Dear Friends,

We are energized by the strong, affirmative response we had to last month's complimentary webinar Part 1 -- 2009: A Year In Review - An Assessment of Your Personal Brand. More than 100 people registered for the webinar and many more visited our website and downloaded the planning worksheets.

This month's theme is Part 2 "Create The Vision: Where Is Your Personal Brand Heading?" As we approach year end and prepare for the beginning of 2010, there are clear economic signs emerging that new career opportunities are beginning to present themselves. As you reposition your personal brand and reflect on your personal "year in review," this is the time to establish a clear, long-term vision for your personal brand. We invite you to BE OUR GUEST on Wednesday, November 18, from 12-1 pm ET for a complimentary webinar, Part 2 in our 3-part webinar series. Click here to register now or see below for more information.

This month's article is "Sound Long-Term Strategy Is Key, Particularly In A Crisis" from Michael Porter, Harvard Professor and CEO of Monitor Group, a top global strategy consulting firm. In this article, Porter states, "It's times like these when tremendous competitive success can be achieved. It's times like these where companies can shift positions in the marketplace. It's times like these when leaders can become followers, and followers can become leaders, because we are in a period where everything is now going to open and unfreeze."

Porter's advice can be applied to your personal brand as well as to your business. You have the opportunity to shift your personal brand positioning in the marketplace. You have the opportunity to transition from follower to leader. Your personal brand can capitalize as the global economy moves from recession to recovery and things begin to open up and unfreeze.

At EC, we believe a powerful long-term career vision will yield the most bountiful rewards in the recovering economy that lies ahead. Now is the time to look out 3 to 5 years in the future and answer, "Where is my personal brand headed?" We challenge you to use the balance of 2009 to create a powerful vision for your personal brand that will drive a competitive advantage in the marketplace in 2010 and let us support you in the planning.

We also would like to extend our best wishes to everyone for a Happy Thanksgiving holiday later this month. Despite all we have been through, and the continuing challenges many are facing, we all have a lot to be thankful for. At EC, we are thankful to you, our clients, our friends and business connections, our families, and others who have provided us support and encouragement. Who and what are you thankful for as you reflect on the year? Hopefully your list is long.

As always, we look forward to connecting with you personally.

All our best,

Jeff Gundersen, CEO jgundersen@executiveconnectionsllc.com
and Lorraine White, Chief Coaching Officer lwhite@executiveconnects.com
Executive Connections, LLC
Executive Search, Executive Coaching & Consulting for Top-Level Executives
Direct: 941-323-8300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              941-323-8300      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
http://www.executiveconnectionsllc.com

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Where Is Your Personal Brand Heading?
Is Your Personal Brand Ready for a Global Economic Upturn?

With a global upturn potentially on the horizon, it's important that you actually prepare to achieve your ideal next career step.

To help you prepare, please BE OUR GUEST on November 18 for Part 2 of our complimentary webinar series, "Managing Your Personal Brand Through an Executive Transition: A Year in Review." The focus for Part 2 is "Create The Vision: Where Is Your Personal Brand Heading?"

During the webinar, we take you through processes, questions and exercises similar to those we provide to our private career transition clients. Participating in this 3-part series, you will:

• Complete a personal brand assessment as a foundation element toward change.
  
  
• Define a future personal brand vision and career goals consistent with your values.
  
  
• Raise your personal brand awareness to the next level, where it'll be noticed!
  
  
• Walk away with an action plan that's aligned with your vision.

Click here to register now.

Wednesday, November 18, noon Eastern: "Create the Vision - Where is Your Brand Headed?"
Wednesday, December 16, noon Eastern: "Define a Brand Course of Action - What Now?"

If you missed last month's Part 1 webinar, you may download the worksheet here.

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Sound Long-Term Strategy is Key, Particularly in a Crisis: Harvard's Michael Porter (from www.INSEAD.edu)

With the current global economic downturn, there's been plenty of talk of doom and gloom. But Professor Michael Porter of Harvard University, a leading authority on competitive strategy, begs to differ. He believes this time of great economic upheaval to be the tipping point for companies -- if only they know how to harness the right strategies.

"It's times like these when tremendous competitive success can be achieved. It's times like these where companies can shift positions in the marketplace. It's times like these when leaders can become followers, and followers can become leaders, because we are in a period where everything is now going to open and unfreeze."

Redefining strategy

And it is at times like these, Porter emphasizes, that strategy is most important. With strategy generally being about earning a superior return over the longer run, its essence, he explains, is then about figuring out which set of needs you are going to meet in your company, which are different from the needs that you competitors are trying to meet.

"The worst mistake in strategy -- and it's a particularly bad mistake in a slowed economic downturn -- is to compete with your competitors on the same thing. You want to find a different kind of value that you can deliver to a different set of customers. Strategy is fundamentally about how you're going to deliver unique value."

And Porter believes there's no better time than now to heed this advice to differentiate yourself from the competition -- and thrive. "In a time of economic downturn, you have to be clearer about your strategy than in normal times. When things are growing, lots of companies can be successful. In difficult times, the companies that win are the ones who are very clear about who they are and how they are trying to deliver value.

"In times of economic distress, clarity of strategy becomes even more important. In an economic downturn, figuring out what part of the industry that you want to serve becomes incredibly important."

He cautions, however, that businesses should not overreact to the unusual conditions of a downturn, and not change their entire strategy because of the particular set of customers who are not buying today. And a sound strategy, he adds, needs a few years to incubate in order for it to really bear fruit.

Seeing the big picture

Another gaffe to avoid is what Porter calls the paradox of economic downturns. "Every bit of pressure is pulling companies to doing whatever is necessary to survive. . . . What we've found over and over again is that to survive you actually have to have the capacity to integrate the short term and the long term, and think about the two together. And you can't take actions in the short term that seem expedient, if they ultimately undermine what's different or unique about the company. Companies that really overreact to the downturn I think get themselves into big trouble."

To cite an example, Porter explains that if a company that is strategically focused on providing excellent products with excellent service suddenly cuts back on service and activities to cater to price-sensitive customers, they risk undermining their longer-term success and become just like their competitors who are all cutting prices as well. "When you cut and shrink, don't do it across the board; cut to a strategy, don't just cut. Don't just take 10 percent off every department -- that's a disaster."

Making good out of the bad

But there appears to be a silver lining this cloud. As companies are normally scrutinized every quarter on their profitability, the pressure is always on to keep the numbers healthy. But at times like this, Porter says that the stock price and quarterly results actually don't matter very much because nobody is going to look good. And trying to look a little better when everybody is bad doesn't really get you much.

He adds that it is ironic that during such trying times, companies have the greatest flexibility to make unprecedented moves and investments that they would otherwise not have been able to do in more normal periods when they're under more short-term scrutiny.

"At times like these, there's a possibility to make moves that you could never dream of making before. . . . We've got to see this for what it is. We're going to have to understand that the rules of economics and competition are going to continue, and we've got to take advantage of this period to try to move our business forward."

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Top leaders often face challenging and unexpected business and personal issues and need expect counsel on short notice. Ask Our Coach is a 24/7/365 hotline that clients and prospective clients alike can use to obtain coaching advice from one of EC's senior coach-consultants. EC's commitment is to respond to all Ask Our Coach inquiries within 24 hours, which makes us always accessible and available to our clients when you need us.

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"I have been reading your newsletter all these years and I have to compliment you and your partner on the effectiveness of your activities, especially this online branding segment. Having been a marketer all these years and having had to reinvent/rebrand myself without help many times, I still found this online session very useful. Never too late or too old to learn."

~Judith Tshibangu

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NCDM 2009
Mon, Dec 7 - Wed, Dec 9
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
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