even intense, relationships with small groups of contacts, while men tend as a group to connect on a very superficial level with a much bigger group. And women in general are more reluctant to ask a networking contact for a favor, while men generally don’t hesitate to ask for things from people they barely know. Women would be wise to cultivate some of that “masculine” boldness.

Q. One of the more contentious claims about women managers is that they’re more empathetic than their male peers. But even if that’s true, wouldn’t empathy be a disadvantage at a time when so many employees are getting laid off?

A. Actually, quite the contrary. Of course, not all female managers are the warm, empathetic sort, but women in general do tend to be more skilled at building emotional ties and fostering a sense of “We’re all in this together.” Women are more inclined than men, usually, to acknowledge the emotional component of layoffs.

That’s important because, like it or not, depriving someone of their job is an emotional blow to that person and to the survivors who are watching it happen. It’s not “just business,” and women get that.

In the book I cite an interesting study showing that people respond much better to bad news that’s delivered in a caring way than they do to good news that’s delivered in a cold, impersonal style. So female managers generally are better than men at both laying people off and motivating the employees who remain.

Readers, what do you say? In your experience, what are the biggest differences — if any — between male and female managers? Do you agree that women have certain natural advantages in tough economic times? Have you noticed differences in the ways that men and women network? Put your comments below.

It’s a tough time all around. New unemployment claims rose to 554,000 today. More job seekers are chasing a diminishing list of opportunities. What do you do, short of pulling the covers over you head?

This is the time when it’s imperative to work smart. Your resume is the often first impression you make on a potential employer or business associate. And first impressions are important. That sixty-second read of your resume decides whether your resume gets pitched in the circular file, or whether you’re perceived as a six-figure candidate who can add value to the organization and called in for a meeting.

Your resume also helps people position you and compare you to other candidates – and a great resume can pre-sell you before you get the interview. That’s why it’s important that your resume is a marketing document for a senior executive. And the higher you go in your career, the harder your resume needs to work in marketing you and your accomplishments so that you stand apart from other competitors. Even if you fill out an online application, send in a hard copy of your resume to stand out from the crowd.

Here are guidelines for creating a winning executive resume from my book, U R a Brand!
1. View your resume as an ad for the brand, You. Most resumes are a laundry list of skills and jobs written in “corporate speak” with no focus or message. Develop a single minded positioning for yourself that differentiates you from others and is relevant to your target market. The resume should tell the story of that positioning and link the various aspects of your career in a coherent whole.

Keeping the ad analogy, make sure the resume looks graphically appealing. Not only is the content dramatically different in a resume that is an effective branding document, the layout makes the resume exciting and eye-catching. You’re half way there when you have a message and appearance that breaks through the clutter.

2. Use the Profile statement to position yourself and grab attention
Your profile at the top of your resume is like he headline in an ad or the hook in a magazine article.. The profile should identify who you are, what sets you apart from others, and the value added your bring to a job. A profile should not only differentiate you, it should convey a compelling reason to choose you and not the other people you are competing against.

3. Use a Celebrity Endorsement. As the saying goes, the best advertising is word of mouth – endorsements from satisfied customers. And the ultimate endorsement is the celebrity endorsement. For your resume, we’re not talking about getting a testimonial from an actual celebrity. But, rather, asking a former boss, senior executive, client or colleague if they would provide a quote about you and your abilities, or about a project your worked on. You can place the senior executive’s endorsement statement right after the Profile at the beginning of your resume or as part of an Achievement Addendum at the end.

Here’s an example.
CEO Martin Smith, ABC Company
“John is exceptional at team building and sales leadership, guiding team members executives in reaching or exceeding goals. His charisma and ability to motivate a wide range of sales professionals helped the company achieve and often exceed budget goals.”

4. Include a compelling Achievements Page.
An Achievements page as an addendum is a relatively new device used by senior executives to set their accomplishments apart and serve as the “clincher” in the sale. A resume can do a lot in selling you, but an Achievement Addendum is the something more than often makes the critical difference is choosing you, and not the other guy

In a tough economy like this one, with pink slips starting to rain down as companies cut back, it’s time to make sure your brand is tuned into survival mode. Here are some tips from my books, U R A BRAND! and The Female Brand on how to increase your chances of weathering the economic storm:

Be visible.

This is not the time to hide in the tall grass. It’s easier for senior managers to downsize people they barely know, rather than visible members of the organization. And women can be more vulnerable in cutbacks because they are not as tied in at various levels of the organization

Be perceived as a cost cutter.

The best brand attribute to have in downsizings is cost-efficiency. Don your green eyeshade and come up with ways to increase productivity and cut costs at work. You get extra points for coming up with ways to increase revenue without a lot of expenditure of money.
Raise your hand.

This is the time to step up to the plate and volunteer for extra projects and pick of extra work with a good attitude.
Resist the complain brigade. Resist the deer caught in the headlights phenomenon and becoming utterly unproductive as you complain along with your comrades. Vow to keep positive.
Be prepared.

Don’t be a chump and think getting riffed won’t happen to you. Update your resume, get your brand story and elevator speech humming and get your networking clicking.

Walter Chronkite died today at 92 years old. Living in America during the 60’s and 70’s who could not remember his wonderful baritone voice on the CBS evening news each night? Who could not have been soothed by Chronkite’s calm presence and that deep rich voice as it said each word? We watched him report on wars, elections, defeats, assassinations and the myriad of everyday events that defined American life in those decades. We knew that the world would someone come out all right with Chonkite at the helm.

From a branding perspective, Chronkite owned the word “trust.” He was called “the most trusted man in America” not just the most trusted man in news. He symbolized core American values: truth, integrity, fairness and democracy. Yet he had a folksy side to him – like the ideal dad or a much loved grandfather – that made him seem “real,” like someone we actually knew and could trust.

Chronkite created the news anchor brand – that mixture of gravitas and likeability that so many others have tried to emulate. He ended each news report with his trademark tagline: “And that’s the way it was.”

Today, there is a constant drive toward innovation – and not just from the product development folks either. In today’s companies, we all feel the pressure not just execute well in the present but to help come up with innovative ideas to keep on top tomorrow.

Historically how to get innovative insights eluded scientists. Of course, we’ve all had our “Aha” moments, but some people seem to be better at coming up with innovations and creative solutions. Is there a way to cultivate an innovative mindset?

New breakthrough research using MRI and EKG technology is shedding light on Eureka moments and how they occur. (Here’s a link to the June 19, 2009 WSJ article summarizing the recent findings.

Here’s a top-line on what scientists now believe you can do to encourage business innovation and other types of insights:

∑ Let your mind wander.
Archimedes had his Aha moment in the bathtub and Descartes had his while watching flies on the ceiling. Not surprising in light of new research that reveals that daydreaming is a rich environment for insights.

Previously, scientists thought that not much was happening in the brain when your mind wandered. Now, research supports just the opposite. In fact, a new brain-scanning study suggest that “our brain may be most actively engaged when our mind is wandering and we’ve actually lost tract of our thoughts.” Scientists suspect that a wandering mind may catch new ideas and unexpected associations better than a methodical analysis of the facts.

∑ Cede control
Because Eureka moments occur in the unconscious when we aren’t consciously trying to solve a problem, they are not something we can control. Most of our creative thought is the product of neurons and nerve chemistry outside our awareness and beyond our direct control. “We often assume that if we don’t notice our thoughts, they don’t exist,” ways Dr. Cristoff in Vancouver, “When we don’t notice them is when we may be thinking most creatively.

∑ Think positive
Insights and innovative ideas are more likely to occur when people are in a positive mood and open to ideas according to researchers at Drexel and Northwestern. It won’t help if you are anxious and negative about coming up with a solution.

∑ Set the stage
Be prepared by doing your homework and studying the problem. As one scientist pointed out, “Insight favors the prepared mind.” Then let your mind wander. Sleep on it. (My most fruitful time for breakthroughs is early in the morning when I’m half asleep.) Take a walk. Soak in the tub. Scientists believe the big breakthroughs seem to come out of nowhere when we’re doing something else.

∑ Pay attention when the lightbulb goes off
Interestingly, a “lightbulb” does go off in the mind when you come up with an insight. Studies show that there is “a distinctive burst of gamma waves bursting out from the brain’s right hemisphere that is involved in handling associations and assembling elements of a problem.” The only difference between you and I and innovative business people is that they have the courage to entertain these bursts of insight.

See if you can set aside some time to let your mind wander toward insight and innovation. And let me know how you get your innovative ideas.

Good Job News for Girlie Men
by Bob Goldman

Creators Syndicate Inc

This economic disaster does not play favorites.
Pick any person, in any job category, and you
will find fear, depression and uncertainty. Even
the strongest people, with the best prospects,
the most education, and the highest level of job
skills live in fear of a sudden reversal that will
put them permanently out to pasture.
When it comes to feeling scared and hopeless,
this economy — as they say in employment ads,
back when there used to be employment ads –
is an equal opportunity employer, male and
female.

Or is it? According to personal branding expert
Catherine Kaputa, female job searchers have a
“feminine advantage: distinct, hardwired
advantages over male counterparts and
competitors.”

If you’re a woman, Kaputa says, all you have to
do is leverage your natural advantages. What a
man is supposed to do, Kaputa does not
specify. (”Giving up” might be one strategy –
putting down your beer, stripping off your
football jersey, enjoying one last, loud burp, and
walking into the sea.)

In her new book, “The Female Brand: Using the
Female Mindset to Succeed in Business,”
Kaputa presses her case that “women are
naturally wired for success.” Using what her
publicity person — a woman, naturally –
describes as “the latest brain science,” the
author “debunks old and misguided workplace
myths that women must think and act like a man
to succeed.”

Unfortunately, in this economy, even thinking
and acting like a man is no guarantee for
success. That’s why I feel it is absolutely fair for
men to use the “feminine advantage” to solve
our job problems. For a girlie man like me, this
should be relatively simple. But the way I see it,
even a he-man like you could benefit from
taking on few of these girlish traits.

For example:
This economic disaster does not play favorites.
Pick any person, in any job category, and you
will find fear, depression and uncertainty. Even
the strongest people, with the best prospects,
the most education, and the highest level of job
skills live in fear of a sudden reversal that will
put them permanently out to pasture.

When it comes to feeling scared and hopeless,
this economy — as they say in employment ads,
back when there used to be employment ads –
is an equal opportunity employer, male and
female.

Or is it? According to personal branding expert
Catherine Kaputa, female job searchers have a
“feminine advantage: distinct, hardwired
advantages over male counterparts and
competitors.”

If you’re a woman, Kaputa says, all you have to
do is leverage your natural advantages. What a
man is supposed to do, Kaputa does not
specify. (”Giving up” might be one strategy –
putting down your beer, stripping off your
football jersey, enjoying one last, loud burp, and
walking into the sea.)

In her new book, “The Female Brand: Using the
Female Mindset to Succeed in Business,”
Kaputa presses her case that “women are
naturally wired for success.” Using what her
publicity person — a woman, naturally –
describes as “the latest brain science,” the
author “debunks old and misguided workplace
myths that women must think and act like a man
to succeed.”

Unfortunately, in this economy, even thinking
and acting like a man is no guarantee for
success. That’s why I feel it is absolutely fair for
men to use the “feminine advantage” to solve
our job problems. For a girlie man like me, this
should be relatively simple. But the way I see it,
even a he-man like you could benefit from
taking on few of these girlish traits.

For example:
Tune in Emotionally: Women are especially
“intuitive and empathetic,” says Kaputa. It’s a
condition she chalks up to a higher level of
hormones, such as estrogen and oxytocin. By
being more open to others’ feelings, her theory
goes, women can form closer bonds to “build
strong and healthy work relationships.”

Accepting for a moment that a “healthy work
relationship” actually exists, this lack of
hormones is a difficult hurdle for mankind. You
could ask for extra estrogen on your double
cheeseburger, or add an oxytocin chaser to your
boilermaker. But the harsh truth is that, in the
game of biology, you have to play with the
hormones you were dealt. That leaves guys with
testosterone, a hormone more connected with
caveman violence than with intuition or
empathy.

Sales is never easy, but it’s never harder than in a down economy.. To be successful you need to use different tactics and strategies – that’s where the branding model can be helpful. Branding is all about standing out and getting traction in a competitive environment.

Here are 5 ways to market Brand You for successful job hunting from my book U R a Brand!, winner of the Ben Franklin Award for Best Career Book, 2007 (www.urabrand.com), and the women’s counterpart, The Female Brand (June 2009 www.femalebrand.com)

1. Think Outside In
Adopting the marketing mindset, begin with your “customers” (your clients and prospects). What are they looking for? What reaction do you want to get from them? Then work backwards. What is the best way to appeal to them in today’s economy? What aspects of your product or service should you emphasize? What should you de-emphasize or eliminate from your pitch? What specific actions can you take to get the reaction you want?

2. Position yourself
Brands begin with a brand audit. Look at yourself as a product in a competitive marketplace. Do a SWOT Analyis of your “Strengths” and “Weaknesses”. Then look at the wider marketplace. What are the “Opportunities” and “Threats” you are facing. Use the SWOT analysis to find the best positioning for yourself – what you as a sales profession can stand for that is different, relevant and adds value – you want to solve a pain point in the marketplace. Remember, in terms of branding, it’s not what you do to the product – it’s what you do to perceptions – to the mind of others. Position yourself and your attributes so that they sing for a specific client.

3. Have a compelling “Elevator Speech”
The elevator speech is a must that many people overlook. Hence they stumble through explaining who they are and why that is important when they are in pitching themselves or at a networking event. (And every potential person you meet could lead to a sale.) The “elevator speech” is short. (That’s why they call it that.) It should be your thirty-second personal commercial. It’s your introduction to yourself that is colloquial, conversational and memorable. That’s why you’ll want to use a sound bite or analogy or anecdote to set yourself apart. In essence, an elevator speech should convey the key highlights of what you and your product can do, and imply, there’s more that you can do for them.

4. Be consistent at every “touch point”
Brands try to take advantage of every touch point so that everything works together when a customer comes into contact with the brand: advertising, PR, the in-store experience. Likewise, you should make sure your brand conveys a consistent image and message at every touch point: your appearance, your website, your bio, your phone message, your emails, your follow-up letters, your business card.

5. Seek ‘celebrity” endorsements
You may not know any real celebrities (I don’t either). But you no doubt know another type of “celebrity,” such as the CEO, President or SVP of a client company, or a senior executive who could vouch for you. Ask them to provide a short sentence or two about your ability and character and use it as a third-party endorsement. You can use the quote in an addendum to your profile or in cover letters.

In today’s job market, you need an edge. Brand strategies and tactics can give you that edge.