creativity for president

A brand is a calculus, the sum of which fluctuates depending on a consumer's interaction with it (O'Keefe). A brand manager is responsible for building or reducing infrastructure to implement change around the 5 P's; position, product, price, place, promotion. A consumer is also a content creator.

Our next President needs to recognize voters as content creators. He or she needs to be a better brand manager, not for his or her own personal brand, but for the USA brand. During the presidential race, the candidates needs to clearly define the current state of the USA brand and which pieces of infrastructure he or she would build or reduce to implement change. The earlier that the candidate can build a vision for cross functional partners (ie voters), the better the chance that the vision will be implemented. I highly doubt that any of the candidates are listening to me; however, I thought that I would offer some free advice from the perspective of a brand manager, just in case.

Position

The most creative nation in the world.

Creativity is neither Democratic nor Republican. Creativity is American. Creativity is also a currency right now. Just look at the value that Facebook placed on Instagram ($33 per user). The candidates need to inspire all individuals to feel like they have the capacity to create more than they are creating right now. After all, it's the collection of little business owners who pursue their dreams that will put the economy back on track.

Product

Intellectual Capital

A vehicle and a computing device are relatively similar things. They take you from point A to point B. You encounter other "drivers" along the way. The government requires a license to drive a car, why wouldn't they also require a license to navigate the internet? Implement a license to navigate the internet. Teach topics of personal privacy, intellectual property and content creation. Use it as an opportunity to create awareness about government websites. Hire the most creative digital agency in the US (R/GA) to make it fun and entertaining so that for a middle schooler, using the internet becomes an exciting stage of life. Give people a customized badge to pin once they have been awarded their license. At $10 per internet license for people on Facebook in the US alone, that is $1,690,000,000 in revenue. Have 5 year renewals as technology and related topics evolve.

Price

GDP + Personal Income

Penny profit. It's a simple and easy way to manage margin that works for both small businesses and large corporations alike. Allow the US residents to take a margin on their own personal content creation as measured in traffic per piece of content. Traffic ("bandwidth") is good not only for the corporations and advertisers, but an individuals own personal brand. Encourage citizens to produce quality thinking, not just quantity. Increase our exports. Pay for it by charging two pennies per international view. Keep a penny for yourself. Make our thoughts count to the local and international economy.

Place

Access

In the most thoroughly modern sense, if citizens cannot create digital content, they cannot contribute to the economy. Work on bringing internet access to every inch of the US. Improve infrastructure and encourage states to go wireless. Innovate. Empower each individual to become a contributing factor to the intellectual capital of our economy.

Promotion

We have a Nobel Peace Prize. Institute an Intellectual Capital Prize. Allow content creation to become a revered and respected philosophy. Let the reward be a break from taxes during the year in which the prize is awarded and give him or her international exposure. Praise individuals who contribute in valuable, compliant and legal ways. Create an emotional connection with your voters / consumers / content creators.

selfless leadership

The Richmond Region is fortunate enough to have a legacy of so many wonderful presidential, academic, athletic and business leaders. I have always viewed a leader as someone who is able to serve the needs of others. A person who is able to envision positive change. However, vision does not exempt actionable behavior.

I think that the best leaders have followers and they don't even know it. They feel called to act and do so because they feel that it is in the best interest of their brand, their community, their team, or all three. Often, their vision is unpopular at the time he or she decides to act. Elizabeth Scott Bocock was one of these leaders.

In 1956 she founded the Historic Richmond Foundation. This was at a time when sprawl was consuming the region and neighborhoods like southside's Salisbury were very en vogue. Today, the people who are making decisions to live in historic districts such as the Fan or businesses that decide to have their culture be a part of Shockoe Slip, Adcenter included, are following the mood and mechanisms that ESB put in place half a century ago. She led selflessly.

my personal style of leadership

Dad recommended a book for me this week called A Leader's Legacy. The author defines leadership as "the study of how men and women guide us through adversity, uncertainty, hardship, disruption, transformation, transition, recovery, new beginnings, and other significant challenges."

I was inspired by the topic of this book, my recent adversity and recovery, as well as my dad's graduate Leadership Theory class at the University of Richmond to define my own personal style of leadership. It is as follows:

I will be the type of leader who is compassionate and prizes forward thinking. I will treat all of my superiors, counterparts and direct reports the way I would like to be treated, with honesty, esteem and a smile. I will endlessly educate myself on the meaning behind the brand(s) I serve and I will strive to create importance for their consumers and authors.

I will be the type of leader who does not go home early on Friday. I will set a good example for younger members of my organization by working hard to confront conflict and living the healthiest life I can to ensure the astuteness of my mind. I will be a values-driven leader.

I will be the type of leader who prizes creativity over conformity. I will seek flawless execution from my company and I will work hard to build and contribute to a diverse, full and rich company culture.