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Preston Tucker And The Future.

1/29/2019

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During a neighborhood walk with friends several mornings ago, we got talking about Preston Tucker and his innovative automobile from the late 1940s. Thirty years ago, I had written a client speech on the subject, so went searching through basement files (the old paper kind) ‘til I found it. The subject seemed just as fresh today as it did back then.   

It was just after World War II when Preston Tucker, a former policeman, car salesman and engineer/tinkerer, grabbed the future by its collar and shook it. New cars hadn’t been produced since 1942, and the fresh-from-Detroit 1946 models were warmed-over prewar designs. Tucker, however, imagined something radically different, an innovative design that would turn heads and help build the fortune that had always seemed to elude him.  His vision of tomorrow’s automobile took shape in the barn back of his house in Michigan, which housed the Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company where Tucker had designed (but never could bring to market) an armored car,  an innovative tank turret and a fighter plane.

He called his prototype the Tucker Torpedo for its daring new shape. It was a revolutionary car. A safe car. A fast car.  A fuel-efficient car.  A car that could stop on a dime.  A car that knocked your eyes out.  

The production model Tucker 48 was incredible, although toned down a bit from the prototype. Even so, nobody had ever seen (or imagined) anything this car shaped like the future. It was built low to the ground and featured a windshield wide as a picture window that was designed to pop out in a crash, saving the driver and passenger from popping it out with their heads. It had a third headlight in the center, which pivoted for a better view of the road as the car turned. The 6-cylinder engine, adapted from a helicopter engine, was in the back. It was fuel-injected and there was a double transaxle to drive the rear wheels. The Tucker 48 wasn't clunky looking like most other post-war cars. And wasn't slow, either; it could go 120 mph and had handling and endurance to match. A prototype Tucker ran around a test track for 24 hours and got 25 miles per gallon. When the car was rolled over at 90 mph during a test track run, the driver walked away from the wreck unscathed, and the car was driven away after one tire change. The windshield popped out, just as planned.

People loved the audacious Tucker Torpedo and wanted to buy them (priced at $2,000, when the average new car cost around $1,200). Crowds surrounded the car everywhere Tucker went. Over time, he raised enough money to put together the people and facility to manufacture and market the car, and although his future seemed assured, the Tucker was a failure. Preston Tucker's dream to produce the finest automobile ever made never got to spread its wings, partly because of his own business and financial limitations but also because of crushing political pressure said to have been engineered by the Big Three American auto manufacturers, who perceived the Torpedo as immediate threat to their future. Only fifty-one Tuckers were ever produced.

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The "competition” may have helped assure a lack of his cars in our future, but Preston Tucker had something to say about that future. It was a sharp warning for America.

“If big business closes the door to the little guy with new ideas,” he said (quoted in a 1988 film about his life and dream), “we might just as well let the Japanese and the Germans walk in here and tell us what to do. We’re going to wake up one morning and find ourselves at the bottom of the heap instead of being king of the hill. We’ll end up preferring things from outside the country to things that Americans build right here. There will probably come a day when we’ll be buying our cars and radios and appliances from our former enemies.” 

People laughed at Preston Tucker’s predictions. They had no concept of a time when American-made automobiles, radios and televisions would nearly be overrun by well-designed, well-made products from Japan and Germany. All they could think about was now. The war was over and heretofore scarce consumer goods had begun reappearing on American shelves. There was a huge demand for new cars as a promising future reached toward the second half of the century. With the demise of Tucker Motor Company, American automakers knew exactly what their near future could have looked like had Tucker’s “car of tomorrow today” succeeded. 

There’s a scene in the film where Tucker is in the barn trying to convince his small development team that there was just about enough steel in a tank turret prototype they had laying around from which to build an automobile prototype.

“Can anybody look me in the eye and say we can’t do it?” Tucker challenged.

The prototype did get built, despite Detroit's scheming, and so did fifty more Tuckers. Forty-seven are said to survive today, at least one of which sold not long ago for close to $3-million. The company didn’t make it, however, and the reasons for that remain controversial, but the car was ahead of its time before it left the sketchpad. The mere reason that Preston Tucker tried and almost succeeded gives us reason alone to admire this man who looked fifty years into the future and got to work making things happen.

Takeaway:  If you believe your product has enduring marketable value, do everything you can to tell the world about it in a way that it takes hold in your prospects' minds -- and doesn't let go until they become your customers.

 
Note: This reflection on Preston Tucker and the Tucker Torpedo was adapted from a 1989 client business presentation about Future Perfect Thinking.    © 2019 by Brian E. Faulkner

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GooGLE Divides to Conquer.

8/13/2015

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The news that Google was creating a new entity to contain itself plus the company’s more speculative ventures came as welcome news to the investment community today -- and to armchair business strategists, as well.   Google will become a subsidiary of Alphabet (www.abc.xyz), which also will hold (and develop) a portfolio of products aimed squarely at the future. 
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As the illustration shows, Google's vision allows it to continue marketing and growing its search business, YouTube, Google AdSense and other endeavors while Alphabet concentrates on creating leading edge opportunities, thus giving the company a mix of separately managed business units in different stages of development.  It's all very much in keeping with what Peter Drucker declared some time ago:  

                “Business has only two functions: marketing and innovation.”

Google’s move is not surprising given a 30-something friend’s recent hiring by Google after an exhaustive assessment process to determine whether he’d be a good cultural fit.   Apparently he is, because three weeks into the new job he’s off and running, although I don’t know exactly what he’s doing.  It wouldn’t surprise me to discover that he’s working on some high-potential Alphabet project given his unusual mix of talents and experience: a coder who can discern and dissect client problems with an eye toward solving them in a practical, profitable way.  He's also a talented graphic artist and has a mind that allows him to imagine products into being and help make them successful. 

I am reminded, in thinking about Google’s fascinating strategic move, of a quote by Bob Waterman in the landmark 1980s book In Search of Excellence -- something like “The best businesses are always in the process of becoming something new.”  I may not be remembering the quote precisely, but you get the idea.   It’s a perfect description of what Google is up to.

“As Sergey (Brin) and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago,” says Google co-founder Larry Page in his introduction to Alphabet’s new Web site, ‘Google is not a conventional company’ …  we did a lot of things that seemed crazy at the time.  Many of those crazy things now have over a billion users, like Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and Android.  And we haven’t stopped there. We are still trying to do things other people think are crazy but we are super excited about … (because) in the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant ..."

Of course, the wags on Twitter are all about making fun of the novel company name, such as calling the new campus “Alphabet City”.  Or check out this would-be headline: “Google restructures under ‘Alphabet.’ - Corp headquarters to move to Sesame Street.  Bert & Ernie to be co-COOs.”

Yuk it up all you want.  To my way of thinking, Google has scored big with its new structure, and at the end of market trading today, investors appear to have agreed -- on an otherwise down day for stocks.  With the Dow having fallen more than 200 points on China’s currency revaluation, GOOG was up, somewhere north of 4%. 

Somebody in Mountain View must have been reading Drucker.

TakeAway:  Build on your present successes while investing in imaginative new opportunities that your future customers don’t even know they need yet.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

sources:  http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/10/google-announces-plans-for-new-operating-structure.htmlhttp://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/11/why-investors-like-googles-alphabet-news-analyst.html



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A Mercedes by Another Name.

5/22/2015

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Picture- Image © by Brian E. Faulkner -
Tags:  Mercedes-Benz, Steinway & Sons, Daimler Motor Company, Daimler-Benz
While researching the origin of the current Mercedes-Benz tagline, I was reminded how close the car came to being called something else – at least here in America.

Were it not for a promising young man’s extended illness, Mercedes most likely would have been called by a name that had nothing to do with automobiles, a name known around the world by the time Gottlieb Daimler rolled out his high-speed internal combustion-powered automobile in 1886. Carl Benz developed his own car the same year, but the business entities that survived the inventors didn’t come together as Daimler-Benz AG until 1926.

In addition to automobiles, Daimler built engines for boats and industrial applications.   That caught the eye of one William Steinway, of the famed piano family.  He got in touch with Daimler, and on October 6, 1888, the Daimler Motor Company was organized in New York, where Steinway & Sons had already been in business for 35 years.

Steinway was convinced he could sell Daimler’s engines in the United States and acquired the rights to manufacture and market them for use in such things as cream separators, sewing machines, pumps, ventilating fans, printing presses and other applications that required a single-cylinder stationary engine. 

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In 1893, Steinway experienced Daimler’s “motor carriage” for himself and began to envision a motorized America.  So he set about developing his own automobile, one more adapted to American road conditions because he thought Daimler’s car too light for the “rough cobblestone streets we have in this country.”

“The cars which we intend to produce for the American market will be capable of carrying between two and four people and will be driven by engines with between 2½ and 3½ hp,” Steinway told a newspaper reporter in 1895. “Each car will have four different speed settings: 3½, 6, 9, and 14 miles per hour.”

However, this perspicacious man’s dream was not to be.  He died at age 35 in November of the following year after a stubborn period of undiagnosed illness (probably tuberculosis).  By that time he’d invested a frustrating amount of additional capital in the car company to offset continuing losses, so it’s likely he would have pulled out anyway.  After William’s death, Daimler Motor Company’s holdings, including a factory built on Steinway’s land, was sold to newly organized Daimler Manufacturing Company, which in 1905 produced an “American Mercedes” based on the German model. This car was on the market for only eight years before its factory was destroyed by fire.  

So had William Steinway lived and helped Daimler Motor Company overcome its ongoing financial problems, the American Mercedes just might have been called a Steinway ... which no doubt would have worked out fine, because both brands exemplify the best in their categories to this day. 

Best is subjective, of course, but Steinway & Sons instruments are the pianos on which the overwhelming number of concert artists choose to perform – or aspire to perform, as they have almost since day one.   William’s father, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, emigrated to New York from Germany during mid century, founded his business in a Manhattan loft, changed his name to Henry Steinway and set a quality standard that has endured through successive generations.   His maxim was “Build the best piano possible.  Sell it at the lowest price consistent with quality.” 

And although the company has passed through a number of different owners since it was purchased from the Steinway family by CBS in 1972, Steinway & Sons remains at the top of the piano hierarchy and is the brand to which other fine pianos are most often compared.   The company now is owned by American hedge fund manager John Paulson, a long-time admirer of its products.   His stated goal is to assure Steinway & Sons’ "continuing greatness."

Henry and William clearly would have agreed on that.

Mercedes-Benz’ latest tagline also reflects the philosophy of its founder, as well as the quality bedrock on which the brand stands as it moves deeper into the 21st century.  

You may recall the TV spot where Gottlieb Daimler nods off at his desk and dreams about the Mercedes-Benz of the future, with its now-familiar look, technology and style.  As Daimler is awakened by a lovely assistant, we see a handwritten phrase scratched on the notepad beside him: The best or nothing -- underlined with a flourish.   Though Mercedes-Benz has experienced some quality issues in recent years (not unlike Steinway), the brand is still held in high esteem, evidenced by frequent references to the “Mercedes of this” and the “Mercedes of that” as the marketers of other high-end product seek to compare their offerings to the car with the three pointed star.   

“In the end, all any of us has is our good name,” a Mercedes print ad declared a while back.   That’s true of Mercedes-Benz and true of Steinway & Sons.   The two vaulted brands that nearly became kissin’ cousins a hundred-odd years ago have prospered -- and will continue to prosper -- in large part because of the quality foundation put in place by their founders.

TakeAway:  Build your brand on bedrock quality and your reputation will follow, helping smooth the way over the inevitable bumps you encounter on your road to success.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner


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What's So Mysterious About Business Creativity?

2/23/2015

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner

Creativity is for people who do creative stuff, right? Artists, who paint and sculpt, write, dance, act and make music. 

“But not me!” you might say, “I’m a business person -- and definitely not creative.”

I recall a client who thought that way.  Said he could hardly draw a straight line so was not creative.  Yet, this man was the most creative businessperson I’ve ever encountered (although I've yet to meet Elon Musk). He thought in odd angles and perceived the future with clarity. He also could share his vision, and in a few short years of very hard work grew his  business from a handful of people in a small office to a national brand that dominated its category.

Is there a connection between creativity and business success?


A 2014 study commissioned by Adobe suggests that “creative companies … outperform in both revenue growth and market share.” The study surveyed more than 300 senior managers in a variety of large global firms and found that “58% of respondents from creative companies (those that encourage creative perspective, practices, and culture) said their revenues have strong growth (10%+ year-over-year) while only 20% of less creative companies reported strong revenue growth. And creative companies are 50% more likely to report a commanding market leadership position."

Clearly, one must be cautious in interpreting findings like this since other success factors also may be at play in these organizations. But it stands to reason that leaders who encourage people to color outside the lines and explore the outer edges of opportunity will foster innovation and growth – and also be great places to work, as the Adobe study also found.

Sure, some folks seem to have more "creative" genes than others, just as some people have more innate ability to play sports -- or a musical instrument. You can learn how to play baseball or piano, for instance, and even though you might do a fair job at it, there's not much you can do with your skill beyond enjoy it. But even a kernel of creativity can sometimes lead to big things. I recall Colonel Sanders from time to time and his creative approach to preparing, cooking and selling chicken. He started experimenting with his "secret recipe" during the 1930s in Kentucky by offering chicken to patrons of a gas station he owned (at age 40). A variety of learning experiences, several failures and 20 odd years later, he hit the road to sell restaurants on purchasing franchised rights to chicken done his way. Even his gravy was a cut above, enough to make you want to "throw away the durned chicken and just eat the gravy." By the time he set out to sign up franchisees he was nearly broke, but he persisted -- and found not only that people liked his Kentucky Fried Chicken (which was pressure fried instead of pan fried) but that it also boosted sales for the restaurants who chose to buy in. Today, Harlan Sanders' creative approach is the basis for one of the world's most successful brands. 


So how can you put creative thinking to work for your business? 

Kenichi Ohmae, a long-time managing partner with McKinsey & Company, recommended in his Mind of the Strategist that to get a fresh look at a problem or product it helps to break it into bite-sized bits: features, benefits, base assumptions, competitive advantages, market perspective, etc, then reassemble the bits in new ways -- and question everything (a more non-linear approach to S-W-O-T discussions). The mere act of decoupling yourself from predictable thinking can open up new worlds of possibility, as long as you recognize that false starts and frustrations are a valuable part of the process - along with the courage to see your way through.  If that sounds like old-fashioned anything-goes brainstorming, well … it is.  It’s about opening yourself to new thinking based on the knowledge and experience of others.

Edwin Land, of Polaroid fame, observed that most major discoveries at his company were made by people able to take a “fresh, clean look at the old, old knowledge.”  Like a client I consulted to recently, which turned out to have a revolutionary product benefit hidden deep within their story, an uncommunicated competitive advantage with the potential to make a hugely profitable difference to their customers.  It was there all along but just took fresh eyes to see.

Another way to take a clean look at things is through peripheral visioning: looking beyond your normal field of vision, searching outside your comfort zone for fresh perspective … and possibly even enlightenment.  If you run a grocery store, study the machine tool business.  If you’re in the service business, learn all you can about the marketing of consumer products. If you’re a retailer, get to know how non-profits think. If you've been in business practically forever, get to know a few unrelated startups. Read all you can about them. Get curious!  You’ll be surprised how much of what you learn can be applied to your business – that is, if you’re willing to risk leading the way through unexplored territory. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, seek out professional creative thinkers and ask them to help (or hire one to think inside your company, as one of my clients did). Wrap people from businesses with different problems and perspectives into your brainstorming, and it won’t be long before you find yourself immersed in a mindspace where stale, predictable thinking gets transformed into creative new possibilities.

My definition of creativity is looking at the ordinary in extraordinary ways (playing off those odd angles).  It's a lot like daydreaming, something society encourages us not to do. Some of my most fruitful ideas come during long drives with my mind in idle.  A twenty-minute nap gets results, too, although it has taken me a long time to get over the guilt of interrupting a “workday” for a brief snooze. But when you consider that business ideas precede success, spending a chunk of your valuable time thinking seems less crazy to those more accustomed to working inside the box. People once thought powered flight was crazy, but two bicycle repairmen brothers from Dayton dared to imagine otherwise.

Albert Einstein once called imagination “the preview of coming attractions.”  So why not get busy imagining your coming business attractions?  Not creative?  

Don’t believe that for a minute! 

TakeAway:  Take the risk of seeing, thinking and learning outside your comfort zone.  The dividends can be extraordinary.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner




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If You Want a Great Job, Interview companies With Good VIBES.

11/17/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Have you ever noticed how some businesses just wrap themselves around you and make you feel welcome, whether you’re a customer or a new graduate looking for a job?

I have found after many years consulting to businesses of all sizes (about communicating their culture and competitive advantage) that you can walk onto a sale floor, into a company headquarters or manufacturing plant and know immediately which organizations “click” and which do not.  The businesses that connect have good vibes.  There’s positive energy.  Their leadership is genuine, sometimes even inspired.  The people are real.  They’re not just plodding along toward quitting time.  They’re into what they’re doing -- and believe in it.  The organization shares a clear purpose and vision that are not just words on some poster hung in the break room.

My son-in-law works for REI, a national retailer of recreational equipment, clothing, footwear and other attractive, well-chosen merchandise targeted to the outdoorsy crowd.  He is enthusiastic about the company, which is organized as a consumer cooperative in which members get a dividend check every year for around 10% of a generous array of eligible merchandise purchased during that year, after paying a one-time $20 membership fee (you don’t have to join to shop there).  The more members buy at REI, the better the deal – it’s built-in.  REI also offers its members occasional deals that seem unusually attractive, in addition to store-wide sales that really are sales and not just come-ons.  

The point here is that REI has both a purpose (to make the outdoor life available to more people at a good price) and values (which seem to be that people matter and the environment matters).  The company uses words like approachable, collaborative, casual and playful to describe the work experience.  Everybody with more than 20 hours a week gets health care.  My son-in-law (who’s in retail management in an Atlanta-area REI store) says that the people who ultimately “stick” with the company buy into the REI experience (not to mention their generous performance incentives and retirement plan).  They may have come in just looking for a job but end up finding a passion for work that knits comfortably into the fabric of their lives and helps assure a secure future for them and their families.

The point here is not to suggest going to work at REI, although this perennial placeholder toward the top of Fortune magazine’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For would be a great choice.  You may find something just as rewarding in some other retail setting, in a small manufacturing plant or even a big company.  I have seen what, just for this article, might be called the “REI Effect” in all kinds of workplaces where business leadership and employees are in-synch and often unusually productive.  They know what their purpose is, how their customers benefit, where they are going, and “what’s-in-it-for-me”, which could be just as true for a non-profit -- such as a school – as for a commercial enterprise. 

So, if your goal is to find a work experience like the one exemplified by REI, try “getting a job” using a more differentiated strategy.  Check the place out if it’s a retail store.  Watch how the “team” works.  Ask challenging questions about the merchandise and see if they rise to the occasion – even if it’s almost closing time.   Ask people how they like working there.   If you want to work for ABC Corporation or XYZ Manufacturing but can’t get immediate access, vigorously research them online.  Talk to people who already work there; figure out where they go for lunch or to chat after work.  Then request an interview with a company manager you’ve targeted (by name) before you even apply for the job.  If HR gives you the stiff-arm, try calling the person directly and leave a message that inspires them to call you back.  Let them know that you're interviewing them (and others).  Talk to that manager about opportunities at the company, get other inside introductions and take a tour. If you want a sales position, ferret out some of the company’s customers and talk to them.  This approach should pay off, whether you’re just out of school looking for your first position or a work veteran who has been “right-sized” out of a job (maybe especially so if you’re that person because you can more readily perceive what you want to see and don’t want to see).

It’s also instructive to remember that the world does not owe you a job.   But you do owe yourself a good job.   You are no mere commodity, and you’re not seeking commodity-like work.  You have value, knowledge, experience and intelligence to add to the employer’s collective purpose -- and to their customers’ satisfaction.  And you have every right to enjoy your work.

Look for that “REI Effect”, perhaps in one of the other 99 companies on Fortune’s Top 100 list.   And don’t be satisfied with less.  Because you’re worth it.

TakeAway:  A job infused with passion and purpose pays big dividends.  Use a differentiated job search strategy to find one.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner


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The People's Vision: Don't Let Our Future Just Happen.

7/30/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
The managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin, suggested during a conversation the other day on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Hillary Clinton lacked “a big strategic vision on how to deal with the world.”  Same for President Obama.  Both, he observed, tend to look on the world episodically rather than strategically:

“We’re still dealing with the fallout of the end of the Cold War. We’re still dealing with the fallout of a post-9/11 world. And I think a lot of people are able to question (Mrs. Clinton's) role in the president’s record on the question of where is the grand strategy? Where is the vision of how to take America into a situation where we’re not dealing episodically with lots of crises without an overall sense of how to bring things together?”

Where is the vision, indeed! 

How do we “position” ourselves in the world?   How do we want to be perceived – generally and in light of tectonic shifts in geo-politics?  Where are we going?  How will we get there?   And how does all this impact my world, my country and me? 

The political parties and their presidential aspirants could do well to figure that out.

“The vision thing,” as George H. W. Bush famously called it back in 1987, has tripped up many a politician – and business leader.  Vision is not something you brainstorm for a couple of hours during a weekend retreat, tack on the office wall and forget about (although I have seen that happen many a time).  A well-grounded vision should arise from the core of your business with the vigor of Jack’s beanstalk because it wraps competency, focus and future into a single commanding insight about who you are and what you bring to the world.  Vision fuses who you are with what you want to become.  It propels you into tomorrow and next year and the year after that -- whether company or country. Decisions no longer get made piecemeal but are considered within the context of a well understood, well accepted and forward-looking strategic framework.

My definition of vision is a dream with a goal.

Too simple?  Vision is simple.  Making vision complicated is make-work.  And a disservice to your organization and the people who will help imagine and fashion your future.

All too often, however, we give little more than lip service to vision.  As Halperin noted, we react episodically.  We may solve some immediate problem with clever footwork but, in the long run, not get much more than a rim shot in return.   

The Obama administration appears to lack vision.  The president and his frequently flying secretary of state seem to react to foreign policy situations while fostering the impression of acting deliberately.  It seems true in their Middle East decision-making and when dealing with the seemingly indomitable Mr. Putin -- unless, of course, the administration’s actions are being guided by a strategy that simply isn’t apparent to the rest of us.  Either way, the perceived result is the same: geo-political muddle.

Our leaders do the country a disservice by not connecting the dots, by refusing (or neglecting) to meld the people’s dreams and goals into a clear and compelling vision, whether they’re talking about “rebuilding the middle class” or how government plays out its foreign policy on their behalf.  Historian and diplomat George F. Kennan once stated that, as an agent of the people (but not a principal unto itself), the primary obligation of government is to the “interests of the national society it represents … military security, the integrity of its political life and the well-being of its people.”    

Considered in that light, is it clear that President Obama has a vision for America – for all Americans?  Is he serving the interests of the national society he represents?  Or is he working his own agenda?  And are we in for more of the same if the Democrats’ leading contender is elected president in 2016?

On CNN this weekend, geo-political commentator and author Fareed Zakaria asked Hillary Clinton about the upcoming presidential campaign, to which she responded, in part, with her view about visioning:  

“Every election is sui generis.  I think it starts with where we are in the country at this time, with what Americans are thinking, feeling and hoping, and it proceeds from there.  And it is always about the future.  …  The questions for somebody running for president are not, you know, will you run and can you win … you have an election, not about a candidate, but you have an election about an agenda.”

The comment suggests that one day Mrs. Clinton actually may come up with a vision that helps the American people discern whether her view of our country and its place in the world earns their vote.  Meanwhile, even NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson says that Hillary lacks “a big idea.”  Clinton’s early-bet, very liberal opponent, Elizabeth Warren (who says she’s not running in the primary), already has posted a list of 11 Progressive Commandments that leaves no doubt about her vision for the country, at least regarding domestic issues.  I admire her specificity if not her politics.

What about your business?  Do you have a vision?  Does it reflect your present and illuminate your future?  

  • Perhaps your business strategy is concerned with protecting what you’ve already built.   
  • Maybe your company banks on its ability to respond with agility to present and emerging customer needs – faster and with greater innovation than its competitors.  
  • Or you’re a groundbreaker, with that rare ability to see beyond the horizon, make new things happen and change the world. 

In each case, your business should be guided by a strategic vision that your people understand and buy into, a vision that reflects both its dream for the future and a concrete goal somewhere out there in time.  Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” They also are apt to react to situations episodically (interestingly, a more up-to-date translation of the Proverbs verse suggests that things tend to fall apart without having first acceded to God’s guidance). 

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Tags: vision, strategic vision, Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin, Hillary Clinton, Morning Joe, President Obama, Cold War, George H. W. Bush, George F. Kennan, Fareed Zakaria, Elizabeth Warren, 11 Progressive Commandments, Proverbs 29:18  

ABOUT BRIAN FAULKNER:

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer / narrator and is principal writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a “Mercedes voice” and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.
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Mission: The Hole in the Donut.

7/21/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Without its hole, a donut is an undifferentiated mass of dough (limiting discussion, of course, to the ring-shaped donut variety). Likewise, without meaningful values and clear purpose at its center, a company can be an undifferentiated mass of people working for no clear purpose.  It may even be undifferentiated from its competitors.

Values and purpose combine to create mission.  Values are the common beliefs that knit a culture together, whether country, church, non-profit, or business – the U.S. Marines are a fabulous example.  Purpose is the “product” people create together plus the difference it makes in the marketplace (or on the battlefield).  

People Make The Difference.

One of business leadership’s key challenges today is to increase the productivity of its human resources, to give people a new vision of themselves -- and their potential -- while maximizing their combined contribution.  Values are the qualities that meld people into a team.  They help make success happen.  It’s the cultural part of “work” that gets folks up in the morning and charges their batteries.

As Adam Smith suggested over 200 years ago, it is the participation of individuals working in their own and the collective self-interest that makes capitalism work so well.  At its best, capitalism creates personal freedom as well as profits and seems to work most effectively for both people and businesses when there is a comfortable convergence of personal and business goals.  What gives meaning to forging tools or making T-shirts?  Or to a non-profit cause?  Realization that the collective purpose is worthwhile.  Herbert Hoover called it a “lifting purpose.”  

Most people don’t want to just work.  They want to contribute; they want to be part of something.  It’s eye-opening to realize, even today, that work often has nothing to do with “real” life.  All too many of us live for the weekend and count the days ‘til vacation time rolls around.

If the unproductive and uninspired workers in our country -- never mind an unfortunate percentage of students in our schools -- could be given hope, could be empowered to contribute beyond the ordinary, beyond the constraints of their “jobs”, the productivity transformation within America could be incredible.

I have seen companies with strong, can-do manufacturing cultures and weak management but seldom the reverse.   I have seen retailers selling great brands who have created (or allowed) a depressing, discouraging atmosphere for their people to work in but also great cultures where people have worked together to transform a good brand into a great one.  

I also have seen retailers who sell essentially the same mix of products as their competitors but set themselves apart by hiring people who care, aren’t shy about showing it and who are given the freedom to make service decisions at the customer contact level.   Robin, the young woman who used to answer the phone for one of my clients years ago, always made a positive impression.  Her upbeat attitude and willingness to serve reflected the attitude of her company's management, their manufacturing excellence and their product superiority. In contrast, companies that choose to have a machine answer their phone communicate the opposite message:  “We don’t care enough to put our very best people on the business end of your inquiry, so your call is not really all that important to us.”

In conclusion, values and purpose are intimately connected in an organization’s mission.   Values is the why part, the reason people come to work charged up about their potential contribution.  Purpose is the product part, whether a manufactured item, a variety of essentially off-the-shelf components integrated into something new or selling things like smart phones or cars, groceries, medical supplies or personal services.  It includes everything that makes success happen, from strategy to marketing to customer /client contact to manufacturing and those all-important support functions that keep things running smoothly. 

People who are energized about coming to work every day create great products and provide great service, competitive qualities your present and future customers or clients won’t be able to find anywhere else.

TakeAway:  Take a look at your mission through the business donut hole.  Do you see a team looking back at you that cares deeply about your products and customers and has the freedom and energy to help you create a future charged with success?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

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High Flying DEALER Offers Car Purchase by Vending Machine.

6/25/2014

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PictureYa think?
There are three kinds of car buyers.  One loves to kick the tires and joust with the dealership.  They are in the minority.  Another knows just what they want, has researched pricing and secured financing – possibly with a credit union.  This buyer shops dealers online and hones in on their transaction like a laser, taking delivery with limited exposure to dealer shenanigans.

But most of us still take the weary path, driving from car lot to car lot looking for the vehicle, price, trade-in allowance and financing package that either suits us or that we finally accept because we need a car and our patience has worn thin.

The second and third kind of car buyer, the traditional kind, now has another option – that is, if they live within reasonable driving distance of Atlanta (or can fly in): Carvana, a purveyor of late-model mid-market and luxury pre-owned vehicles that delivers buyer’s purchases through a novel “vending machine” not far from Georgia Tech. 

The vending machine concept (their storefront actually resembles one) sets Carvana apart from other online auto buying sources, as does an eye-pleasing, easy to navigate web site.  Prospects can even test drive their would-be purchases virtually before plunking down their bucks and showing up at the vending machine with an access code.  And if they need financing, that’s available, too -- the people backing the venture have years of experience running dealerships and in consumer finance.  All in all, Carvana seems organized for success, which begins with offering clear savings for its customers.

“The average consumer spends more than 20 hours and overpays roughly $3,500 when purchasing a car due to antiquated dealer sales practices,” declares a post on Carvana’s friendly and informative blog (http://blog.carvana.com/sample-page/the-back-room/).  That said, the firm claims to save $1,500 per car by not having a dealership, which they pass along to their customers.  A brief comparison of price on their Web site with those advertised for similar models with comparable mileage by dealerships in my area suggests that Carvana’s price is lower – a difference that could evaporate rapidly if a prospect has the time and patience to negotiate a better deal locally.  

Time and convenience are other Carvana differentiating factors, as is what they call a 7-Day Test Drive, essentially a post-delivery No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee.

Customers can pick their car out from the comfort of their home, then fly/drive/walk to the company’s vending machine and take delivery there.  Inventory selection seems to consist mostly of silver and white 2011-2013 sedans or SUVs with the occasional red F-150, Mustang, Camaro or Jeep thrown in.  If they live within 75 miles of Atlanta, there’s free home delivery, or buyers can take delivery of their new ride in the traditional way.  For an additional $199, people who live within 76-250 miles of Carvana can have their new car trucked to them and delivered at home.  Buyers more than 250 miles away are invited to fly into Hartsfield and be picked up at the airport.

There would seem to be a vast market for the Carvana concept, since the typical car buying experience has been long due some transformation.  It isn’t the answer for everybody – maybe for most car buyers, people who like to see, touch and drive before they buy and who appreciate local service.   But all in all, it’s a refreshing concept that Carvana’s customers seem to like – witness this high compliment from a satisfied buyer, who said:

“If Apple invented a way to buy a car, this would be it.”

I admire this innovative idea -- and the visionary thinking that led to it.  I also appreciate Carvana’s spiffy online presentation and their copywriter, who has a mischievous (but restrained) sense of humor.  That could be the work of company president Ernie Garcia, if his recent blog post announcing future delivery of Carvana cars by helicopter is any clue.

A whole new way to buy a car?   Sure.  But I wouldn’t lay awake waiting on the helicopter.

TakeAway: Is there an idea lurking in your mind that could revolutionize your business category?      
Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

About Brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years. His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the knowledge source / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003. His distinctive voice has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client projects since the 1970s.  People say he sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome but happy illusion.

(www.faulknerproducerservices.com)


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Leaders Eat Last: The GIFT OF TRue Leadership. 

5/7/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
 Heard an interview on NPR the other day with an author who suggests in his new book that “leaders should eat last.”   In other words, put your people first and you will rise to greatness on their shoulders.

An atmosphere of trust and cooperation can be set within an organization, claims Simon Sinek, a former adman who has transformed himself into a speaker and writer on inspired leadership, including Start With Why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action and the book he was touting on NPR, Leaders Eat Last: Why some teams pull together and others don’t.    

“Leadership sets the tone,” Sinek said during the interview, by establishing a “circle of safety” in which trust is paramount and people do not get sacrificed in favor of numbers.  Ron Kaplan, CEO of Trex, a manufacturer of outdoor decks, expressed a similar sentiment in a recent Sunday New York Times Corner Office column in reflecting on something his combat veteran father told him: “That the No. 1 job of a leader is to make the staff feel secure.”

Sinek concurs in counseling leaders to put people first, much like the Marine Corps general he once observed waiting with his senior officers until their men had been served before joining the tail end of the chow line.   

Leadership, like quality, is tough to define.  Some say it’s simply the art of getting followers to go where you want them to go.  Leadership consultant Dusty Staub once told me that his father, also a military man, defined leadership a bit more abstractly. “Leadership is a simple task,” he said.  “It’s a lot like drinking water and whistling at the same time.”

Of course, writing about leadership is one thing. Doing it is another.  I know that from experience, by having come to grips with my own poor leadership skills as president of a small company and by observing over many years the leadership skills (or not) of the many C-level clients for whom I have consulted on communication issues.  It was fascinating to observe how a few of my president/CEO clients couldn’t be recognized on a walk through the company lunchroom while others could transform a walk through the plant into old-home week with handshakes and glad tidings all around.  Some clients wanted to lead but didn’t have the self-effacement to do so.  Others tried to be chummy but came across as clumsy and disconnected,.  

The Gift of Leadership.

Are the most effective – and most trusted – leaders truly naturals?  

My personal observation suggests yes, that leadership is -- in great part -- an inborn quality that cannot readily be learned from reading books or listening to lectures.  The best leaders are like the truly gifted athletes you see whose performance has an almost effortless ease about it. 

I cite as example one particularly memorable client, who began a company almost quite literally in a closet of a parent firm.  His fledgling business grew rapidly and within a few years it had established itself as the national leader in a heretofore undisciplined business category.  They created a great brand that solidly addressed their customers’ needs, were excellent marketers and didn’t have to establish their own manufacturing plants.  But mostly, they had a superb leader who not only was able to dream big but wrap people into his vision of the future and inspire them to want to help him get there.  They were a tight team that worked hard and played hard.   They had a common cause.  They trusted one another.  And truly anything was possible as they forged a path into uncharted market territory.  When the leader left (given broader responsibility higher up in “corporate”), the thread of trust he’d established dissolved.  The new company president was a strong and capable manager (and certainly looked the part) but didn't have the the gift of leadership.   

In his radio interview, Sinek mentioned Costco as an example of a company that invests in its people – often at the expense of Wall Street.  I know little about Costco but can appreciate what he said about them.  Time after time, I have seen senior managers crash and burn in admirable efforts to inspire employees because they didn’t "make plan” and had to get tough or because corporate suddenly decided to ship some of their jobs offshore. 

“Leadership is an art,” Max De Pree once proclaimed in his powerful little book of the same name, the act of “liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.”

The covenant between leaders and their followers that he describes is very Christ-like, a self-sacrificial model of leadership that in these days – any days – is all too uncommon. 

TakeAway:  True leaders make it possible for others to succeed.  Hold onto these rare treasures with everything you’ve got.   

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Tags:  Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek, leadership, Ron Kaplan, Trex, Adam Bryant, Corner Office, Dusty Staub, Max De Pree, Leadership is an Art, Costco

About Brian Faulkner.

Brian Faulkner is a content and strategic communication writer.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

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CITY SEARCHES FOR A SLOGAN: A TAGLINE DEVELOPMENT SCENARIO.

3/31/2014

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PicturePart of Winston-Salem, N.C. skyline
Winston-Salem, North Carolina is appealing to its citizens to help them come up with a new tagline, a key message that will carry their city further into the 21st century.  (http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/o-winston-salem-needs-a-slogan/article_6202db24-e22a-5cce-8dcb-61515dca2112.html )

Early on, Winston-Salem was known as Camel City (hard to imagine, eh?).  Later, it was The World’s Tobacco Metropolis (1932).  Other attempts that didn’t focus on the business of its famous namesake have included The City of Historic Charm and Thriving Industry and The City of Culture, History and Industry.  More recently, Winston-Salem was City of the Arts (later expanded to City of the Arts & Innovation) and O! Winston-Salem, Now That’s Living.  The only good thing about O! Winston-Salem, which reportedly cost city fathers $65,000, was that it quickly faded away after some well-deserved snickering.   The City of Arts and Innovation is appealing but too narrowly focused.*

So now Winston-Salem has thrown up its hands and asked the folks who live there to come up with something.  Good idea!  And since my family and I have lived in the city twice over the years and reside today in its western suburbs, here’s my 2-cents worth on developing a tagline for Winston-Salem -- or any city or region, for that matter:

Taglines answer Strategic questions.

Most critically, an effective -- and enduring -- tagline must answer a strategic question.  And strategic questions about a city must be asked from the perspective of its many constituents, which include people looking on the city both from the outside and the inside: natives, newcomers, those considering a move to town, recent graduates, young families, singles of all ages, retired folks, etc.  Your average citizen, the business community, businesses looking to start up or relocate, the local CVB and Chamber of Commerce, other non-profits and people interested in the arts, dining and entertainment, education, sports and religion all must fit comfortably under the new tagline.  

Here are key questions to ask of a city and its people during tagline deliberations:

·      Why should I want to live here – or raise my family here?
·      How is “my” city different from other cities of similar or different size?
·      Why should I want to locate my business here?
·      How does this city answer these questions today?
·      How will it answer them in the future; what is its vision (dream with a goal)?

tagline effectiveness.

AThese qualities help create an effective tagline – in rough order of priority:

·      declares clear strategic space (as exclusive as possible)
·      is authentic (grounded in Marketable Truth©)
·      is meaningful  (speaks directly to people’s needs and wants)
·      is compelling (engages mind and heart)
·      is simple  (uses as few words as possible)
·      is visual  (attracts eye and ear)
·      is memorable (sometimes even in a bold or controversial way
·      is not distractingly clever or cute

I believe that taglines should make clear, unambiguous benefits statements.   Unfortunately, most of them don’t.  Even some clever, memorable ones.

“Virginia is for Lovers” sounds great but actually says little.  At heart,  it’s a great campaign theme but not effective strategic positioning for the long run (despite its continuing appeal for something like 50 years).  Same for the “Big Apple” – although after spending gazillions on promotion, now even the dimmest bulb in the world is aware of The Big Apple.  However, does the tagline make you think about wanting to live there?  Or move your business to New York City?   There’s a big difference between awareness and preference.

So, what is so unique and compelling about Winston-Salem, North Carolina that people who hear about it will want to check it out?  Here are some tagline building blocks, Winston-Salem superlatives, as I see them:

·      not too big, not too small  (5th largest city in N.C.)
·      pleasant topography  (rolling hills with lots of trees – very green)
·      easy to get around (short commutes, minimal traffic hassles)
·      well-established, walkable neighborhoods – plus new developments in and out of town
·      four balanced seasons (moderate winters, good rain, fabulous autumn colors)
·      a great place for home and family
·      a value-priced, stable real estate market
·      a rich sense of history and place, since 1766 (Old Salem historic district, Moravian heritage)
·      a healthy mix of natives and newcomers
·      a somewhat conservative political base with a forward looking, can-do business approach
·      a strong work ethic in a right-to-work state, from traditional manufacturing to high tech
·      a leading teaching hospital and research center affiliated with Wake Forest University
·      a second well-regarded hospital (Forsyth Medical Center) and associated Novant practices
·      a reputation for innovation and business incubation (Winston-Salem Research Park)
·      headquarters for the nation’s 12th largest bank (BB&T)
·      headquarters for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, HanesBrands and Sara Lee Hosiery
·      the mini-Empire State Building (old RJR headquarters used as a model for the NYC skyscraper)
·      in-town Smith Reynolds airport (INT) for convenient executive travel
·      nearby Triad International Airport (GSO), with its growing aviation hub (Timco, HondaJet)
·      intersection of two interstate highways, I-74 and I-40 (two others close by)
·      less than two hours to Raleigh and Charlotte, six to Atlanta and D.C.
·      around four hours to NC and SC beaches, including North Carolina’s Outer Banks
·      less than one hour to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, about 2 hours to Asheville
·      other High Country attractions close by, including golf, skiing, arts & crafts
·      many Yadkin Valley wineries a half hour or so west
·      a variety of educational choices (among them, Wake Forest University, Salem College, WSSU)
·      other universities close by (Appalachian State, UNCG, NCCU, High Point University)
·      Forsyth Technical Community College and community colleges in nearby Guilford County
·      a well-supported arts community  (fine arts, performing arts, traditional arts; the nation's first Arts Council)
·      a well-established (and expanding) downtown arts district with inviting restaurants, bars, galleries and shops
·      Winston-Salem Symphony (stirring performances since 1946)
·      University of North Carolina School of the Arts – known for performance excellence worldwide
·      River Run International Film Festival at UNCSA (its 16th season at UNCSA’s Film School)
·      the enormously successful National Black Theater Festival, every two years
·      a thriving music scene (all genres)
·      a strong statewide Public Television network  (UNC-TV)
·      the Winston-Salem Open Tennis Tournament and Winston-Salem Cycling Classic
·      Winston-Salem Dash Class A Carolina League baseball (Chicago White Sox) and its new ballpark
·      a large variety of shopping, hotels, dining options
·      many houses of worship, from small country churches to large congregations
·      Moravian cookies, Texas Pete hot sauce and KrispyKreme donuts!

Others may quarrel with my choices or descriptions (and perhaps toss in some negatives), but the task is clear: to assess Winston-Salem strengths and develop a tagline unique to the city.  The process is part strategic discipline, part creative spark.  And the tagline that emerges will not be expected to attract everybody, only those for whom Winston-Salem is “just right.”   

Here’s one that rings my bell (among five personal options I'd winnowed it down to):

Winston-Salem: America’s Almost Perfect Small City.                  
Good Living.  Great for Business.  Come See For Yourself.

Winston-Salem can’t claim to be America's perfect small city; that would be entirely too brash and not in keeping with the deeply embedded character of this town.  And besides, if it did, hundreds of other cities of similar (or smaller) size surely would leap to make the same claim!  However, Winston-Salem can claim to be America’s almost perfect small city with considerable confidence, as it totes up its many strengths and works toward balancing the needs of all its citizens.  

Of course, you also can argue that that Winston-Salem is not a small city.  But “medium sized” doesn’t sound right.  People (or businesses) who move here likely will be attracted to the ease and comfort of a smaller city, one with clear metro cues and a sane, livable setting.  Seen in that light, Winston-Salem delivers. 

And that’s the bold tagline truth.  Now imagine what could be done with it!

  * UPDATE:  The city appears to have re-adopted The City of Arts and Innovation after a majority of citizens who
     submitted tagline suggestions favored it (many thought it had been Winston-Salem's tagline all along).


TakeAway:  Assess your strengths carefully, whether selling a product, city or state.   Then create a tagline that’s set apart, grounded in reality, attracts attention and makes people want what you’ve got.     
 
Tags:  tagline, taglines, effective taglines, tagline development, create a tagline, key message, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, City of the Arts, vision

Text and images © Brian E. Faulkner except where noted.

about Brian Faulkner.

Brian Faulkner is a business content and strategic communication writer.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003. 
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    sample blog:

    This is a sample blog  for writer Brian E. Faulkner.  It presents stories about brands that do (or don't) communicate competitive advantage effectively. Stories have been gleaned from the business press, personal experience and occasional interviews. New articles are added from time to time, and every so often there will be a post of general interest -- about things like success, passion, social trends, etc. 

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    Brian Faulkner is a writer and strategic communication consultant who helps business clients explain their competitive advantage in compelling and enduring ways.
     
    He also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer & narrator for a highly-rated and well-loved magazine series.

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