Human Resource is the new black.
Marketing 3.0
The light bulb for me went off when I read “Marketing 3.0” by Kottler. For a brand to be authentic, there needs to be a full alignment with the culture in the organisation. Which means that the most important function in the company is your HR director. In fact, Human Resource is the new marketing.
Passion as the X-factor
Almost as an extension of that is the increasing belief that passion is the X-factor in culture. That started a while ago. My friend, colleague and business partner Yanky Fachler wrote about the need for “fire in the belly” ten years ago. Since then books such as “Mavericks at work”, “Poke the box” and “The thank you economy” all agree that passion can and should be the driving force for your business and your career.
Their argument; in a world where everything is commoditised and similar, the only way to differentiate is your passion. Passion as the way to break from the pack! Passion as part of the school curriculum?
Books
Since marketing 3.0, Bookbuzz has covered a wide range of books in the HR and marketing space all touching on that subject. I will mention a few:
- “Hacking work“; people taking control of their work from the outside in
- “Talent Masters”; recruit and retain your best people, and your business will fly
- “Loose“; the future is not rigid but loose – loose organisations, loose management styles and loose ways of working
- “Toyota under fire“; invest consistently in culture and you can manage any crisis
- “The great workplace“; investment in staff will give you six times higher return on your share value
The thank you economy
“The thank you economy” by Gary Vaynerchuk really hit it home for me. He would go as far that the next battleground for business after e-commerce and technology will be culture. The book is about extreme customer care (similar to “delivering happiness” and how to use social media.
Customers or staff?
What do you think he thinks is most important for businesses; customers or staff? Giving his obsession with customer care, you would suspect he would maintain that the clients are most important. Nope, he is adamant that your focus should be on your staff.
ROWE
And he takes a leaf out of “How work sucks and how to fix it” and applies ROWE, the Results Only Work Environment approach. No rules and treating staff like adults. He talks about the need for a Chief Culture Officer (CCO), which is not to be confused with the Chief Curiosity Office that “Little Bets” and “Egonomics” would suggest. What else does he say?
- It starts with you, and you need to be authentic and set the tone (customers and staff will smell BS a mile away)
- Make sure you know all your staff and spend a lot of time with them (one to one management)
- Empower your staff; he suggests to give every employee a personal $ 200 marketing budget
Power to the people
Conclusion, we all need to become New Capitalists as described in the “New Capitalist Manifesto” and the power is shifting back to the workers. Karl Marx is back!