Brand and culture have never been so important
“Brand and culture have never been so important”. A key takeaway from today’s ICON Managing Partner Panel discussion which I really enjoyed.
Below are four other key takeaways with thoughts from me. I’d love to hear your views. Please comment!
Thank you to Fraser McNaughton, CMO at Grant Thornton Australia who facilitated insightful conversations with Nick Crennan, Managing Partner at Colin Biggers Paisley, May Ngui, Regional General Manager & Senior Technical Director at GHD and Greg Keith, CEO at Grant Thornton Australia.
In some cases, client relationships have been strengthened by shared adversity. There is more of a level playing field and an ability to connect as humans. As May described it, “We are in the trenches together”. (I have certainly found this, have you?)
Great leaders get out of the way and let people innovate. They provide the platforms and support to enable people to apply their skills and energy. (I wonder if leaders would have been so humble in the past?😉)
Content rich, relevant, effective, and authentic communications are more critical than ever. (All firms should have been aiming for this already but I guess it’s great if improvements have been made! Has your communications strategy changed?)
Social License is critical. Clients and future employees base their decisions on brand and cultural alignment, not just technical ability and size. Having brand values or words is not enough. Culture has to be real, authentic, and lived. (This is a big topic. Do you think your firm has a clear culture and has this helped during covid?)
I would love to hear your thoughts on these points. Feel free to comment below!
Katherine Mountford is the Founder of KM Talent, a recruitment, career strategy, and personal development business for Professional Services BD, Marketing, Comms, and Innovation professionals. Katherine is an ex BD/Marketing professional who understands the benefits of finding, retaining, and developing great talent and enjoys providing a truly consultative, advisory service. Based in Sydney, Katherine also provides online 1-1 career strategy coaching to national and international job seekers.
Follow me on Twitter @kjmofo
Call: +61 (0)477 841640
Email: katherine@kmtalent.com.au