Executive Leadership Forum

How to differentiate, grow and protect your brand

Never before have executives faced such short-term pressure from investors, customers and even their own boardroom to meet performance expectations. To make matters worse, corporate America has been placed under a microscope and faces intense scrutiny from new government regulations and independent watchdog groups reacting to the wave of high-profile corporate scandals over the past few years.

As a result, executives have been forced to focus on the near-term to ensure quarterly expectations are met and corporate governance regulations are strictly adhered to on a constant basis. Work has become a sea of stress and the burden has fallen squarely on management teams and senior executives who are responsible for differentiating, growing and protecting the assets of their corporations (and themselves).

Perhaps better than any other strategic communications firm, Peppercom understands the business of a client's business and the struggles that our clients face to achieve success. That is how and why Peppercom developed the Executive Leadership Forum (ELF), a professional development course that helps business leaders overcome the challenges they face in the high stakes, unforgiving world of corporate America.

The Executive Leadership Forum enables corporate leaders to differentiate, grow and defend themselves within their unit, their unit within the organization and the organization within the industry. It is a recipe for any manager who is struggling to secure a seat at the table by effectively communicating with and capturing the attention of senior management, recognizing new business opportunities, generating creative ideas on a consistent basis and preparing themselves (and their organizations) for potential crises that threaten the solidity of their careers and their companies.

Whether you're a communications executive or a senior-level line manager, ELF provides an intense, interactive tutorial that requires executives to confront the most pressing challenges facing them in their careers and in their current roles within the organization. The seminars include mock simulation drills, interactive brainstorming and stress reduction exercises that enable executives to overcome a variety of obstacles to their career goals.

Differentiate:

For many executives, differentiating themselves, their products/services or their organizations can be a daunting challenge given the pressure to focus on near-term deliverables and pressures from internal and external constituents. A major part of ELF teaches participants how to look at the art of positioning as a strategic tool to differentiate from the competition--whether a rival company, a competitive product/service offering or even a fellow colleague. The end result is a process by which participants learn to recognize the importance of differentiation and the methodology for achieving it.

Grow:

Have you ever had a brainstorm that failed to produce creative thinking or generate a solution to a problem? If so, what was the reason that it failed? Did a few people dominate the brainstorm, stifling the creativity of others? Was the energy among brainstorm participants too low to generate positive thinking? There are probably a dozen reasons that a brainstorm fails to accomplish its stated objectives. Regardless of the excuse, the result is always the same: a bunch of weak, half-baked ideas that usually never see the light of day.

Generating new ideas is the lifeline to growth and success for any executive or corporation. As part of ELF, Peppercom works with participants to conduct creative brainstorming sessions that help executives adopt a new approach to creating ideas within their organizations and overcoming obstacles that are standing in the way of success. The goal is to provide a platform that participants can take back to their units so they can instill a culture of creative brainstorming into the fabric of the organization. By doing so, they can encourage the development of new ideas that will enable their career, unit and organization to grow.

Defend:

All of the above is meaningless if you can't protect your most important assets when a crisis occurs. This is why ELF also offers a mock crisis simulation that requires participants to manage through and respond to an unfolding crisis scenario. As the mock crisis unfolds, executives are asked to address the concerns of various stakeholders being affected by the crisis.

The key takeaways for all participants--beside the experience of navigating through the mock crisis--are a series of crisis management tools for them to use within their own units or organizations should a real crisis occur. In addition, each individual walks away with a better sense of how important preparation is to protecting one's brand during a crisis event.

Managing Stress/Prioritizing Time:

Through all this, executives must come to grips with the fact that prioritizing one's time and managing stress in the workplace (and at home) are probably the two biggest obstacles they will face throughout their careers. None of the aforementioned goals are obtainable unless the individual can recognize key stress points, manage their time effectively and instill a process to help them make decisions on a daily basis.

ELF helps participants pinpoint the key stress drivers in their jobs and then helps them brainstorm ways to disarm those drivers so they no longer detract from the work, behavior and mental well-being of the individual. Using a series of self-assessment tools, the course outlines specific action items for executives to use back in the office that will eventually become part of the daily routine of prioritizing work and managing stress.

To date, Peppercom has conducted the Executive Leadership Forum for clients such as the executive education program at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler School of Business and Siemens, where we worked across multiple business units within the U.S.