Brand Champion of the Day- Mick Jackowski, Director, Center for Innovation, Metropolitan State College of Denver

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting with Mick Jackowski, Director, Center for Innovation, Metropolitan State College of Denver. The Center provides programs for students and businesses to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. Here is Mick's perspective on what it means to be a brand champion.

“Be good and have great relationships = the world is better and you die happy.  That’s it.  Think if everyone on the planet lived up to this credo.  Now think if every organization guided its own operations using this philosophy. To be a successful organization, you need great relationships—with employees, customers, suppliers, community, government, media, etc.—to ensure your continued success.  This factor is most important because your long-term viability is based on your brand reputation, or the immediate thoughts that enter the minds of people in EACH of your stakeholder groups.  Do not confuse this concept with positioning, the brand image in the mind of your customer.  To enable the effective longevity of your organization, you need positive thoughts in the minds of ALL your key stakeholder groups.

"Here’s an example:  Wal-Mart’s brand position as the low-cost leader is undisputed in the department store category, and we could now make a similar argument for its grocery division.  But its reputation in the eyes of many employees has been as an unfair manager, which prompted lawsuits.  To many communities, its reputation was that of the harbinger of death for locally-owned small businesses, so they rallied across the country to prevent new stores from opening.  Now you may or may not agree with either of these examples, but enough people did to create obstacles the company had to overcome. So can Wal-Mart control its reputation? No.

"Only other people control our reputations, we don’t get to vote.  Wal-Mart did a fabulous job of controlling its image of low-cost leader to its customers, but other stakeholders, with other criteria for success, assigned them a thumbs-down reputation.  But a company can control its relationships and forging solid relationships ensures positive reputational feedback.  Think of all the people in your life where you have excellent relationships.  Now give them a reputation label.  It’s hard to have a great relationship with someone and give them a terrible reputation.

"Work hard to develop strong, positive relationships and you will discover your organization has a great reputation in the minds of ALL key stakeholders.  Now your brand is strong enough to help your business thrive for the long-term."

Mick, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your thoughts on what it means to be a brand champion. We look forward to hearing more from you in the future and best of luck with the Center for Innovation at MSCD. I know you will be successful in recruiting and retaining brand champions for the Center. You are the Brand Champion of the Day!

Rex Whisman

Brand Champions Blog