By: Maurice Gilbert, Managing Partner of Conselium Executive Search
In the December issue of Compliance and Ethics, I wrote about five secrets to career success. Secret number four was “Market the Brand Called You.” In this article, I’ll talk more about branding and go more deeply into how you can brand not just yourself, but your compliance department as well.
When most people think of “branding,” they think of products or companies – multimillion-dollar entities with untold advertising and marketing budgets. The truth is that you don’t have to be a major corporation or have a giant budget to have and market a brand. Individuals and departments can, and should, brand themselves and actively market their brand in ways that build positive feelings.
Let’s back up a little. What, exactly, is a brand? It’s a company’s or product’s image in the marketplace, whether it’s their logo, their name, the feelings the company’s name conveys or a combination of all those things. Brands are effective because they help to build in the consumer’s mind an instant, and instantly positive, feeling about a product, company or service.
What do you think of when you think of BMW? Or Coca-Cola? Or Wal-Mart?
These brands and the feelings they convey are practically seared into the mind of the average American. BMW is The Ultimate Driving Machine, Coke is The Real Thing, and Wal-Mart has Every Day Low Prices.
Just as BMW has spent untold resources to ensure the public thinks “Ultimate Driving Machine” every time they hear the company’s name, individuals and departments need to take steps to ensure that others think of them in instantly positive terms.
Branding Yourself
Why brand yourself? First off, if you don’t brand yourself, others may brand you on their own, and it may not be the brand you want. If you consistently maintain a positive brand, that brand will be what others think of, even if you make the occasional mistake.
By maintaining a positive brand, you also put yourself in a good position to take advantage of promotional opportunities within your department, as well as in other departments.
Take a stab at writing your own brand. It should be roughly 15 to 30 seconds, and it should tell someone:
1. Who you are.
2. What your area of expertise is.
3. What value your expertise adds to your company.
Once you’ve written it, practice it a few times with a colleague and, using your colleague’s critique, hone it. Ideally, this is something you could tell a VP you meet in the elevator.
Just to give you an idea of what a personal brand, or elevator speech, would sound like, here’s mine:
“My name is Maurice Gilbert of Conselium, an executive search firm specializing in corporate compliance. I help companies hire the best professionals faster and with less cost than they could do on their own.”
Once you’ve written and practiced your brand, it’s time to market it. Here are some good ways to do that:
• Regularly meet with people in your department and in other departments within the company.
• Write an article for a trade publication or company newsletter.
• Present a topic to a professional organization.
• Conduct an internal presentation at your company.
• Request high-profile assignments.
• Volunteer for committees or task forces.
• Volunteer to train a new employee.
• Network at all levels (secretaries, janitors, vice presidents, CEOs).
Branding Your Compliance Department
A recent Harris Poll survey showed that 75 percent of Americans distrust large companies. The reasons for this are complex and, in many cases, individual. But corporate fiascos like Enron and WorldCom, to name just two, go a long way toward feeding the distrust most Americans have toward large companies.
In this environment, compliance departments are no longer a necessary evil. They’re indispensable to ensure an organization’s reputation and market value.
Why should you brand your company’s compliance department? To show your business leaders how your department positively affects the company. It can also set expectations for your business leaders on consistency and quality, as well as help recruit top employee prospects from within and outside the company.
A positive brand also:
• Helps to build a strong relationship with corporate executives.
• Builds loyalty and pride among the compliance staff.
• Facilitates a partnering relationship and spirit of cooperation when working with the internal departments.
• Reduces negative feelings associated with compliance departments.
• Provides confidence for the board of directors, investors and management.
Your compliance group’s brand should tell others:
1. What your group does.
2. The way in which your group conducts its work (objectively, systematically, with discipline, independently, etc.).
3. How your group adds value to the company.
How to Develop the Compliance Department’s Brand
Some suggestions:
• Continuous training of the compliance staff.
• Constantly striving for excellence in adopting best or better practices and providing great customer service.
• Invite business unit owners from your corporation to attend compliance department meetings to share their goals.
• Initiate leadership roles in professional compliance associations.
• Include business leaders in hiring of key members of the compliance department.
• Promote certifications and classroom training of your compliance professionals.
• Ensure that the compliance department has a signed charter, mission and vision statement.
Once you have established your and your compliance department’s brand, you’ll want to continuously monitor it to ensure that it’s still valid and whether you and your colleagues are maintaining your commitment to live up to that brand. If you do, it will continue to serve you well for many years.
Resource:
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries (NY,NY: Harper Business, 1998)
Maurice Gilbert is Managing Partner of Conselium Executive Search, which specializes in placing Compliance Officers and Legal Counsel for clients in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Maurice is also CEO of Corporate Compliance Insights, a worldwide publication devoted to governance, risk and compliance issues. Maurice can be reached at maurice@conselium.com or maurice@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
