19 April 2008

Job Cuts

This week I was invited to join a panel on BBC Radio Five Live to discuss when those in business, politics and sports should resign. With so much uncertainty in the markets and a frightening number of job cuts reported and predicted, the need for a strong personal brand couldn't be more stark.

And it seems fairly obvious that when people should go is a timing issue. Either an unanticipated disaster has occurred as in the case of Terminal 5, or we want to pre-empt a possible disaster as in the case of Mr Brown. And one can argue that Mr Walsh's management style prevented those who thought that a disaster might occur from raising the issue - and their heads did roll. And the latter, well, we are predicting a rather difficult coming week for the British Prime Minister.

Yet more often than not it is worth seeing a possible disaster through to completion for the greater good of the organisation. In the not too distant past, the constant change of leadership had deeply negative effect on the Conservative Party, leaving voters reluctant to commit.

And it is at times like this when that we see people's personal brands having a profound effect on their futures. We are prepared to weather the storm with those that we can connect to emotionally.

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