Why We So Desperately Need YOU to be a firebrand in 2020.
It's never been more crucial to have leadership, thinking, creativity and solutions that go far and beyond what we're experiencing in 2020: pandemics, rumours of wars, environmental disruption, fake news, orange journalism and widespread scepticism.
We need confident, courageous, strong and faith filled men and women - 'firebrands' - who live for that fire in their belly that compels them to seek the greater good.
Firebrands are disrupters, trailblazers, starters, and stirrers; game changers who exist not just for their own cause but also for the cause of others.
They're white-hot, passionate, dedicated, intuitive and strongly empathetic.
They seek to carve their own path in business, society and beyond - and bring people on the journey with them.
They're convinced and convicted by their passion to change the world around them for the better. They are legacy weavers and dream makers. When people sense, feel and experience the unwavering dedication within them, their brand conviction begins to spread like wildfire.
That's how firebrands explode.
To create your firebrand:
- Define your firebrand purpose: and it's found in what you're naturally good at, what seems to flow from within you and what sets your soul on fire. Spend some time reflecting on what your naturally talent is, what people most come to you for as a leader, and what deeply excites you or conversely angers you to want to do something about it. Whether it's a cause, a business, a product your purpose needs to be driven by
- Never underestimate the power of a good name: Establishing your good name even as a firebrand, starts now. Get your head around Ambsdr's Legacy Insights and make sure your headspace and business is ready for true legacy.
- Always stay consistent. Do not waver from your vision. - Stay in your lane - don't compare yourself with others, keep your eyes fixed on the prize. - Understand your niche - make sure you know your brand well and invest in learning what's at the cutting edge as much as you can.
- Become a fortune teller of the best variety: Study the world, the shifting perspectives, the cultural narrative, the discussions, the conversations, the undertones, the mood and the market and forecast trends before they even occur.
- Retool and recalibrate as often as you need to: Rework your business model to meet the market where it's at then transform it.
- Be true to your story: Become the oral, visual and written historian of your brand. Yours is to serve the brand and its audience by preserving its values, narratives, and traditions.
Yours is to tell and retell your brand's story, to be the keeper of its chronicle, and its very lifeblood. You have the ability to fashion your brand's stories into a living reality and take the consumer on the journey with you.
Though you may not know the end of the story but you know which chapter your brand is in now.
Allowing you to guide fellow travellers safely from chapter to chapter.
Your brand stories should excite audiences to believe in something bigger, bolder and uplifting.
You need to create characters, dialogue, images and moods that shift the global narrative.
You ought to explore meaning and the idealised values that are intrinsic to what's best about modern culture - because that's what people want and so desperately need as they clutch for hope wherever they can find it.
Here's the kicker:
Don't expect anyone but yourself to work on making your firebrand a success. Some brand leaders I've worked with in the past have actually demanded that I deliver strategies to them, when they're not willing to think, pitch, call or knock on doors themselves.
To think that your success will be handed to you by someone else is naïve, and downright lazy. Do the hard work and only then will you uncover your passion for your firebrand AND be committed to going all the way to make it happen.
Think on it.
