Class Of 2010: Boomerang Kids Are Unemployed, Hitting The Couch & Becoming K.I.P.P.E.R.S
June 01, 2010

Come get your career and job search questions answered by our founder & CEO J.T. O'Donnell.
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LinkedIn is not the easiest social media platform to navigate. If you wish you could make better use of this essential career tool, sign up for this event today!
What You'll Learn:
Hosted by: J.T. O'Donnell & Christina Burgio
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Join us for Networking Masters (think Toastmasters but for networking)! During this interactive group session, you'll exercise your networking and presenting skills so you can be a more confident connector!
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Come get your career and job search questions answered by our team.
Hosted by: Christina Burgio
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It can be tough getting that promotion at work, especially when you're not sure how to show you deserve one. If you want to get a promotion (and a raise!), attend this live event and learn how to make the case for a higher job title and salary.
What You'll Learn:
Hosted by: J.T. O'Donnell & Christina Burgio
Cost of Event: $5.00/ticket
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Join us for Networking Masters (think Toastmasters but for networking)! During this interactive group session, you'll exercise your networking and presenting skills so you can be a more confident connector!
Hosted by: J.T. O'Donnell or Christina Burgio
Cost of Event: FREE
Sign up for this live event today!
Come get your career and job search questions answered by our founder & CEO J.T. O'Donnell.
Hosted by: J.T. O'Donnell
Cost of Event: FREE
Sign up for this live event today!
Not sure if it's time to change careers, or how to make a career change when you ARE ready? Sign up for this live event to learn exactly how to make a career change when you've been laid off.
What You'll Learn:
Hosted by: J.T. O'Donnell & Christina Burgio
Cost of Event: $5.00/ticket
Buy your ticket for this live event today!
Join us for Networking Masters (think Toastmasters but for networking)! During this interactive group session, you'll exercise your networking and presenting skills so you can be a more confident connector!
Hosted by: J.T. O'Donnell or Christina Burgio
Cost of Event: FREE
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Part Two: The Steps Toward Achieving Data Governance
I have seen organizations stand up tactical teams before a data strategy was defined, with the identified pain points and opportunities. The results were mixed at best. Data strategy should drive all subsequent steps.
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To get organizational buy-in to treat data as a strategic organizational asset and value driver, a committee should be formed to guide the data governance tactical program(s), including the day-to-day management of data. It is vital to obtain C-level top management support to ensure that the program achieves the proper funding and enterprise support levels.
The C-level executives sitting on this data governance committee should include functional and user base leaders: the chief data officer (or the chief data analytics officer), chief risk officer, chief financial officer, and depending on the size of the firm, the chief operating officer, and the CEO. Leaders from heavy data user groups, such as marketing, digital, and operations, should also be part of this group. While this group will tackle enterprise issues, sub-committees can be formed to address specific business line needs. Committee participants should be engaged, data literate, contribute best practices, and challenge the team to uplift and mature capabilities.
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Once the committee is set, we can progress governance by setting up a data management framework. This playbook defines the people, processes, and technologies related to governing data.
So far, so good—most organizations get to this point…but ignore the overall business case. A business case spells out the success metrics and ROI of investing in and governing data.
Ok, now to set up the framework and the function:
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Once again, it is time for a sanity check: Are all of these elements tied back to an enterprise data strategy? What are your thoughts about data governance and management? What has been your experience? Let me know!
Next Post: Standing Up For Data Management And Data Governance Teams
Brand pillars are the foundation of your brand and contribute to your overall brand DNA. There are five pillars: purpose, positioning, perception, personality, and promotion. Brand pillars help you define your unique characteristics and experiences, driving every consumer touchpoint to differentiate you from your competitors.
Let’s review the five brand pillars and how to implement them within your organization.
Brand purpose is "why" you exist. It's the reason for being beyond making a profit. A great brand purpose will always put the consumers first and manifest itself in everything it does.
Knowing the deeper "why" your company or brand exists provides the foundation on which to build everything else.
Simon Sinek, author of the book Start with Why, introduced the idea of defining brand purpose to a global audience in his 2009 TED talk.
"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe."—Simon Sinek, How Great Leaders Inspire Action.
Here are some key questions to ask yourself to get at the "why" when developing your brand purpose:
Brand purpose is critical in today's market as it shows your customers, employees, and competitors that you're bigger than just turning a profit.
Brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers based on your brand purpose and values that gives you a competitive advantage.
What do you think of when you hear "search engine"? Did Google come to mind? This product is positioned to dominate its category. What about a company that provides "overnight shipping"? FedEx owns the transportation category even though other companies provide overnight shipping.
A well-developed and implemented brand position provides a sustainable competitive advantage, communicates value to customers, is a vehicle to help manage brand consistency, and impacts the bottom line.
Here are five steps to consider when creating your brand positioning.
A brand personality can be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with your brand. It’s communicated through tone of voice, visuals, and even policies. They’re expressed as adjectives that convey how you want people to perceive your brand. For example, is your brand cheerful, funny, friendly, youthful, innovative, spirited, dependable, responsible, credible, sophisticated, rebellious, cunning, powerful, honest, and so on? Here is a list of 200+ adjectives to get you started.
Let’s look at an example: Coca-Cola is considered real and authentic while Pepsi tends to be young, spirited, and exciting, and Dr. Pepper is seen as nonconforming, unique, and fun. Source.
A brand can also be described by demographics (age, gender, social class, and race), lifestyle (activities, interests, and opinions), or human personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, and dependability). Source.
There are three approaches on how to find your brand personality.
The first three brand pillars, purpose, positioning, and personality, are driven by the brand through targeting, messaging, and execution. The fourth brand pillar, perception, is owned by your customers. It’s how they view and experience your brand. Jeff Bezos famously said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
When you’re starting your business, list out the traits and characteristics that you want your customers to associate your brand with. If you have an established brand and want information on how your brand is perceived, gather customer, employee, and/or vendor feedback:
You can also gain further insights into your brand perceptions by asking customers, employees, and/or vendors questions through various research tools (i.e. polls, surveys, focus groups, etc.):
Your goal is to evaluate customers’ perceptions to see if you need to make changes to your brand strategy. It’s important to create a positive perception of your brand that aligns with your mission, vision, and purpose.
Brand promotion is a way to inform, persuade, convince, and influence consumers by driving their decision-making process towards purchasing your brand.
A strong brand promotion strategy places your brand in the right place, at the right time, and in the right context for your customers and prospects.
The goal of brand promotion is to increase brand awareness in order to drive revenue and convert consumers to loyal customers, building long-term, lasting relationships.
To start identifying how to promote your brand, consider asking the following questions:
Final Thoughts
Brand pillars are the foundation of your brand. They help you define your brand for your internal and external customers, ensuring you capture your audience and convert them to brand loyalists. Start building your brand leadership today. You’ve got this!