Known as the Brand Guy, Richard Sauerman challenged the CCN Live audience to think about their role in the world and what they represent
Amid the industry acronyms, case studies and conference presentations on how to keep costs down, Sauerman’s presentation bought proceedings a little closer to home forcing the audience to think about themselves and to consider whether they are creating a worthwhile future.
“What’s your message? What do you present to the world and deliver? What is brand you?” he asked.
“You know that voice in your head that talks all the time? Listen to that voice. This is the voice I want to connect with today.”
Sauerman talked about navigating through a world of change, pointing out that most people resist change because the unknown creates fear and apprehension.
He demonstrated how much the world has changed by taking the audience back to the year 1955 and quoting from the Good Wife’s Guide, which offers the kind of advice that seems ridiculous today.
It includes gems like "have dinner ready when your husband arrives home from work", "be happy to see him" and "remember to speak in a low, soothing voice but most importantly, don’t be upset if he is late even if he doesn’t come home all night".
Fast forward about 30 years to 1984 and the only way to copy a document is by using carbon copy in a typewriter.
“Not surprisingly, when faxes came out it was considered a huge technological development,” Sauerman said. “Today technology sits in our pockets and powers our lives. We’re heading toward 16 terabytes of information by 2030. But the truth is technology is complicating our lives not making it simpler.
“Proof of this is the TV remote control. Look at all the buttons it has when really we only use the channel button, on/off and volume. Out of all the people that live in my home, only two really know how to use the remote control properly.
“The other problem with technology is that it creates a lot of choice. When I was a kid there were two types of bread - white and brown.
“Now when I go to the bakery there is over 100. This kind of variety is an assault on the senses. What’s a choice, four or five or 80 or 90? We have too much choices and we are far too busy. But really, what are we busy doing?”
Well there are meetings, emails, the list goes on.
“We are in an environment where everything is immediate. We have to answer emails now, reply to calls straight away, which is why the most common complaint we always hear is that we don’t have enough time. But how can that be when we are living longer than ever? It’s because we live our lives at such a frenetic pace.”
Sauerman said go to any bookstore and shelves are filled with one minute advice manuals with titles such as “One minute to being a good sales person” or “One minute to being a good father” - these are titles catering to a busy world.
“This busy pace leads to stress, back aches and ulcers. Our lives are hectic,” he said showing a slide of a yacht sailing across the open sea.
“That’s you sailing forward on a yacht. You don’t know when the next storm will come but you have a destination. What keeps you on track? What keeps you on an even keel?”
Sauerman then went on to ask the audience to think about this phrase: I am on fire, my work is remarkable.
The audience had to apply the phrase to themselves with a rating from one to 10.
The most popular rating was seven. Nobody wanted to be a 10.
“This is because there is a lot of risk involved in being a 10. The other risk is four or five because it isn’t a good look,” he said adding that there is safety in the middle ground, at seven there is no risk.
“Seven is a metaphor for your comfort zone.
A seven business won’t go bankrupt, it’s a default setting. A seven company is professional and orderly, there is nothing dazzling about it. So what makes a peak performer?”
The audience used descriptions like hardworking, passionate and a risk-taker to describe a peak performer.
“You need to turn up, to stand for something. It’s scary because as soon as you stand for something there’s a risk involved,” Sauerman said.
“What does success look like for me? KPIs for the new talent economy are about experiences that make us feel alive.
“People want an experience that makes them feel better about themselves. It’s like advertising. It isn’t rational, it’s emotional.”
So what’s Sauerman’s brand? “I do epic shit.” What’s your brand?
A full roundup of the CCN Live conference appears in the October edition of CCN Magazine.