Branding Archives - Page 2 of 2

Aug 21, 2019 | Updated Sep 16, 2019
by Jennifer Bridges   @JenBridgesRD
This article was originally published on ReputationDefender’s blog

The days of CEOs being able to maintain a low profile are gone. In today’s social media-driven environment, business leaders must earn the trust of, not only their investors and employees, but also their customers.

And with research showing that half of Americans view CEOs as having “bad” reputations, it’s more important than ever for CEOs to embrace their public persona and build a strong online reputation.

While some CEOs might balk at the idea of spending precious time controlling their online narrative, successful CEOs see the value in it—in fact, nearly 40% of Fortune 500 CEOs have an established social presence.

Here’s why doing so is a smart business decision.

CEOs are the new brand ambassadors

For better or worse, the CEO is now the face of the company. This means that when people think of Facebook, for example, they picture Mark Zuckerberg. And the online conversation regarding him affects the public’s perception of his company.

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, Mark Zuckerberg’s poor response to his company’s actions decreased people’s trust in the company. A Wired article by Jessi Hempel recently examined the relationship between Zuckerberg’s trust problem and the company’s:

“By masking an institution as an individual, Zuckerberg has helped that institution to grow to an unprecedented size and influence without the skepticism that might have led regulators to take it on much earlier. But by so closely aligning his identity with the company’s, he has opened Facebook to a new kind of vulnerability. Now it will be up to him to figure out how to repair his own credibility and, at the same time, stop Facebook from undermining democracy.”

A CEO’s online reputation is especially vulnerable

Because they are under so much public scrutiny, CEOs are highly visible targets for people who want to harm their online image.

This becomes especially worrisome given the fact that any individual with a computer can quickly cause serious damage to a CEO’s reputation. Some common reputation attacks include:

1. Bad reviews (whether from angry customers, disgruntled former employees, or unscrupulous competitors)

2. Negative media reports

3. Critical social media comments

One famous example of a CEO who experienced a reputation attack is Tony Hayward, the former CEO of BP.

When he responded, “There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back” to a reporter’s question regarding the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, he experienced a deluge of negative press and social media comments.

As a result of the viral outrage regarding those last five words, BP stock fell 35% and Mr. Hayward was forced to resign his position.

“Whether it is fair or unfair is not the point. I—became the public face and was demonised and vilified. BP cannot move on in the US with me as its leader.” — Tony Hayward

Since this blunder, we have seen CEOs taking more ownership of their online reputations. Business leaders in all industries have learned that building up a positive online image not only mitigates the damage from reputation attacks, but it also serves as a buffer against the damage caused by any new negative content that appears.

Investors make decisions based on a CEO’s online reputation

According to research from the Brunswick Group, investors are increasingly examining the online reputations of companies and CEOs alike when making investment decisions.

One of the biggest surprises in the study data for 2019 is the rapid change in investors’ expectations regarding top executives’ online communications. Half of investors (up 21 points from last year’s data) now report that they “use digital to learn what CEOs are saying.”

With this research in mind, being invisible online—or worse, having a negative online reputation—can limit your ability to attract investment, which can put the future of your company at risk.

A CEO’s online reputation influences a company’s bottom line

According to a survey conducted by Weber Shandwick with KRC Research, executives worldwide believe that a CEO’s reputation accounts for 45% of a company’s market value.

And half of the individuals surveyed expect their CEO’s reputation to have an even greater effect on their company in the future.

Moreover, the respondents stated that a CEO’s reputation was the fourth largest factor in determining a company’s overall reputation.

SSource: www.minclaw.com — Source: www.minclaw.com

The survey also revealed that a good CEO reputation made staffing more cost effective. In fact, 77% of respondents said it helped their company attract new employees, and 70% claimed that it helped their business retain current employees.

Press about a CEO influences media coverage of the company

If a CEO receives bad press, then his or her company is more likely to also garner negative media coverage, according to a study published by the Institute for Public Relations.

The opposite is also true according to Nicole Lee, the author of the study. “If an organization is regularly bashed in the media, its CEO would likely struggle to maintain a positive reputation.”

A CEO’s reputation can also influence the angle a journalist takes when writing his or her story. As such, it can be the deciding factor in whether the CEO receives a scathing indictment or a glowing tribute.

Customers make purchasing decisions based on a CEO’s reputation

Because consumers have so many sources of information available to them, they no longer make purchasing decisions based solely on the quality of the product.

According to Weber Shandwick’s Chief Reputation Strategist Leslie Gaines-Ross, purchasing “decisions are now increasingly based on additional factors such as the company behind the brand, what the company stands for and even the standing of its senior leaders.”

As such, CEOs need to carefully craft their online reputations to earn customers’ trust. CEOs who support a controversial cause or say something overtly offensive, risk losing current—as well as future customers—because news about the scandal will live forever in the CEO’s search results.

One example of a CEO’s reputation affecting his company’s sales is Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. In 2013, he made the mistake of publicly implying that customers’ weight was the reason Lululemon’s yoga pants were ripping apart at the seams after little wear.

“Frankly, some women’s bodies just don’t actually work [for the yoga pants.] It’s more really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it.”

After news of his comment went viral, customers lost faith in the brand and stopped buying. Consequently, the company’s stock plummeted and Wilson lost his job.

Tips for building a strong CEO online reputation

Savvy CEOs have learned from the mistakes that CEOs have made in the past. As such, they are incorporating proactive CEO reputation management strategies into their business functions and not waiting for a crisis before acting.

While it’s almost impossible to remove unfair comments or negative articles, there are things a CEO can do to make these items less prominent and reduce their impact on his or her online reputation. Some of the most effective methods include:

Practicing corporate social responsibility: Research shows that a majority of consumers expect companies to make the world a better place, even if doing so has nothing to do with the business’s mission.

Because CEOs are the face of their company, they need to publicly embrace a social or environmental cause and make driving change a part of the company’s business model. A good example of this is Lego Group’s CEO, Niels B. Christiansen, who has garnered the number-two spot on the Reputation Institute’s list of most reputable companies by introducing a series of CSR initiatives, including plant-based Legos.

Engaging on social media: Some CEOs don’t see the value in crafting an online reputation on social media, viewing it as a time-wasting distraction or an intrusion into their private lives. However, being active on one or more social channels is one of the most effective things a CEO can do to steer the online conversation about his or her name.

This is because search engines rank social content highly, thus making it more likely to be seen when people search for a CEO online. Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, uses his social media accounts to promote anti-discrimination policies to protect LGBTQ individuals. In doing so, he generates a significant amount of goodwill towards himself and his company.

Getting involved in the community: Another good way for CEOs to build a positive reputation is by contributing to their local communities. This could include sponsoring a local little league team or helping deliver backpacks filled with school supplies for underserved children. It could also include volunteering at a local charity.

For example, Tim Baxter, the CEO of Samsung Electronics of North America, boosted his reputation by participating in a Sleep Out event for New Jersey’s Covenant House in 2015.

Becoming a thought leader. CEOs can gain the trust of customers and company stakeholders alike by establishing themselves as an industry authority. Some popular ways of doing so include writing articles, contributing to online discussions, and providing expert opinions to the press.

Because the goal of thought leadership is to help others, not to sell anything, all communication should be in the CEO’s voice, not the voice of the company. A good example of a thought leader is Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, who advocates for privacy rights.

For more information

Now that you know why reputation management is so important for CEOs, you might be interested in more detailed information about the specific steps involved. To learn more, see the following articles:

The Author, Jennifer Bridges is Content Marketing Manager at ReputationDefender. #ReputationManagement #ContentMarketing #DataPrivacy

Feb 27, 2021 | Updated Feb 27, 2021
by @JoshuaNgala

One of the three ways in which internal governance is established in organizations is by drafting, publishing, and enforcing policies and procedures.

An equally important aspect of establishing good leadership within an organization is the establishment of a corporate culture that supports it. Culture determines how a company’s employees and management interact and handle business transactions.

Think about your current workplace. If you are constantly dealing with negative reinforcement, work to rule mentality, punishment versus praise, and never experienced a work social event, chances are you are part of a negative corporate culture.

corporate culture is the willingness of staff to cooperate with an organization’s policies and procedures and to adopt the spirit of those policies into their work and behavior. This process begins with the organization’s leadership and filters down throughout the organization.

Toxic corporate cultures can therefore quickly kill future success of a business organization. Changing your corporate culture is a challenging process but is possible.

Here are five ways to identify if your corporate culture has gone toxic with possible ways to fix it.

1. Unmotivated employees

Toxic culture results in employees lacking the motivation to perform their duties. Such employees are “present,” but demonstrate no “presence.” This culture develops when employees, management, and leaders lack the commitment towards reaching organizational goals.

A Harvard Business School study found that nearly half of employees who experienced toxicity in the workplace reduced their effort and made a conscious choice to spend less time at work. Fixing this problem is establishing effective company-wide communication to enhance engagement. Effective communication can shift a culture.

2. Lack of Core Values

Core values are the behavioral rules inside of a business. Finding the right set of employees and leaders for the organization means also ensuring that every new hire shares similar values in their work-style and ethics.

Those that are already part of the company need to also remember what shared values are of importance. The solution is to develop company behavioral rules — the core values.

3. Failure to meet deadlines

If you are a business owner or manager, you can’t afford these setbacks. It is imperative you identify the reasons behind these missed deadlines. It’s typically an imbalance of responsibility and authority at many levels.

Such a setback occurs when employees are not trained to communicate and lead at each level. Encourage collaborative communication.

Photo by Priscilla Dupreez on unsplash — *A depressed employee sitting on the floor. Photo/ Priscilla Dupreez on unsplash.com*

4. Feeling undervalued

Employees would lose interest and morale to work when they feel undervalued. This creates dissatisfaction and negativity which leads to a toxic culture. Good leadership should create a culture that gives employees a sense of recognition and appreciation.

5. High turnover

One major warning sign of a company culture gone bad is high turnover. Your turnover rate is the figure that can give you an idea of how well your employee retention strategies are. This rate reflects the number of employees who have left your company during any given time period.

The first step in correcting this issue is identifying the root cause. Then correct the problem and create a more positive effect downstream.

Addressing a toxic culture requires buy-in from top-down. Only once the people leading the company make necessary changes can they expect the rest of the company to follow.

Companies can spend millions in trying to replace lost talent, implement the latest technology, and even train employees. But if a toxic workplace environment is not replaced, they’re bound to fail.

Feb 19, 2021 | Updated Feb 20, 2021
by @JoshuaNgala

Capturing interests of customers and getting them to find out more about what you’re offering is a result of a successful value proposition.

For that reason, it’s important for every entrepreneur to know details of needs, wants and fears of the customers.

A value proposition(VP) is a simple statement that summarizes why a customer would choose your product or service.

Also, the features of your product or the details of the service that you provide should be similarly familiar to you. A value proposition, therefore, bridges the gap between these two aspects of your work.

Marketing experts advise that consumers purchase products or services hoping to get results from one of these 3 core desires: wealth, health or relationships. The VP should be designed to fit in the three areas.

The VP being a consumer-centric promise should offer the three things below:

Relevancy. Explains how your product solves customers’ problems or improves their situation.

Quantified value. Explains how your product/service will deliver specific benefits.

Differentiation. compels the ideal customer to buy from you and not from the competition.

On your website or even online advertisement, your value proposition is the first thing visitors see on your homepage. It should also be visible at all major entry points to the site.

Your value proposition needs to be in the language of the customer. Use the right language for your value proposition.

Here are the 5-Step guide to defining your Product Value Proposition:

1. Identify your customer’s pain points

Humans’ triggers either move them away from pain or toward pleasure. Mostly, the first direction people can be moving in is away from pain.

So, have you identified the pains that your product or service will solve or the gains it would elicit for consumers?

It’s for that reason the solution your company will offer by selling a product or service is vital to customers. Important to note: Customers do not pay for products. They pay for a solution your company is offering.

Therefore, design your value proposition based on real problems (pain points) customers are facing. When a customer recognizes the value, they purchase again.

Significant to know is there are three sources of value creation: Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Experience.

Apple's Iphone value proposition, offering unique experience — *Apple’s Iphone value proposition, offering unique Experience*

2. Identify your product/service benefits

Benefits are what a consumer hopes to get, feel or achieve when they use a product. How does your product satisfy the needs, desires and wants of a consumer?

Your product should help consumers improve to either improve on their health, create wealth and enhance their relationships.

Also, does your product fit in the three (3E’s) model of value creation: efficiency, effectiveness, and consumer experience? Remember, value is created within the consumer, not in the product.

3. Connect the Value to your Customer’s pain

Keep your proposition in your customer’s language. Customers have conversations in their heads about their pain points and possible solutions.

Understanding customers’ pain points through problem interview business model is important. After which, you offer a solution to their pain.

If you speak their language and insert yourself in the conversation, they will notice you and hear your proposition. Your product should be the solution they’ve been looking for all this time.

This approach helps an entrepreneur to adjust their business model according to consumers’ needs.

Google Drive vale proposition — *Google Drive value proposition offering values to customers’ pain*

4. Differentiate your product from the competition

Product differentiation is the introduction of distinctive features to a product to ensure a unique selling proposition of the product. As you offer solutions to consumers’ pains, ensure your uniqueness serves as a catalyst in a consumer’s purchase decision-making process.

Differentiation enables your product stand out over other companies offering similar product substitutes. A successful differentiation boosts sales for a company and promotes brand loyalty.

*Crazyegg value proposition promising immediate result*

5. Test your value proposition

The biggest mistake marketers make with value propositions is not testing variations. Test your proposition with small user groups to choose which one you set as your sample.

Launching outreach to user group helps entrepreneurs evaluate if the offer resonates or fails the market test. A/B test can be used to test other variations.

Test propositions that focus on different user problems or key benefits to make sure you’re on the right track.

In sum, creating killer value propositions becomes a top priority for every channel of communication you choose for your business.

Now that you can answer the question “What is a value proposition?

Remember, the value proposition evolves with customers.

Feb 09, 2021 | Updated Feb 16, 2021
by Joshua Ngala @JoshuaNgala
This article was originally published on joshuangala’s WordPress blog

Brand personality is the human characteristics that can be attributed to a brand. It reflects the values passed on to consumers by company employees.

It’s for that reason that personality traits such as integrity, honesty and commitment give an institution a unique differentiation.

Such characteristics inform the behavior of an organization through its services and its employees who represent the brand.

The way an office speaks of its products or services ideally reflects the kind of a person it would be, were it human.

As a result, a brand without a personality has trouble gaining awareness and developing a relationship with customers.

1. Employee personality can hurt a brand

Employee personality can hurt a brand. To control this, an institution must live to its core values and belief system.

Jenny Schade, a brand expert puts it that the promise an organization makes to consumers is not only delivered through products and services, but also through the behaviors of the employees who represent the brand with every move.

It means that the organization’s employees play integral part in its vision and the strategic plan. It trickles down from the Chief Executive Officer to the office cleaner.

Tangible and intangible values

The creation of both tangible values as well as intangible ones is proportionate to employees’ professional conduct and personal lives.

Brand disaster happens when the institution only gives promises to external public while ignoring the employees manifesting a bad culture.

Lack of an appealing workplace and unfair treatment are equally injurious to the employees who must live the brand every day. Such a stingy culture ignores diversity and perpetuates discrimination.

It scathes personal and institutional reputation because employees are the workforce through which the company fulfills its brand promise.

2. Employees should be proud of their brand

Brand promise of a company can be achieved through performance requires people. Employees should “feel good and be proud’ about the institutions they represent.

This gives them a crystal-clear understanding of exactly what the company expects from each of them.

One of the mistakes that some institutions make is to disengage the internal audience and coldly deal with external key players as suppliers, contractors.

Respect and use of good words build employees. Lack of it means the institutional brand attributes such as prestige would be lost. Brand experts emphasize that Company Employees should be married to brand.

Researches find that brand identification is influenced by factors such as prestige, satisfaction, corporate communication, and attractiveness.

The best individuals to further these attributes are the happy employees.

A bond with stakeholders enhances a company’s image through multiple social networks. As a result, the stakeholders influence one another in the formation of consumption attitudes, behaviors and decision making.

3. Trustworthy employees help achieve objectives

Branding has emerged as an integral feature of any institution’s strategic plan considered a key organizational asset.

An institution’s uniqueness therefore can only be considered achievable by having credible, reliable, responsible and trustworthy individual employees.

These personal characteristics directly have a bearing to the extent to which an institutional value meets the economic, psychological or functional needs of voters.

An institution can build a great brand by designing comprehensive public relations strategies to salvage its image.

This is only achievable when employee ambassadors are considered and the institution lives to its values.

Employees remain the foundation of a company’s brand personality.

christina-wocintechchat-com-8jwCWlsBys8-unsplash-1-scaled-e1613127267808-1-1200x1470.jpg

Feb 09, 2021 | Updated Feb 12, 2021
by @JoshuaNgala
This article was originally published on joshuangala's WordPress blog

Every entrepreneur has a purpose driving them to undertake a business venture. With a reason to start a business, value proposition remains an important part of the company’s ideal.

The solution your company will offer by selling a product or service is vital to customers.

For new business owners, finding customers becomes a priority task. However, does your business plan fit into Scalabl’s 7 rules for a virtuous business model? The rules include: no investment, no financial and economic risks, no risks of hidden cost, and scalable combination of gross margin, price, and volume?

The Pareto Principle implies that 80% of your revenue results will come from just 20% of the action. It is, therefore, important to have strategies for customer segmentation and relationships.

As an entrepreneur, customer segmentation, and persona is key. Who are you selling to and where are they? What is your target industry? What segment(s) of the customers will get the most value? How do you identify and prioritize targets? Who is the target buyer within each company? What are their circumstances? What are the pains that your product or service will solve, or the gains it would elicit for them? What is the job title of the typical buyer? How do you know you are right with the customer persona?

The best way of winning customers is to ensure that your product fits into one of the three core market desires: wealth, health, and relationship. When consumers purchase products, they hope to get results in the three areas.

Remember as a startup, you can build a great product. You can also create an amazing company with almost a perfect business model. But customers will not come automatically.

Below are the steps to win customers:

1. Virtuous business model canvas

One golden secret to get and retain customers is to use Scalabl’s virtuous business model canvas. The model creates continuous learning as the guiding principle to startups. Unlike the conventional business plans, the methodology offers the best customer-centric business model on entrepreneurship and innovation.

With this model, an entrepreneur lets potential customers shape the business in a collaborative manner.

What ultimately determines why you buy from one company rather than another? First, it’s their brands’ images and reputations. Second, it’s the relationships you have with them.

Active listening and testing, therefore, remain necessary tools. As Francisco Santolo, Harvard Business School alumnus would say, “any business ideal should be to improve consumers’ lives. It helps you move potential customers from pain to gain.”

Under this model canvas, an entrepreneur would then do a problem interview to know the jobs, gains, and pains of the already segmented customers. This process would be considered a customer persona in ordinary marketing.

The next stage is the solution interview. This is where you try out the minimum viable product (MVP) subjecting it to customers to test, learn, co-create and get feedback. At this stage, you are doing a market hypothesis based on the solutions to customers’ pains.

So, why interview potential clients? The reason is consumer identification, and interviews have a decisive influence on the design of the final product or service.

Generating sales materials and various channels of communications come in handy at the tail end. Stick to three important factors when designing sales materials: a clearly defined business purpose, delineated customer segments, and MVP and its validated price.

The final stage is testing the sales road map to scale. With your MVP, price testing remains key with the response pattern of consumers identified and interviewed at the first stages.

This technique will make your business grow beyond the competition. It simply powers an enterprise to the top and keeps it there. Now move on and grow your company, employ staff and create functional areas. Then fire the founder.

Active listening at every stage provides valuable information to an entrepreneur to make decisions that will generate and maximize value.

Below are some of the best traditional ways to get customers for a virtuous business model canvas:

2. Referrals

Referral is one of the easiest ways to get new customers. It remains part of how a business grows its customer relationships.

Research holds that referral customers tend to purchase more over time and in turn become a source of additional referrals.

Landing referrals from networking or past business associations has a way to pick up customers with the highest retention rates. Build referral-generating activity into the sales process.

Create a system that solicits referrals from your satisfied customers.

3. Networking

Entrepreneurship is about continuous learning and networking. It enhances the creation and nurturing of authentic and, meaningful relationships in the ecosystem. Think of your network: personal, academic, or professional ones.

In your business model canvas, create a database of like-minded individuals to incorporate into your network. The database should contain your potential customers and their contacts.

Achieve your purpose of transformative experience by becoming an advocate of collaboration and a creator of opportunities within a community of people that trusts in networking.

Think of your value proposition as how you’ll build relationships that lead to new customers. Find out “How you can be of service to others” rather than “What’s in it for you.”

4. Partner with complementary businesses

Which activities in your canvas would be performed through others? Have a list of third-party resources in your canvas model.

Again, team up with businesses that have a similar customer base, but aren’t directly competitive.

Collaborate on targeting each other’s customers to drive new business to each other. Also, team up on how to offer discounts and deals to each other’s customers.

5. Improve your channels

These days, consumers find new businesses primarily by searching online. Three key areas of channels should feature in your virtuous business model canvas.

First is the sales channels (describe the means you will sell your product/service?).

Second is the distribution channel (how will you deliver your product/service to the customer?).

Third is communication channels (Which means will you use to communicate your product/service?).

Your social media and website have to attract new customers. You can custom make a website at cost-free. Ensure the design, content, graphics, and SEO links are up-to-date.

Above best tips carefully implemented with customer centricity and collaborations, will make entrepreneurs flourish in their business model. So, is your business model canvas virtuous?

Be a formidable tool for global change.

Apr 10, 2021 | Updated Apr 16, 2021 | This article was originally published on joshua ngala blog post
By @JoshuaNgala

The first week of October is recognized globally as customer service week. It is a season for professionals in service and product industries to celebrate the important role of customer care service.

However, toxic corporate culture remains an impediment for service delivery to some government offices.

A report compiled by the Public Service Commission on the citizen satisfaction index for public service delivery stood at 43 percent. It is a poor score for consumer experience.

The index incorporates citizen perceptions on the availability and quality of basic services among others, health, electricity supply, water and sanitation.

It simply means that these sectors continuously violate the basic consumer expectations. They lack internal governance that espouses for accountable employee behaviors.

1. Such employees do not understand the purpose of their institutional brands

If employees do not understand what your brand stands for, they will not react, and it will not affect their behavior. The result is a toxic corporate culture that hurts the brand.

Positive corporate culture can motivate employees to perform and engage with their work, align behaviors to common values and purpose, share knowledge and insights.

They also become more productive, responsive, and build trust with consumers.

Value creation is significant in consumer experience. Those unresolved queries and non-responsiveness is loud to mean you have given deaf ears to the emotional side of consumers.

It is appalling that some agencies consider customer care as the lowest point of need in an organization.

Customer service is not just having people at the front office. It is cross-functional and should be in every touchpoint of service delivery.

It is also important to document the value you have provided to consumers. Efficiency, effectiveness, and experience are the three sources of value creation. It is increasingly difficult to have efficiency and effectiveness without experience.

2. It is the consumer experience that differentiates you from others

Kenya’s public hospitals are the worst performers in service delivery. A consumer survey done mid last year by mSurvey company reports. With emergence of corona virus, most hospitals remain unreliable with poorest speed of attending to patients.

Stigmatization even went a scale higher. Ugly attitude displayed by nurses has cascaded to cleaners and even watchmen.

Some Government institutions offer accommodation. They treat their clients as potential thieves by offering them cut slippers and torn towels. The good ones who understand consumer experience offer quality branded slippers and encourage consumers to ‘steal them’.

That remains a completely different level of experience. Most institutions of higher learning do not have effective customer services too.

Taxpayers are increasing their expectations for efficient public services. Government should have a legislation that mandates equal and effective customer service standards for all agencies.

A seller suggests food to customers. Photo/Pexels

3. Demand for efficiency is not an interruption to someone’s job

Reason, why consumers do not go switching to new products, is because of your service monopoly. They are the reason you have a job. Take your consumers through the journey to experience your brand promise.

Water sector is strongly infiltrated by cartels. Hence unrealistic inflated bills. Such a department requires customer journey mapping to help them understand what their consumers are experiencing, buying, or even trying. Map out consumers for your brand promise.

Finally, public Offices must align their business models to public values are basic tenets of management. Your brand promise should enhance consumer value.

Excellent customer experience is a signature of a functioning, well-performing government.

Sep 19, 2020 | Updated Sep 19, 2020 
by Joshua Ngala @JoshuaNgala 
This article was originally published on The Star Newspaper

A recent Veracity Index 2020 done by IPSOS on who people trust most, ranks politicians as the lowest trusted service providers, trailing at 32 percent.

Kenya is in a season of infected political discourse. A time when some political leaders are competitively differentiating themselves from the rest by hurling insults at each other.

Such political blind spots should never be given space in our national consciousness.

The leaders have reached a state of obsession with what they should be saying instead of how they should be impacting the society. When one hears such political utterances, the first casualty is often the truth.

A recent Veracity Index 2020 done by IPSOS on who people trust most, ranks politicians as the lowest trusted service providers trailing at 32%. The nurses however, ranked as the most trusted service providers at 97% level.

The scorecard for politicians sends a signal for lack of trust and public accountability.

The failed level of trust justifies the boorishness act we see around. It means our political leaders have sunk too low they cannot fulfill their purpose and the promise to the public.

Members of Parliament should not just remain mere law makers, but create more value for Kenyans who elected them. That is the basic starting point for a political promise.

A time has come for political leaders to do self-reflection and take inventory on personal brands. While politics plays a top position in the governance. It should not be considered as just icing on the cake, but everything in the cake.

Abuses, insults and endless rhetoric will blindly take Kenya in to the abyss. Such ugly images live in the minds of electorates against what they have been promised.

It is a bad experience and a disgust as it might also drive some other people’s behaviors.

Politicians have always taken advantage of social epidemics. It is a situation where their behaviors and idea diffuses through a population. As usual, bad behaviors and utterances spread like virus.

They have mastered the art of violating public expectations by breaking a pattern. For that reason, their unexpected surprises get national attention.

One major way social influence affects us is through conformity.

Some young leaders are already imitating such impunity as they see their seniors doing it. The monkey see, monkey do kind of tendency.

Our leaders must therefore understand that political brands are built on foundations of respect, purpose, promise, accountability and our national history.

McGinniss summed up in his seminal 1969 book, The Selling of the President, that politics has always been a con game. He meant that a lot of political actions are never decided by logic and facts.

Beware of how your appearance, actions, and words reflect on your brand. Comb through your touch points to see if anything is off values. A political office must be a brand that connects with constituents.

Even a small misstep can be blown into a huge mistake that distorts your brand.

In any services business, the true value is created in the interface between the consumer and the employee. In this case the consumer is Wanjiku, and the employer to the elected leaders.

I would want to witness a fierce political competition where values created goes to electorates. Where opposition not simply make noise in the public eye, but hold the government accountable in all aspects.

A politician who respects Kenyans must be at the ‘value zone’ is where development takes place, bills sponsored and other outcomes. They must show empathy and pass values to electorates as enshrined in our national laws.

At times I wish we could set a reminder to our leaders that there is a global blue print known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people achieve a better and more sustainable future by 2030.

I wish they could be reminded of the institutional voids in our health sector, or even inequality in our education system. These are the kind of conversation Kenyans should be hearing.

Bad political behavior is harmful and costly for stakeholders, markets, society, and economy. Change process comes with public accountability that includes imparting values to the electorates.

The era of elected leaders being at the apex as the bosses and can have it their way is long gone. They must be accountable to the public.

They must stop taking the electorate for mere voters, but view them as consumers and potential rivals.

The voters have become rational. When they voted you, they entrusted you with the position. The electorates need to start prioritizing themselves that they come first as the employer, and elected leader come second as employees.

Good values, and public accountability should be a threshold for a reelection.

In 2000, Al Gore was a conflicted man. He had built up a solid reputation for eight years as a competent vice president. He lost the presidency but later on found his branding mojo.

He became the subject of an Oscar-winning film and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. The coded insult, or meaningless messages are dysfunctional elements you are giving the public should remind you of the advice of Judy Robinett:

“If three people tell you are a horse, buy a saddle”.

In other words, whether or not you believe a perception about you is true, if enough people share it, you would better take it seriously. At such a change process you better get a grasp of your current political brand.

A specific trust-building action is pushing the envelope of transparency. Most voters know what ails their leaders, sometimes even before such a leader does or, at least, before the leader is willing to admit.

Kenyans are still hurt, shocked and even physically sick on current political turns and twists. It is time we became obsessed with constant change for the better leadership with values.

Even in a typical marketing strategy, it is important to consider the business’s position in the marketplace.

Human Development study done by United Nations in 2010 found that Nyanza is one of the poorest regions in Kenya. This is majorly as a result of political standpoint from region’s leaders.

Nyanza region has potential sources of revenue including hidden minerals, fish trade, tourism, and its proximity to the cross border trades across Lake Victoria and the neighboring states of Tanzania and Uganda.

The region has enormous under-explored mineral belts that can boost its economic and social development.

Lack of leadership and bad politics has created inequality and poverty to the residents. The region, therefore, requires leaders of the highest caliber to man its resources.

Policy intervention is necessary to influence growth in the long term. Priorities must switch to the under-exploited mineral deposits and advanced agriculture. T

he results will be excellent education; higher standards of health and nutrition; less poverty; a cleaner environment; more equality of opportunity; greater individual freedom, and richer cultural life.

1. Sorghum Demand by Breweries

When East African Breweries announced its plan to set a plant in Kisumu last year, our leaders rubbished the project as Jubilee campaign gimmick.

This was a creation of self-marginalization. The company later launched a drive to recruit new farmers in Nyanza to produce sorghum used in the manufacture of its popular drink Senator Keg.

They have deliberately turned a blind eye on employment opportunities for the people. The rejection was a plan between politicians and shrewd business cartels to benefit from high demand at the expense of farmers.

This project would see farmers from Siaya, Homa Bay, Migori and Kisumu counties form cooperatives in order to benefit from the contract. Kisumu Cotton Mills (KICOMI), which collapsed in the early 1990s should be revived. So far there are no signs of rival from the county government or the legislatures.

2. Fish Industry and Special Economic Zone

One would expect to see established fish processing plants in Kisumu and Homabay. It remains a daunting task to promote sustainable harvesting of fish in Lake Victoria and introduce fish farming projects.

The region cannot meet the increasing demand for fish with a devolved function of agriculture. In Kisumu -the Nyanza regional headquarter, fish from China sells cheaper.

Furthermore, Kisumu was earmarked for development as a special economic zone by the World Bank.

This has remained a pipe dream. With the SEZ, we would be now experiencing increased trade, increased investment, and job creation.

3. Gold and other Mineral Deposits

According to Government geologists, Homa-Bay and Migori are among richest Counties in minerals.

Poor Investment plan and in effective mining policy remain impediments. Large scale gold mining in southern Nyanza was abandoned more than twenty years ago.

Local miners sell cheaply much of the mineral to middlemen. Gold deposits in Southern part of Nyanza can support national economy and generate significant fiscal revenue to counties and income to residents.

Siaya County equally has high-grade traces of gold with minimal exploitation in Ramula.

Kisumu County is endowed with rare earth minerals such as soda ash, fluorspar, and copper remain unexploited due to inadequate knowledge on their status, economic viability and appropriate mining technologies.

The Counties’ Investment Policies should therefore be oriented to technology, industrial optimization and environmental promotions.

Soap stone in Kisii County has multiple uses but under-exploited only for curvings.

Soap stone can also be used in the manufacture of tiles, chalk, cosmetic, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals. It is Dark Age mentality that when local people discover minerals in their areas, it is up to them to form cooperatives so that Government can help them establish an industry through the cooperatives. This area needs a legal authority to regulate and manage it.

If leadership is to be considered wise, the counties integrated development programs have to be re-aligned to reality. Nyanza Governors must review their political standpoint and utilize their leadership positions to work in the best interest of their counties.

Failure to which, the communities will adopt counter measures.

There has been extensive speculation among government analysts over the role and relevance of tribalism in Kenya’s political appointments. Tribalism is an evil spirit that stunts democratic advancement.

One cannot help but notice steadily rising tribal hegemony in government and private sector.

If president appoints from the ranks of those leaders considered enemies of the locals, it brews more trouble than curing it

Why would a native feel proud of his tribe and feel more of his tribe than a citizen of Kenya? It is because of manifested tribalism in all spectra of life. A poorly balanced government kills the national character of a state; the traits of the people in their actual behavior, their attitude and aptitude towards work and national needs.

Tribal appointments and promotions without merits are detrimental to a country’s growth. The quality of government depends on the appointed intellectuals and performers. Unfortunately, most of these legal appointments are a fulfillment of promises made on campaign trails.

If president appoints from the ranks of those leaders considered enemies of the locals, it brews more trouble than curing it. It impedes effective control and good will over major portions of the country. It further makes it difficult for the government to pursue its policies. County governments are not spared.

Some institutions are a product of enduring tribal loyalties. Heads of such institutions are tribal lords who perpetuate retribution impeding the formation of modern civil institutions. Same institutions are elements of suppression of political rivals. In some countries, paramountcy of the civil police in maintaining law and order has led to so many lives lost.

Tribal interests have also played a major role in armed conflict and civil unrest across the continent. A good example is our neighbor Sudan. The ruling community or tribe in South Sudan came from the school of thought that believes that only they can rule others and others should only be followers.

Armed conflict morphosizes in to disintegration of the state structure resulting to obsolete checks and balances. This fosters a climate of absolute power resting on the executive and by extension to the executive tribe. Consequently, the national government is viewed as an outside force that is often hostile and not relevant to affairs of the country.

Regional diversity for appointments in national government is a requirement in the constitution. A lot of legal requirements for both national and county have been ignored by appointing authorities.

This is where illusion of representative power sets in. It is ironic that this support does not extend beyond the tribe, remaining a broken social contract with majority.

Tribalism and cronyism are an illusion of loyalty at the expense of quality leadership. A family network will only serve the interest of that family. Never will it serve the interest of a majority. The quality of leadership therefore determines the nature and extent of power that a government can use for securing its interests.

The appointed tribalists are actors cast to perform in opaque screenplays written by top corporate power brokers and marketed to the public like products. We witness communities enthusiastically celebrate an individual appointment, while another opposes it.

Tribes in an area may be vertically divided over deep political and economic development failures. This situation remains as majority of Kenyans are not willing to forsake their tribal allegiances.

How do we remove this leech on our skin? How would national government have more legitimacy if all tribes were represented?

The capability factors of a national power include an effective, balanced and representative leadership. Representative leadership of a nation is an important human element of national power. Without which, our democracy will never grow.

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