Leaders do not have the luxury to verbally swing and miss when it comes to branding their organizations. However, too many do, and when they do it isn’t as simple as, “opportunity lost.” In some cases it is reputation lost and job lost, and sadly many never understand what just happened.

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I was recently at a large convention where various non-profit organizations were giving annual reports to an audience whose attendees were largely responsible for their funding. The leader of one group launched into a speech that eloquently explained how the organization sometimes “gets it wrong.” I was expecting there to be some transition to juxtapose all that the organization did well. It never came. The longer he spoke the more he reinforced a negative image of his organization. It was a disaster! His associate sitting next to me nearly crawled under the table. Sad thing is this organization actually does some phenomenal work that unfortunately no one will ever know about (and may never support – after all, who wants to fund and organization that “gets it wrong!”). Continue Reading…