Kate Winslet's Oscar

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning in a London studio for BBC Radio Wales with Gareth Lewis, Sian Pari Huws and film critic, Damon Smith to discuss the do's and don'ts of award season acceptance speeches. Notably Kate Winslet's recent blunder at the Golden Globe awards where she apologised to Anne, Merryl, Kristen and forgot Angelina. I believe that this clip is now fast becoming a youtube classic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJGRnO93MXg.

I was delighted to see that despite a lot of rambling and rumbling in the press about insulting Hollywood royalty, Kate's blunder did not cost her an Oscar. And too that Slumdog got there - what a great night for the best of the Brits.

Leadership brands - the banks

I was watching the Treasury Select Committee's grilling of four former bankers last week. The interesting face of this story is the perception of banks in the broadest sense. When we look at the global brands that had until September last year have been synonymous with institution, due diligence, risk management, trustworthiness, solvency - we are now faced with an entirely different perspective. Bankers on the other hand have in recent years been perceived as risk-takers, financial wizards having a magic touch earning bonuses in multiple millions. The two have never really been congruent.

And with bankers bonuses being limited in bale-out banks, and the banks themselves being institutionalised, I believe that we are going to see very different leadership brands.

The premise of a strong leadership brand is that the leaders in the organisations they work for personify the aspirations of the corporate brand - and the successful application of this has a direct effect on the bottom line. So we expect that those working for Nike, swoosh, just do it - will in turn display the fundamental characteristics and personality of this well known brand - if they don't it, it has a negative effect on investors and customers alike.

And how will this now translate to the banks... with a whole new set of criterion, will the leadership in turn change dramatically to reflect the current situation? Somber leaders for somber times?

Job Losses

Whilst trying to get a feel for the numbers of job losses à la crunch I stumbled across an article in the Telegraph by Jamie Dunkley on the 2nd February titled Financial Crisis: Job Losses. It's worth a read as he diligently lists the 83,368 job losses in the four months prior (UK). And according to an influential report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development due to be published tomorrow, it seems that two out of five employers plan redundancies in the next three months.

This all begs a key question - what criteria will those who decide the fate of this soon to be unemployed workforce use to make their decisions? The obvious - closure of unprofitable business units will see unnecessary, un-transferable skills and expertise go first. The fat will be cut and under performing individuals will be next on the list. Plans for growth and expansion will be shelved for the time being and with it the associated headcount. And then the difficult bit. The bit that is based on how people are perceived vs. any of the above.

I was consulting with a client who was employed by one of the financial giants that lost its footing recently. He and a number of his team were subsequently reemployed by the organisation that bought out selected business units. He described the agonising process of picking the few who would stay. The cut was 30 out of an original team of 100. The under performers and skills mismatch were a no brainer, which left him with 60. Losing the remaining 30 was difficult to say the least. All qualified, experienced, skilled - all technically right for the roles.

It eventually boiled down to perceived soft skills and relationships. Now we all know that perception is reality. Or I should say, perception is a form of reality. It can be demonstrably false, and all too often it is. Those with the perceived soft skill smarts stayed, and those without, left.

There could not be a more urgent need for all of us to take a good look at the impressions we are creating in the minds of those who can and may affect our success in the future. And I am talking all areas that have an influence - our bosses, clients, investors, employees, suppliers, business partners, colleagues. Its not rocket science, its not complicated - but it does need attention, soonest.

At times like these, extraordinary times, some settle into an inertia born of a perceived lack of control over their destinies. And others reach determinedly for the next rung. They both take the same amount of energy with very different outcomes.

Learn how: Personal Branding - The Competitive Edge