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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.

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Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of my podcast. Before we start our chat, please remember to connect with me on social media. My Twitter, it's Jon_Michail; on LinkedIn, it's Jon Michail; you can find me as Image Group International on Facebook. Cheers. So let's get this show started. Today I will continue to share with you why creativity and innovation are important for any type of business. Not only in this environment but always. But before I do that and sort of dive deep into it, I'd like to get you to understand the difference between the two. Like I said in the previous episodes, creativity is like, you know, the ability to solve challenges or problems with novel solutions. In the book out think about how innovative leaders drive exceptional outcomes by Shawn hunter. He defines creativity as the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual. And I would tend to agree with that. At the same time, he defines innovation as the implementation or creation of something new that has realized value to others. So realising value means all sorts of things. And at times, it's commercial value, meaning dollars return, it could be emotional value, it could be all sorts of other values that at times might be hard to quantify personal brand, value, reputation value, and of course, legacy. But in the end, innovation is to turn what was imagined into the reality of creativity; you know, our imaginations are something that is constantly cultivated because it's where the growth comes from. And it's specifically what keeps us alive, if I can use that term and keeps us energetic and also purposeful. And I think that's important, certainly from our perspective it is, and hopefully, it sort of resonates with you as well. So it's quite similar to the definition of creativity that I explained Two episodes ago. Although as a reminder, all people have the capacity to create and, as I've already noted previously, without having a creative bent in them. So what that means is, again, to remind you that you have creative energy, Spirit fire inside you to create whatever you choose. But then when you look at the big picture of that, and that's how I see creating, then that also means then from that, if you have an artistic bent or any other form of innovative bent in this case, you can then also be very creative in creating products, services, and anything else you choose. So innovation is typically a simpler challenge to complete once an idea is feasible. And that's where, of course, imagination comes up. And then you have to do all the other steps to get it into execution. Creativity is identifying that something might be possible in the first place, and that's the beauty of imagination. So because without it, we will never grow or evolve. And certainly, we would just wither and die. So innovation, though, is more than just thinking. It's the process of you know, turning ideas into reality, despite obstacles and resistance. And this is very important because you're gonna get in everything in life, you're gonna get more people saying it can't be done, then the rest of the people that say they can be done. So the percentage is very small compared to people who would say it just can't be done. And of course, when people talk like that and share their, you know what I would call this stuff, write their story on two people that have a tendency to be imaginative and also creative. What that means is they are sharing, you know, their fears, disappointments, and reasons why it can't be done as opposed to something that might resonate with you. In other words, they're talking about from their experience, in most cases. Now, of course, if they've got, you know, a lot of experience, like, for instance, Steve Jobs, and we're talking about, you know, coming up with the latest iPhone, well, that's a different conversation, because you're, you know, you're getting advice from somebody that's been there, done that and has the runs on the board. In other words, live experience. And both are important in business; you know, creating and innovation are all essential. Both are important in business and can generate income and profits once activated. So all ideas are only as good as the activation. And then, of course, will people be enrolled in the product or service, buy it again, and specifically, make a profit that also includes social entrepreneurship? And some examples, by way of some of the great, you know, innovators out there that I just want to mention, we all know, the biggies, you know, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos. But there's also, you know, the Aussie ones that I'd like to highlight. For instance, you know, Melanie Perkins, Cliff, Olbrich, and, of course, a partner, Cameron, Adams. So, you know, these are all great examples of real people. And, of course, some of them are really superstars today, very, very big, internationally well known. But remember that they all didn't start that way. Okay. But they are, of course, great inspiration from the point of view of what's possible. So I'm going to share with you some aspects that should be a priority for your business to thrive, specifically innovation and creativity. As two focuses today, it's about what I would call his creating a dare to create a culture that's given people permission so that they can be able to express their creative potential. And you know, and take advantage of that, in the sense of innovation. People need to feel free to suggest tests and, if necessary, make mistakes. And what that means is having this expressive freedom as well, the creativity is not just doing things with your hands or just thinking it's also about talking, it's about sharing it. And so you want to give people the freedom to do this because you're creating the opposite without that. And it's most likely suppression. And of course, suppression will not drive ideas, let alone unearthing the processes created by a company must support people and provide that direction. Okay. So without that, potentially, you can stiffen the innovation process. And of course, as I just noted earlier, nothing happens. So you're going to have flexibility there, of course, you gotta give people a girl, and you're going to trust the process. That doesn't mean you'll trust it without correcting it along the way. In other words, blind trust, no, you're always going to keep an eye on how things are operating, of course, but at the same time, you're going to trust the team because, without the team, nothing happens. And then we would also suggest looking at the opportunities for collaboration once the culture has been set up. And if you think about most of the greatest inventions of all time, innovations, and creativity, it wasn't done in isolation; it was done in teams. So you start with your work team, in this case. And then, of course, it's external teaming from your current workplace. So what that means is you open up opportunities way beyond, you know, the limits of aspects of just who you know, what you know, and open it up to other possibilities with external collaborators, collaboration, all that works as a fuel for creativity and innovation. You know, so we've heard the same two heads are better than one, and it works similarly. In this case, three heads are also better than one. The key with this, of course, is that they do have to be obviously the right hands. Right. But as I mentioned earlier, part of the culture has been open and innovative. Of course, ideas aren't going to fly. But that doesn't mean people can't share them. And that's where collaboration can also be encouraged internally, you know, in an integrated team office, we brainstorming sessions and or other stuff, design of course, with actions at the end of them and the external relationships that I've already mentioned that are fantastic because that can be leveraged and when leverage is put into action successfully. One plus one does not equal to any more putting instantly, it equals infinity. So that's the power of collaborations. And that's something of course, I've got a lot of experience, you know, having done numerous collaborations in my career. And of course, at the same time helping, you know, connecting clients to do similar with many resources they might not have been aware of, exist, or specifically, that they didn't know. Finally, regarding resources, remember that ideas are only born and take shape when resources are available, including, of course, time, tools, and support. And all of those are really forms of energy. Okay. So if you haven't got the resources available, you just obviously, it's a lot harder. So it's also about how to allocate resources and make this a profitable exercise in all aspects. So to summarize, you know, we're living in times of constant change, this is not going to stop, yes, I get it, it's putting a lot of pressure on people, it's actually creating a lot of stress for people. And of course, it's also creating a lot of uncertainty, just in the environment, including community and businesses. So there's a lot happening out there. But you've got a choice right now. You know, you can take the pain and, and suffer, or choose to say, I'm not going to suffer, because suffering is a choice, and specifically making a decision that I'm going to start creating. And if you need help with that, of course, we can help you with that. And, of course, there are other great people out there that could obviously do the same. So any company that fails to excel in stimulating creativity, we would say, loses valuable space to competition because they do not see new trends and potentially could be going backwards. So innovation leads companies to prominent positions in the market; it is the key to their competitiveness; I guess that you've got to be thinking differently; it's the way it is, you can't, you know, and this is not about, you know, reading the book, this is an embodied experience that you've got to practice in action. I remember I've given you permission in creative culture that daring to create, and also, it's okay to fail occasionally, as long as, of course, we grow from that, and at the same time evolving our culture and, of course, ourselves and our business. And that's it for today. Okay, so it's a subject that's really deep in my heart. It's something that I truly believe in and practice as much as possible. And I recommend that also, you might want to consider this for yourself. If you liked this topic, I recommend you listen to the other two episodes Why change and adaptability to essential life skills for the New World, and also a previous one, innovate or die? What leaders can learn from the brand Netflix? I'm sure these episodes will give you some insights and, yeah, possibly pick up some other things you might have missed before. Please also remember to contact me. If you want help on your journey. Please send me an email, and we can organize a chat. The email is on the description of the episode. Lastly, if you'd like the podcast, I kindly ask you to write it on the Apple podcast. Once you've done that, just send me an email confirmation. We'll send you a book the real world glides authentic personal branding. Thank you all, and I look forward to seeing you next time. Have a great week. Cheers.


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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists, based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.