No one saw 2020 coming. At the close of 2019, economists in the US talked about the prospect of full employment, we expected Brexit to dominate headlines in Europe and Japan was poised to open its doors to the world as host to the Summer Olympics.

This week's big read is Boston Consulting Group's article on how the changing world of work is a confluence of changing tech, changing talent needs, and the value of purpose in the next decade. It's very mega-trendy, but there are great notes. For example, how will you understand and communicate your EB internally as teams get smaller and more virtual? Does your EB change for someone working from home? How do you change your strategy of turning them into advocates?

Some days you just need to get into the weeds to help a hiring manager or recruiter "get" how employer branding can help. Big ideas and concepts just won't fly, and will likely push them away from what you're trying to say. Instead, here's a guide that I see as kind of a bridge to employer brand thinking. Using a DiSC framework (which I generally dig anyway), you can show someone how a "one size fits all" approach to messaging won't work. Once they see how tailoring their messaging to some basic personas can make an improvement, you've opened their eyes and they will be more likely to hear how they can tailor the message further to integrate the brand. How to put the perfect job ad in front of a candidate

If you know me at all, you know I love metaphors. Lovelovelove them!!! So when I see an article by Bud Caddell (my favorite organizational management thinker) with his 8 favorite metaphors for organizations, I eat that up like it's dessert.

Finally, if you're looking for a list of great brand articles to help you think bigger and bolder when you get the year kicked off right, here's a great one.

When it comes to transforming recruitment marketing, I don't know anyone who knows more (or done more) within tech or large companies than Allyn Bailey. As she is someone who truly knows how to turn the biggest boats around, this series on how to think through your own recruitment marketing situation is going to be epic.

Here's your big read for the week. From fellow talent nerd Liz Lembke's Transforming Talent, this week's newsletter got my head spinning. Why? Because we don't talk about social contracts much at all and we really should. Over the last 50 years, what we expect from each other, from our governmental institutions, and from our jobs has changed. But the systems that support our relationships with our jobs really haven't. What do you expect from your colleagues? What's worth complaining about (and what isn't)? When is it okay to ask for help and when are you expected to buckle down and figure it out? Liz collects a series of recent articles on the topic, and they are very much worth your time.

Why is an employer brand important? I am a total employer brand nerd. I talk about employer branding.I wrote an essay on how this is the time in which your employer brand is truly revealed. It is during a crisis that we see that we were putting our faith in pretty words to attract talent, or if we were portraying our organization in a meaningfully different way. I'm hoping its a little more inspirational than the this little description makes it sound.

This article should arm you with a better argument with tech recruiters and tech hiring managers at to why their normal way of hiring is deeeeeeply flawed. I point it out because tech recruiting is one of those places that doesn't always embrace the power of employer brand, and when you read this article, it should become pretty clear where the disconnect it.

Introduction to a Three-Part Series.

We don’t talk much about “business model” here on the newsletter, and really, it’s because we aren’t treating brand management as a business. But business model thinking and brand architecture have a lot of similarities, and the fact that you need to sell your brand to business leaders who think in business models suggests that there might be something interesting in the intersection here. It’s not just how you make money, it’s how you use everything in your ecosystem and how you differentiate yourself (sound familiar?). Anyway, here’s the formula for business model innovation.

Brands take time to fine-tune their position, to develop enough validating and confirming evidence to even be taken seriously. But all too often, employer branders have built something more flimsy than a true “brand,” find an “issue” and try to re-brand. So ask yourself: why are you re-branding?

Let’s face it: things aren’t going to get normal (or potentially much better) any time soon. Companies and brands that attempt to weather the storm rather than build a weatherproof shelter are not going to succeed, and that includes employer brands. So what are some things you should be doing now (and not doing any more) to embrace this reality?

Look, this is something I am grappling with because I really want employer branders to think… deeper. It’s not just putting out little videos and polishing up career sites, but helping leadership think better about their brand. One of the ideas I haven’t gotten my arms around but think is special is the concept of cognitive dissonance. We want what we want, but what we want might not align with our stated values. A company who can help its customers overcome that cognitive dissonance is one who can win a long time customer. Like i said, I’m not sure how we can use this idea, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

As mentioned earlier, it does feel like so many companies have the same pillars and recruitment messaging. To be fair, so many companies are structured the same and have the exact same perks and org chart, so it probably shouldn’t be surprising. Which is why I loved this article equating a company’s branding elements to ingredients in a basket on TV cooking show Chopped. The chefs get the same ingredients, so the skill is in how you bring them together and build something far bigger/better than its components.

While we’re talking podcasts, if you feel like getting smart in a hurry, the two-parter of Adam Robinson on The Knowledge Project is something I go back to on a semi-regular basis. They are very long meandering conversations, but I swear, I come up with work ideas every time I listen to them.

"The creative yet strategic art of marketing is now no more than a simple race for the numbers, endlessly and irreversibly deforming brands for momentary capital gain."