There is an art to scaling a knowledge brand and some of our Workshop Butler community are prolific artists. In this series we are sharing insider intelligence on how to successfully scale a training brand from some of the people who have scaled their brands on a global level.
We’ve touched on scaling vertically and horizontally. We’ve established that influential thought leaders continuously develop their brand strategy through events and great content — shared frequently and from a unique perspective.
Today we are sharing knowledge from one of the Top 50 Leadership Experts, according to Inc.com, and a pioneer in agility scaling, Jurgen Appelo.
You have a hugely successful personal brand and are pioneering creative management through Management 3.0, Happy Melly and Agility Scales. How do you manage multiple brands and is it important to be recognised as both brand and brand owner?
Different brands are different projects. They each have their own backlog (or task list), their own goals, and their own priorities. I try not to task-switch too much (which everyone knows is a bad thing). However, I do switch between projects, which can be bad for throughput but good for creativity.
Innovation and diversity are to me more important than efficiency
Innovation and diversity are to me more important than efficiency and productivity, and that’s why I don’t mind that progress across the various projects can be slower than I want. Because the benefit of my multi-project approach is increased motivation and joy. And yes, recognition is something I appreciate in most cases. :)
What would you say has been the most influential of all of your strategies in terms of growing your knowledge brands: books, keynotes, growing your facilitator base and global workshops. All of them?!
It is probably a combination of those. Writing (successful) books probably has the best multiplier effect. But when you’re only writing books, without traveling the world, working on actual products, and talking about problems and solutions with readers, the books will likely not be successful. Therefore, it’s good to have other things going on to expand your views and absorb more ideas.
Variety is more important than efficiency
In my case, that has been public workshops and many talks at events. Again, it’s a case for having multiple projects going on. And besides, writing books for 40 hours per week is a job that few people would enjoy. Variety is more important than efficiency.
What’s your top tip for the successful development of a knowledge brand?
Read! You’re not the first one with that challenge. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books on marketing, branding, social media, networking and influencing. I have read many of them, and I keep learning new things because the way people consume information keeps changing. So just make sure that you know what’s going on in the world and what other people have done to be successful.
I keep learning new things because the way people consume information keeps changing
Try and copy some of those practices and experiment with your own ideas. It’s hard to predict what will work. I have copied popular book promotion tips that turned out not to work for me. I experimented with some of my own ideas that sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t work. It’s impossible to give one tip. I could summarize it as two tips: read and experiment!
Jurgen Appelo is a creative networker, keynote speaker and writer. Founder and CEO of Management 3.0, the fabulous ‘Happiness at Work’ network, Happy Melly and Agility Scales.
If you want to be considered a thought leader in your industry, and grow your brand, stay tuned to our Workshop Butler series, right here on our blog.
