7 Biggest Muses of 2012

#1 STOP WAITING ON OTHERS TO APPROVE OF YOU. THEY WON'T. 

Having been exposed to lots of condemnations from the society, religious beliefs, workplace and dysfunctional family systems, lots of people don't love themselves a bit. So, they just barely live; always waiting for one more validation from others.

MUSE ON THIS: 
Don't wait for anyone to approve of you and stop comparing yourself with themselves. It's your life. Give it your very best shot by being honest with yourself. If you mess up. Too bad! No one has the right to judge you. Pick yourself up while you can and start living. Honestly, how long do you have to live to please others? it's your LIFE.

#2 LOVE IS THE TRUE RELIGION NO ONE CAN FAULT. CHASE IT

We will always disagree on the basis our beliefs, faith and opinions because, honestly, people have the right to believe what they want to believe as long as it does not infringe on the freedom of others around them.

MUSE ON THIS: But we should never disagree on loving others around us irrespective of their beliefs. Love is the only worldview that keeps us going. Love is a thoughtful act of kindness to everyone we ever come across, no matter how differently we see the world. It's a universal language of humankind we should spend our entire life to learn. It's bigger than any personal belief or opinion and it's the least thing anyone on earth can afford. Spread more love people because the world is already filled with so much hates.

#3 SHOW A LITTLE KINDNESS AND RUN AWAY. PEOPLE DON'T ALWAYS PAY BACK
It's natural to expect a favor back from someone you have just shown favor. Life, however, has shown us that's not always the case. In fact, it turns out that people we care about the most, oftentimes break our hearts. Most times, it hurts so bad we just want to shut others out. 

MUSE ON THIS: Treat others the same way you'd like to be treated even if they don't deserve it. There will always be ungrateful people in the world but that should not prevent us from showing one more little kindness unto others. There really is no reward in heaven for doing that. The reward is right here on earth. Some call it the law of Karma but I call it the Law of a better world. If you can help anyone around you, help them and expect nothing in return. Show that little kindness and run away

#4 BE CURIOUS. BE VERY CURIOUS. IT ONLY KILLS THE CAT NOT YOU.

It's human nature to quest for everything. It's also human nature to explain everything. Our brains are wired with a mythic element that seeks bigger answers for the world's many 'why, who, where, how. what, and what if '. Why do people die? Where do people go when they die? Why are some people abused as children? Why do some of us grow fat easily no matter what we do? Why? Why is the world coming to an end? Why is the world not coming to an end? Why should there be a God? Why should't a beautiful world like have no God ruling over it? Why but why?

MUSE ON THIS: There will always be as many answers as we can find but the quest will never end. What should end is our close-mindedness. We should stop putting others in our own little boxes of answers. When we close our mind, we kill the possibilities of new discoveries, new cures to diseases and new possibilities. Every technology we use today is an outcome of people ever searching for new knowledge and better world. One of the biggest highlights of 2012 is the launch of The NASA Mars rover Curiosity. When we stop being curious, we stop growing. We stop knowing. We regress backwards and we destroy others in our own ignorance. It's okay to say 'you really can't figure something out' than saying 'you do have answers to everything' . If you can't prove anything with evidences and receipts, you should take it easy on others. No one has all the answers. Enjoy being curious, people. It only kills the cat and not our minds.

#5.LEAVE YOUR WEAKNESS ALONE FOR A MOMENT AND WORK ON YOUR STRENGTH. OUR WEAKNESSES ALMOST NEVER REALLY LEAVE US.  [SHAME ]

People often tell us to work on our weaknesses and yea, it's pretty much the sensible thing to tell anyone as it makes us feel morally good even when some of these weaknesses never really leave us. 

MUSE ON THIS: I'd rather you work on your strength. That's one good thing about you. That's your advantage over others. Your strength is that thing you do that blesses others near and far. While it's sensible to work on our weaknesses, it makes more sense to own our area of strength. You know why? Your perceived weaknesses, as long as they do not harm anyone, are things you can never change about you. Talking too loud, eating too loud, snoring too loud [ yep, I do that when I'm tired out ] So, while you make new year resolutions, spend your precious little time to work on your strength and people will start ignoring those weaknesses that have hemmed you in for so long. Do you look forward to 2013 yet?

#6 YEA, YOU KNOW THE STORIES OF PEOPLE'S LIVES BUT YOU DON'T REALLY KNOW THEIR STORIES. SO LISTEN.

Oftentimes, we meet someone coming through some moments of their life and we are quick to let them know how we have been there, done that. We even go as far as judging their actions based on the story of their life. Do we really have enough to make conclusions about others?

MUSE ON THIS: There's a major difference between someone's story and the story of their life. The story of my life is what you know about me; what you know of me. It's my life from your own point of view and that's fine. My story is my life as seen from my own point of view. It's my lesson. My elixir. What I took out of my moment in time as understood by me. And it's different from what you think you know about me. You can never take someone beyond their own story. It's a waste of time. Rather, you should help them find their story and allow them retell it as revealed to them. This is the basis of our Personal Branding workshop at Orange Academy. One of the things wrong with our world today is because we often impose our own stories on others. We say if it's good for the geese, it must be good for the gander. Listen very hard. There's a story that child is telling you. There's a story that lover of yours is trying so hard to tell you but you keep putting them within your own templates of life. Life is not a cookie cutter and our stories may often have resemblances but our elixirs are so very personal. Listen.

#7 EMBRACE FAILURE. IT'S BETTER THAN AIMING AT SUCCESS 

Owing to our many conflicting school reports while growing up, we have formed a wrong opinion about the word 'failure' that we do anything to live in its denial when it happens to us. We do not want to fail because we have a human need that seeks the approval of others even when we have to keep up appearances. 

MUSE ON THIS: It's honestly okay to fail. Forget the lies we have been told all those years. We only need to address the concept of failure from a better perspective. At Orange Academy, Failure is an art we teach our students to embrace. Here, as succinctly put by Michael Jordan, "I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed". What can you learn from your failed attempts in 2012? How can you use them to succeed in the coming year? In response to New York Times reporter's question to Thomas Edison on his many failed attempts with the final invention of electric bulb, here's what he had to say "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work." You may also want to know that this same man once defined 'Genius as one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." So, while others wish you a very successful year ahead, may I wish you a year filled with many failed attempts that eventually lead to that one unique success that will change the world.

Send a mail to kennybrandmuse@gmail.com to attend our next Personal Branding Workshop near you or to simply connect with our Muse. 

FIVE Lessons the Mouse taught me in Idea Management

I caught a mouse in my trap last night and it begged me for a minute or two before throwing it into the trash. It wanted to teach me a lesson of my life. Squeaking and rolling its eyes in the pains of the booby traps, the mouse needed to leave me with 5 major lessons that provoked me to write this piece. It's written to me. And if by chance you are reading this, you may learn one or two things but remember this was straight from the mouse to my own Muse. 

LESSON 1. Mice know how to invade new territories. INVADE

If you ever wonder how a mouse found its way into your well-locked apartment, think again. These creatures look for little cracks in the walls and together, they burrow it further bringing in their kin one at a time. You are not ready for business if you are not ready to drill a hole in the competition's. Steve Job's Apple drilled a hole in the IBM concept in order to launch the Lisa in 1984. Also in that same 1984, Richard Branson took on the almighty BA by bringing ‘Virginness’ into an industry plagued by dullness. Mice smell opportunities in distant places and launch an offensive. If you are coming into an industry with the same convention of offering, why would anyone do business with you? You gotta leave some hole in the walls so they can notice you and literarily smell a rat.  

LESSON 2. Mice know how to litter the place. They are very fertile. CREATE

There is almost no other way to build your personal branding without producing what we can see. And number matters here. How many articles have you written in your area of expertise? How many Blogs have you contributed to? How many papers have you submitted to the local institutions in your city? Every 4 week, a mouse is ready to produce new litters. You are laughing at the other lady whose work is almost everywhere online, right? Well, you need to laugh at yourself. Revolutionists write their thoughts down. They produce prototypes of their works. They keep doing it. You are as good as your last job four weeks ago.  Don’t tell us you have an idea of how to change an industy. Write it down. Post it online. That’s littering.

LESSON 3.  Mice can Infect your precious little ones. Be INFECTIOUS 

When a mouse pee on it, you better leave it. It's called the power of infectiousness. Don't do things for doing things sake. Leave them with an infectious messaging or style. To be infectious is to start something that can go places. Online, you call it viral. What's more viral than a mouse? Don't just update your Facebook page, leave it with a poison. Tweet with some infectious words and see the world at your doorstep. Learn the power of infectious messaging. Learn how to tell story that can be retold. Check your area of influence on your marketplace. Are you being infectious or you are just a sweet little something that leaves no bite. Pee on that industry and let people smell it from afar. Don't strive to litter for litter's sake. Make sure your works have a bite to it. The little Black dress by Coco Channel was a revolution that has never left womenfolk’s closets. Prior to 192O's, no one would touch a black dress except they are mourning. Coco tapped into the World War 1 fatalities and created a sexy dress women could wear to just about anywhere. That's being infectious. Smelling the opportunity and turning it into some magic. People still can't get over it as every woman worth the salt still keeps a little black dress. Infectious works create movements, cool cultures and counter cultures. They help us make sense of our world without providing an absolute answer to our many questions. They are deeply layered leaving us wanting for more. Above all, they are brutally simple like the LBD. 

LESSON 4. Mice can adapt to a new environment quite faster than fast, making them one of the animals you find anywhere on earth. ADAPT OR DIE

Like Darwin said. Only the creature that adapts in the circle of life truly survives. Things change all around us. Economies change. Consuming patterns change. Industries change. From diskette to CD, from CD to flash drives, from flash drives to clouds. Things are bound to change and you don't just stand there crying foul and blaming your stepmom for your misfortunes. There was a time we clutched our Encyclopedia in forms of books and CD-ROM. Today, the Wikipedia has changed all of that. What do you do? Change. Yea, you heard me. Change. Change your operational model. Change your office. Who needs that over-decorated reception when most of your prospects are online? Change. Change the way you see work hours for your staff. The cities are getting overpopulated. Transportations are barely enough for all. Do people have to come to work from 8 to 5pm when they can get most jobs done on their computers at home? Change. Adaptation is the no 5 rule of the mouse.

LESSON 5. Mice are the lab rats. Experiment. EXPERIMENT WITH FAILURE.

You know the popular saying about the lab rat? It's not a legend. Most laboratories of human science today have to thank the mice for allowing themselves to go through such gruesome exercises in the lab. Mice embrace experiment. So should you. You can't know if it will work if you don't experiment with it. History has it that Thomas Edison tried for a thousand times before he got the light bulb right. After many experiments with platinum and other filaments, Thomas Edison returned to Carbon filament to give the world a long lasting bulb.  

PS: I created a workbook out of this to teach the ‘how’ of each lesson. The workbook gives you detailed steps to take. These are techniques gleaned from over thousand best practices in Brand and Idea Management as taught at Orange Academy.  If you want the workbook or you want to attend our next Personal Branding workshop, send a mail to the Program Officer at Orange Academy via info@kennybrandmuse.com or info@cluborangeng.com.

Peace.

Quest for Personal Branding

The world we live in can be full of mysteries and unending questions

'How do I know I'm in love for sure? Where do I go when I die? What really happens at night when we sleep? Why are some people so cruel?' etc. 

In search for answers, we navigate our ways through tribes and kinds. We follow people and we interpret signs and symbols. Above all, we use stories to make sense of this world.

A brand, therefore, is a type of narrative that helps us make sense of our world. 

Great brands are tribes with shared stories in this world wide web. Like Religions, they have ardent followers, true believers and new converts. 


Personal Branding, on the other hand, is a definition of self in the midst of these Tribes. It's your own Tribe within the Tribes. It's your own story from our shared stories but with a poignant point of view that is easily recognisable and believable.

Mr Bademosi and the Story of a Fighter Brand.

That Sunday night in the peaceful town of Ondo people, all the doors were locked and the people went to bed as early as 7pm. There weren't so much to do after the dusk in the peaceful town of the Ekimogun. Dinner was served as early as 6pm and everyone my age would be putting their school bags together for the following day. I was barely in my teens and I remember we were already having our baths behind closed doors. Dinners were usually sumptuous and quite elaborate. Pounded Yam and Obe Ila asepo. For the uninitiated, Obe Ila asepo is an okra soup that has all the good things of life stewed into it. Black fish, prawns, all sorts of peppers except tomatoes. Tomatoes are for weaklings. Then went into it all the scented leaves that make an Ondo person a stubborn lot. The boys pounded the yam while the girls cooked the soup. And there were those who had to hold the mortar in place for the heavy pounding. If your fingers were mistakenly in the way, they were as good as gone. Most of us developed our muscles from pounding yam for the family.

Depending on the number of people in your family, triceps and biceps are commensurate to the number of mouths you were going to pound the yam for. My father had more than ten wives and it was a Kingdom of mouths.

When all the mouths were fed and gone, the night would begin with my father and I. He would come knocking on my door and my mother knew it's time to let go. It's the ritual of the night and I was the sacrifice.

 'Men don't sleep at night. Only women and children do.'

So our night would begin with keeping vigil for the rest of the family. I was not the only boy but I was the only boy back home. The onus was on me to keep vigil with Mr Bademosi. I would hold a Grandpa torch in one hand and a long stick in another hand. And I would be assigned a side of the large compound. Each soldier , my dad and I , was assigned to a territory. Every ant crawling by the compound was a suspect. I was trained to be paranoid of spiderwebs hanging on our brick walls. I didn't have a gun but I was meant to face any oncoming intruders. It could be a very bad night if I had taken so much pounded yam as things would go draggy and painfully slow.

This very night, like every other night, there were no impending danger or so it seemed. The street was very quiet but for the sound of a flowing stream behind our barn. And then something happened.

A pebble hit me from nowhere. It's war. This might be the night we had been prepping for all our lives. We had envisioned a night would come when we were all asleep and the enemies would come attack. They would have to meet us prepared. The hairs on my back stood taller than me. I quickly put the torchlight off and jumped into an unfinished apartment in the compound.

Then it started raining pebbles of stones. I knew the end had come. I couldn't sight my Commander in Chief. I narrowly missed a pebble aiming at my head, so I knew the enemy knew where I was hiding. I pitied my Mom. I was the only male child. I couldn't call out to anyone. I had been trained that I had to face the shit when it hit the fan. I had been trained that life is a journey and we are almost always all by ourselves. I had been warned that my primary assignment was to protect the women and the children in the compound; even if I had to die for them.

Then I stood up with the last breathe in me. I faced the battle head on. All I had was a stick, my torchlight and myself. I put one foot forward and took ten back. No one was there to help me. I had to fight.

In one quick moment a very heavy hand descended on me and dragged me further into the dark walls. He was my dad and he hushed me not to raise my stick. The Vigil for the night was over. He was only testing if I was ready for the unforeseen. I don't know if I was really ready but I gave it my best shot.

We are never really prepared for the unforeseen but we must always give it our best shot. As we begin to build on our personal brand equity in the marketplace, those pebbles are going to rain on our parades but we must always remember that we have a duty to protect our territory come what may. I have been watching two major battles against two popular brands in recent times. Apple and Obama.

Apple's territory is Innovation and it's the job of the Management to protect it. Obama's territory is THE AMERICAN DREAM . It's never over until it's over and we owe it to our brands to give it all that it takes. At Orange Academy, we have a large room we tag THE BRAND WAR ROOM. This is where our students fight for every idea they are pitching to future employers and clients. It's not about winning. It's about the fighting spirit. Life is a bitch of a battle and it's very crucial you have a fighting spirit.

Your idea is great but you have to fight for it. Your resume for the job is well put together but you have to pitch it. Your experience on the job is impressive but you have to put in the window. Pick your stick and your torchlight and yourself and go protect your brand territory. It takes a great while to build a strong territory for your brand but it is never over. When the doors are shut. When the lights are out. When the night comes, you have to stay awake working it out. One more business contact to make. One more blog to publish. One more tweet to go.

It's your territory and no one will protect it for you. Remember you don't win all the times but you must fight for it. Leader brands fight. Fighter brands fight. Life is a bitch of a battle and it's very crucial you have a fighting spirit. Have a great day ahead of you.

How To Create An Irresistible Brand On Any Budget ...

Under35CEO - The portal for young entrepreneurs: How To Create An Irresistible Brand On Any Budget ...: Kenny Badmus, CEO/Chief Imagination Officer of Nigeria’s first practical school of Brand Management, Orange Academy, shares with Yin...

YOU HAVE A MAIL.

Dear Creative Soul,

Thanks for the time we have shared together in times past. The laughter. The tears and the successes that came afterwards. I had no doubt we were going places, after all. I particularly love your zest to life. All things bright and beautiful, so you once told me.

However, I think we may be derailing lately. And I'm sure you don't even notice. We have been falling apart and here are the pieces of us left. I'm summoning the courage to put them together as I write you this letter.

First of all, what happened to our dreams?  Yea. Those dreams that lit your eyes in the dark. Those dreams that woke you up at night. What really happened to them? Are they now out of reach? What on earth made you shut the door on them? I bet you forgot that they were merely dreams. They do not occupy a place in your office or your home. All they ask of you is a little space in your head. They were the same dreams Richard Branson had. The same dream Obama had many years ago. The same dream Oprah had before getting onto the screen. These dreams are screaming out to me and it hurts so bad. It really hurts that you are tearing them apart.

Secondly, I notice you have picked up a bad habit lately. Making excuses for everything. I wonder where these excuses were when you courted me. I was so far away when you told me to come near. Even though there were distances between us, we were daring all odd to come together. Why are you suddenly aware that your skin colour may not help you ? Why does your disability now matter more than ever? Something I have looked past. Trust me, I knew you were not so brilliant when I chose to ride with you so many years ago. These things do not matter to me and why are you losing sleep over them? When did you start comparing yourself with others? You now get too conscious of all your flaws. And like braces, you have put them on to get a pity party. What really happened?

Lastly, there's this path you started treading lately. Seeking the approval of people. Ok, let me shock you on this one. No one is really going to approve of you. They also need someone else to give them an approval. Although I didn't want to advise you in this letter but I'm tempted to drop a few words. That you step out of the circle and approve of yourself. Love your being. That's the best thing that can happen to anyone. Take a closer look at yourself and start spending a little more time on that wonderful piece that you are. Make yourself a better being. Keep working at yourself for yourself. Don't wait on people to tell you you are doing well. They may never say it until they get to your graveside. Sad but true.

For me, it may take a little longer for us to get closer but if you remove these barriers between us, you will surely get to me. It's so bright out here, baby. Can't you see it? I am what your dreams are made of. I am your very person for a perfect fit. I am the only one that can tell you that you are doing well with yourself without a speck of flattering or scepticism. When you look into my face, you will see all that you have ever wanted to be.

I am your dreams waiting to happen.

Sincerely yours,

YOUR FUTURE.

PEPSI, what's that kicking all about?

Anytime I see this PEPSI KICK IN THE MIX campaign, I remind myself why this brand will always be in the shadow of Coca Cola. You don't hinge a theme campaign on trends, you base it on Universal Human Truth. Coca Cola knows how to search beneath the obvious trends to unearth a deep human truth we can all share. Trends are only good for execution but the Big Idea must be unearthing something so human and so true. And that's about 90% of what's missing in the ads our people celebrate today. Just musing