N2ITIV SOLUTIONS
Most companies have creative people, but vision is creativity coupled with strategy. The problem with creativity is that it doesn’t go anywhere unless you have the vision to implement it.
New York, New York (PRWEB) September 10, 2013
N2ITIV Solutions, the blog for entrepreneurs and start-ups (created by MJ Gottlieb and Gary O'Neil) has released a new comprehensive video module on when and why a company needs to hire a brand specialist.
Gary O'Neil, co-founder of the N2ITIV blog, has created this module in hopes to explain in detail the importance of hiring outside brand specialists and the specifics traits and characteristics they have that enable them to give new direction and vision to companies that are not maximizing their true potential. O'Neil, having been a brand specialist and creative director for some of the top brands and celebrities in the world including JC Penney and media mogul Russell Simmons, gives a detailed perspective into the reasons why companies need brand specialists and why they are integral for the future of a company.
O'Neil begins the module using some powerful statistics to prove his point:
- 80 percent of interruptions at work are considered trivial.
- An average employee encounters 56 interruptions in a given day.
- It takes three minutes before an average employee switches tasks.
- The average employee spends two hours a day recovering from distractions.
O'Neil discusses the purpose of a brand specialist, namely to review discovery on a company and then use that discovery to develop creative strategies that are in line with a company’s vision. O'Neil believes discovery is a key component necessary when learning how to build a successful brand.
The following is a summary of the eight topics discussed in the module:
1. Clutter - O'Neil explains how people within a company often get ‘stuck in the trees’ as they are simply too busy with their daily agenda. He discusses how a brand specialist ‘views the forest’ so to speak to help guide the company with clearer short and long-term direction. This is especially important to provide help for entrepreneurs who are lacking both the time and resources to get an objective view of where they are and what direction they are headed.
2. Living in a Box - The next section discusses how internal employees operate inside of a box which further weakens the ability to have vision. Brand specialists operate strictly outside the box, which allows them to analyze what is happening outside, where no one else is looking. This is especially important for the startup entrepreneur who quite often is lacking the time and resources to see what is happening outside to assess the competition.
3. Politics vs. Solutions - Internal employees more often than not act in accordance with the politics of an organization for personal reasons and are afraid to tell the higher-ups what they truly think. A brand specialist, on the other hand, is strictly focused on solutions and is paid to tell the higher ups what they think.
4. Doing vs. Thinking - When operating within a company infrastructure, internal employees are generally in the mode of doing. A brand specialist, on the other hand, is a thinker. He or she is hired to analyze and or change what people are doing.
5. Vision vs. Creativity - O'Neil believes a common mistake people make is not knowing the key difference between vision and strategy. “Most companies have creative people, but vision is creativity coupled with strategy. The problem with creativity is that it doesn’t go anywhere unless you have the vision to implement that creativity. That is where a brand specialist comes in.”
6. Disruption vs. Consensus - A brand specialist is hired to solve a problem and quite often that solution comes from disruption. Disruptive thinking is what separates the trendsetters and leaders from the flock. Consensus, on the other hand, happens internally when all departments have to work together within a framework that has already been established. There is nothing wrong with consensus as long as there are disruptors to create new ideas and framework when change is necessary.
7. Future vs. Now - When working internally, the focus is always on the now. The brand specialist, on the other hand, is all about what needs to be done in the future and to re-define the now.
8. Strategy from The Outside In - In order to get pure thought leadership a company needs to get ideas from the outside in. They often do this by looking at the future by studying the competition, something that people tend to lose sight of while focusing on their own affairs and operating from the inside/out (as mentioned in section 2).
To access the A Solution from the Outside-In video module, click here.
N2ITIV Solutions, founded by MJ Gottlieb and Gary O'Neil, is a strategic consulting firm specializing in the implementation of creative business strategies to help aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses increase their brand awareness and monetize their businesses. The N2ITIV website is an entrepreneur and startup blog offering advice learned through Gottlieb and O’Neil’s experience owning and operating five companies over the last 21 years.