When life takes us into unchartered waters we focus on prioritising our efforts on what is important. Whether it is a business operating an essential service, a business who pivots their business model or a business who is the bunker seeking to be efficient & effective to retain their customer market. There is change every way we turn and a huge amount of change for those businesses who will not survive.
The article published in the CMO ‘How your company can innovate its way through the COVID-19 crisis’ which launches with a question ‘ever heard that saying, Necessity is the mother of invention?’.
‘With the COVID-19 crisis there has never been a more critical time to innovate and look at things differently than there is now, because the world has completely changed,” founder of innovation consultancy Inventium, Dr Amantha Imber, tells CMO. “If you stick your head in the sand and fail to innovate, probably the only thing that’s guaranteed is you won’t survive this crisis.’
All industries are estimating how long the changes made by governments worldwide will effect ‘travel providers and airlines, retailers, restaurants, pubs and cafes, cultural institutions and artists, small and local businesses, sporting codes and media companies being forced to shut down or dramatically pivot what they do to survive through a lockdown period of unknown duration.
Then there are sectors in the hot seat providing essential services – from the telecoms and utility companies to supermarkets, supply and logistics providers and importantly, healthcare and manufacturing. Faced with exponential increases in demand, unprecedented challenges in maintaining workforces increasingly working from home, and panic buying of their goods and services, many are having to think well outside the box, partner and scramble in order to fulfil the needs of customers and consumers’.
As an advocate of ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ my belief aligns with the famous Michael Jordon view ‘Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships’. The way people will come together to do things together to get things done, to make a difference, can really make a difference if done together.
However, first things first. We need to know our value proposition, identify our authentic self story, promote a unique value proposition in a way that pivots to solving the problems of today and work on BrandMe.
As we watch industries and businesses ‘pivot’ we know job demands and the skills and capabilities in demand will require a ‘pivot’ and the jobs of today will require greater alignment than ever to achieve the priorities of the day and at the same time think outside the box. Be relevant, creative and innovative.
To tell our story we need our resume to represent a value proposition well aligned for success. Demonstrating how you will achieve success with a prospective Manager needs deep thinking and a well thought out resume that can clearly represents what you have achieved ‘your story’ with the business strategies the organisation aimed to reach.
Patty McCord, co-creator of the viral Netflix Culture Deck and author of Powerful, says we have to encourage particular behaviours and skills in our employees, not esoteric, unactionable value statements. So this I will extend the length of this Blog by giving you the outline with what Netflix looks for.
Remember Netflix was a business that have done a few pivots. Netflix’s initial business model included DVD sales and rental by mail, but they abandoned sales about a year after the company’s founding to focus on the initial DVD rental business. Netflix expanded its business in 2010 with the introduction of streaming media and in 2012 have taken more of an active role as producer and distributor for both film and television series, otherwise known as Netflix Original.
Netflix have valued the following nine behaviours and skills and hire and promote people who demonstrate these nine values:
Judgment:
- You make wise decisions (people, technical, business, and creative) despite ambiguity
- You identify root causes, and get beyond treating symptoms
- You think strategically, and can articulate what you are, and are not, trying to do
- You smartly separate what must be done well now, and what can be improved later
Communication:
- You listen well, instead of reacting fast, so you can better understand
- You are concise and articulate in speech and writing
- You treat people with respect independent of their status or disagreement with you
- You maintain calm poise in stressful situations
Impact:
- You accomplish amazing amounts of important work
- You demonstrate consistently strong performance so colleagues can rely upon you
- You focus on great results rather than on process
- You exhibit bias-to-action, and avoid analysis-paralysis
Curiosity:
- You learn rapidly and eagerly
- You seek to understand our strategy, market, customers, and suppliers
- You are broadly knowledgeable about business, technology and entertainment
- You contribute effectively outside of your specialty
Innovation:
- You re-conceptualize issues to discover practical solutions to hard problems
- You challenge prevailing assumptions when warranted, and suggest better approaches
- You create new ideas that prove useful
- You keep us nimble by minimizing complexity and finding time to simplify
Courage:
- You say what you think even if it is controversial
- You make tough decisions without agonizing
- You take smart risks
- You question actions inconsistent with our values
Passion:
- You inspire others with your thirst for excellence
- You care intensely about Netflix‘s success
- You celebrate wins
- You are tenacious
Honesty:
- You are known for candor and directness
- You are non-political when you disagree with others
- You only say things about fellow employees you will say to their face
- You are quick to admit mistakes
Selflessness:
- You seek what is best for Netflix, rather than best for yourself or your group
- You are ego-less when searching for the best ideas
- You make time to help colleagues
- You share information openly and proactively
Netflix develop people by giving them the opportunity to develop themselves, by surrounding them with stunning colleagues and giving them big challenges to work on. They believe mediocre colleagues or unchallenging work is what kills progress of a person’s skills. High performance people are generally self-improving through experience, observation, introspection, reading, and discussion.
So in today’s world of staying relevant amidst the pivots that are now a part of our lift the game on personal brand marketing with a true understanding on your authentic self and the value you offer a professional market.
‘So work on the content for your ‘stories’ and ‘success factors’ for key roles in your career: what was the Board Strategy, CEO strategies, market challenges and opportunities, how did your achievements relate to contribute to the successful execution. Bring your Resume alive and create a Brand, Brand you. In the works of Steve Jobs: ‘The chance to make a memory is the essence of brand marketing’ .
So if you need a new adventure, remember you can pivot your skills and capability and be adaptive to land where the jobs are. Just create the right brand and be remembered!