1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where we explore the journeys that lead to success. 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:14,000 I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:21,520 insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders, and experts who will share not just their expertise 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,440 but the milestone moments that have reshaped their journeys and led to significant achievements. 5 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,200 So if you're looking for motivation, you're in the right place. Subscribe now and discover the 6 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:43,120 milestones that mark the path to success. Thank you for joining us today on another episode 7 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:50,480 of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership. Today, my special guest is Henry Wong. He is 8 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:58,080 President and Brand Strategist of Vue, a branding and content company he founded that focuses on 9 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:05,200 impact companies. Henry's roots span over 25 years in the advertising and branding industry, 10 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:12,720 including being an Executive VP, Creative Director for the global ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. 11 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:18,400 He is the author of the recently published book, Telling Your Story, Building Your Brand, 12 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:25,200 a book on personal branding for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and people just looking to advance 13 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:31,280 their careers. Welcome to the show, Henry. Sheila, thank you very much for having me. I am super 14 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:39,280 happy to be talking to you today. Can you tell us about a specific milestone moment or an experience 15 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:45,760 that sparked your passion for brand strategy? You know, I think it really began in my roots in 16 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:53,200 advertising, but much, much before that, I sometimes I share this very interesting story in 17 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:58,480 which I grew up in the back of a Chinese restaurant and I did not speak a word of English. And as I 18 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:04,080 became of age, my parents pushed me to the front of house to act as a translator. So I became this 19 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:09,600 little person at the front taking change from customers and learning all about their life and 20 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,560 interacting with them. And I realized that the sort of stories and jokes I told would connect 21 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:20,480 better with them. And in the end, it helped me with the tip jar quite a bit more. So I realized 22 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:25,760 at a very young age, the power of being able to shape stories to connect with people. And as I 23 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,920 advanced my career, I found that was a terrific way to present things because often, you know, 24 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:35,840 I come from the roots of advertising and creative and often you're set to present ideas to clients. 25 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:41,840 And it's very easy just to simply hold up the idea and maybe rely on it or, you know, talk about it 26 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:47,440 rationally. But if you can build a story around it, that becomes the essence of what you are as a 27 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:54,560 brand. And that's really how I began formulating a lot of my ideas around creating brands using 28 00:02:54,560 --> 00:03:02,240 stories. So you have a book and in that book, you mentioned the significance of condensing 29 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:09,120 a message to just six words like a billboard. Can you expand on that? Share an example of how 30 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:15,680 we can use that approach to create a powerful brand message? Sure. You know, if you've ever 31 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:20,400 met somebody at a networking event, or you're sitting down with someone often, you know, 32 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,640 tough question arises, tell me a little bit about yourself or tell you know, what's your story, 33 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:31,120 Henry, and inevitably that person, particularly company leaders, I find tend to go to a very long 34 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:37,840 length of resume of sorts, or their entire life history. And in that short of long short moment, 35 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,560 you can very much lose your audience or lose the person you're talking to, you see their eyes 36 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,880 glazing over, they're starting to look to the other side of the room. And it's because not really 37 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:51,440 interested in what perhaps what you're having to say, the idea of the six words is really a 38 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,960 discipline. Because if you think of a billboard, as you're driving by on the freeway, and you see a 39 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:03,600 billboard sign, you really only have seconds to take in that message. So in the days of advertising, 40 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:09,680 we learned that using six words, seven words, or a short amount of words can be the limit to how 41 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:14,960 much someone can take as they go by. Now applying that discipline towards your brand, if you're able 42 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:21,520 to express what you're all about, or your story in six words, or less, then you really have the 43 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:26,640 understanding of what your key messages. And you can build on that, of course, but be by using that 44 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:32,000 discipline, you can fully understand how to articulate what you're all about in a few key 45 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,200 words. I'll give you an example of you know, where this came from, it was inspired by a story, 46 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:44,160 another story I heard, and it was from Ernest Hemingway. Apparently, he was in a bar in Havana, 47 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:51,120 and he was getting drunk. And he said to the guy next to him that I could tell you a story in six 48 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:57,600 words. And the guy next to him said, I'll bet you can't. And so on a napkin, apparently, Ernest 49 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:06,480 Hemingway wrote, baby shoes for sale, never worn, and slid it across the table. And I guess he 50 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:11,600 wanted a shot of tequila because it was just such a beautifully articulated story. And what it does, 51 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:18,320 if you think about it, it builds in a lot of the theater of the mind. So baby shoes for sale, 52 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:24,240 never worn, you begin to add your own elements into it by boiling it down to a one key message, 53 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:30,000 you're able to maybe build a connection with people. So that's the idea of doing six words 54 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,480 like a billboard for your own brand, being able to express what you're all about in those few 55 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:39,760 key words so that you can build upon it because later on, you can add more to the story. So begin 56 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:44,640 with something short to understand what your key messages and then build from that. And that's 57 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:51,680 really the discipline behind that exercise. So like on the website, should we put those words 58 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:57,040 right at the top, like on that main banner? I think so. Yeah, if you could, if you have the 59 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:04,320 discipline to bring it down to that key message, then you have your proposition well articulated. 60 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,720 The rest of the site builds upon it, but it's really that front loading set of words that 61 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:13,360 you're looking to hook someone or tell them the story in those few words as possible. 62 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:22,880 Easier said than done. Six words. It is. Oh boy. Yeah. So we do that exercise with many of our 63 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:27,440 clients, but how you get to it really is you be, it's very much like a piece of sculpture. You 64 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:33,440 begin with a lot of words or a long story and you look for the essence of it. So often the exercises 65 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:39,280 we do is let's say it's for whether it's a company or a person, it's really determining what those 66 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:44,080 keywords are that might describe you, what those key benefits are to people. You long list it, 67 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:49,840 you put it up on a board or on giant post-it notes, and you begin circling or identifying what those 68 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:54,400 keywords are. From that, you're able to boil it down to a few. Now, what can I do with those words 69 00:06:54,400 --> 00:07:01,200 to tell a little bit of a proposition or a story? So from that, that's how you get to those six words. 70 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:09,360 Yeah. Very useful. So you've helped companies like Toyota and Johnson and Johnson build their 71 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:16,960 brands. What are some of the key challenges you see businesses facing today when it comes to building 72 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:25,280 their brands? No, quite often we live in a world in which there is just so much messaging out there. 73 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:32,480 It's very difficult to stand out amongst the many competitors that you have. So the challenge always 74 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:37,920 is to first find, determine how you're positioned in the market. What sets you apart from everybody 75 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:44,400 else? What differentiates you from the rest of the pack? So there's no shortage of, you take any 76 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:51,120 business category, cars for example, Tesla used to be the premier electric company. Now there's 77 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,920 dozens of others that have come into the market. How do you begin to distinguish yourself? 78 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:01,200 And that often comes from the brand or the story or how you shape that connection to people. 79 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:06,400 Because in essence, the product may be the same, but how you connect with people will help you 80 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:12,640 separate yourself from the pack of course. In your book, Tell Your Story, Build Your Brand, 81 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:18,640 you share your methods for creating a strong personal brand. Can you walk us through some 82 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:25,120 of those key steps? You know, first and foremost, it's taking stock of yourself. So the beginning 83 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:32,880 exercises, as I outlined in the book is really to firmly assess who you are as a person. So quite 84 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:37,760 often, if I ask you to describe yourself, it's really from your point of view, and it may not 85 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:43,520 be the most objective one, because we, we often will slant at one way or another, or perhaps we 86 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:52,320 undersell ourselves in another way. What we try to do in whether it's a person brand or a product or 87 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:57,440 service, you go to market and try to get an essence of what people think of you. So quite often that 88 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:02,320 may involve interviewing people or sending a set of questions to people you know, your friends, 89 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,960 your colleagues, people you've worked with in the past to get a little bit of a read on you. There 90 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:12,480 may be another exercise you do where you take a personality test or an assessment of some sorts, 91 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:17,200 you get a bit of a read. So right now, then you have other people's views, you have hopefully, 92 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,840 what is an objective view from the tests, let's say that you've done, and then your own interpretation 93 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:27,200 of that. All of that you put together, or you begin to formulate perhaps what you're all about 94 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,840 with the help of a professional. And this is what I often do is we cut through all that and try to 95 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,160 get to the essence of what that person is. But if you're doing it on yourself, you really do have 96 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:42,160 to take an objective view and really get to what your persona is, what you are as a person. So 97 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:47,280 by first understanding who you are, now you can determine how you might sit in the marketplace, 98 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:51,360 how you might compete against other people, whether it's as a head of a company or whether 99 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:56,480 you're navigating your way through your career, what sets you apart from everybody else. That's 100 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:03,600 your main position. From that, what you're hoping to do is to articulate how that position can be 101 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:09,600 as a business proposition. How can I benefit someone with these skills or this essence that 102 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:14,480 I've described? And this is where really it gets back to that six word exercise of being able to 103 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:19,840 articulate it in those few words. And by doing that, now I have really what I stand for. There's 104 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:24,960 a further exercise in the book where I even boil it down to a single word. So if I said to you, 105 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:30,400 let's say, you know, what does Volvo stand for? We've always thought it's a car that stands for 106 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:37,920 safety, one word. You know, Apple just stands for innovation, Nike, winning. So these are the things 107 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:42,320 that you're looking to do to attach to yourself. What is the one word out of the six or out of all 108 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:48,400 these words that I might be able to stand for? So now you have a little bit of that essence of who 109 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:54,000 you are as a person. So from there, you begin to do longer length. It doesn't have to be six words 110 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,880 now. These six words are really to lead you to that single word. But if I stand for, let's say, 111 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,280 I'm a very caring individual. So my keyword is caring. So how do I begin to articulate that 112 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:09,840 story, tell that story and share it with people? And that's how you begin to build it out through 113 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:15,440 either, you know, sharing stories, case studies, examples, ads, and so forth that help to bring 114 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:19,840 that essence of what you stand for in the marketplace to life. So other people can go, 115 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:24,640 yeah, that's really the type of person or the type of company I want to associate with. 116 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:29,120 Dr. Justin Marchegiani So when it comes to personal branding, right, because we talked 117 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:36,000 about products and we talked about services in the personal brand, for example, like in LinkedIn, 118 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:42,000 I see some titles where I'm like, I have no idea what they do, right, because they get so creative. 119 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:48,400 And then you just put like consultant, well, that's too broad. So what tip can you give 120 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,280 those trying to brand themselves? Dr. Michael O'Neill 121 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:58,240 You know, you've underscored the essence of what it means to communicate to the world out there. So, 122 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:04,160 you know, we went through a trend where many companies and many people as a creative way of 123 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:08,480 suggesting innovation within the company, a lot of people to come up with their own job titles. So 124 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:14,880 you had like, you know, chief comedian within a company. So other sort of funny, enlightened 125 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:19,840 type of words, that works really well within the company, because that's your audience. But what 126 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,920 you were talking about, Sheila, was you looking at it, not really understanding what they're all 127 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:28,320 about. When you're communicating with people, you really have to understand who your audience is, 128 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:33,120 who you're communicating with, because they're in the end, are your customers, even if it is 129 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:38,000 someone looking to potentially hire you, think of them in a way as a customer. So how do I best 130 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:43,920 position myself or write those words that would appeal to them, not necessarily to me. In marketing, 131 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:48,480 we often refer to it as talking to yourself, because nobody else understands what you're saying, 132 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:52,960 you really have to take into account your audience so that you can communicate best with them. And 133 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:57,200 that's the first and foremost, understand that you're not going to be everything to everyone, 134 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:01,600 and you're not going to communicate everything to everybody. But what you do need to do is 135 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:07,200 understand who the most important people are within your customer base, within, let's say, 136 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:12,720 potential candidate companies that may hire you, or people you simply want to connect with, whether 137 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:17,760 it's dating or within an impression of life, what you're looking to do is find the right words to 138 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:22,880 connect well with those people. And that's, again, part of the exercise of getting you to that point. 139 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:28,800 Understand your audience, of course. And the book is a step by step. So you actually break 140 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:34,080 it down in the book. I do. Yeah. So, you know, it is a little bit of a self help. You know, 141 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:39,440 I found that there were quite a few people who came to me who simply couldn't afford my fees. So 142 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:44,080 that was probably part of the impetus in terms of creating the book so other people could maybe take 143 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,240 some of this insight and, you know, that a knowledge I have to offer that hopefully they 144 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:56,800 get applied to themselves. Well, you've had a very successful career. Thank you, author, a book. What 145 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:03,360 is your next milestone? As you described in the beginning, I really enjoy working with companies 146 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:09,680 that have a positive impact on society. So my next milestone is hopefully to be, you know, continue 147 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:14,480 to be part of companies, I've been, you know, fortunate enough to be invited to sit on board. 148 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:20,720 So to be part of companies, and I'd love to find that, you know, sort of next thing that would help 149 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,560 change society. And I don't have that milestone. Yet the goal in itself is to try to find something 150 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:32,080 that we can help continue to change and better the world. What advice would you give to someone 151 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:38,480 interested in making an impact? You know, I think it begins with the personal purpose that someone 152 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:43,120 has in life, you know, many entrepreneurs out there, you know, have started a company, and it's 153 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:48,320 often based on their passion to try to create something that in which they are looking to 154 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,800 change an element within the industry or, you know, on a grander scale of the world, I think, 155 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,760 always focus on your purpose, the reason why, you know, people talk about the why I like to think 156 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:02,320 of it as a purpose, what is the purpose for why you're doing what you're doing. And with that, 157 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:07,520 if you hang on to it, I think that always maintains the passion because so often we get into business, 158 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,000 or we get into a job, we begin to lose our sense of passion, you know, if you're not aligning to 159 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:17,680 what your purpose is, and what you're setting out in life, and maybe change it so you can be happy 160 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:23,760 and align it better to your beliefs again, advice in the end, find your purpose, stay to it and bring 161 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:31,600 it to life. So where can my audience find you and your book? A book is available at Barnes and Noble, 162 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:36,560 it's available on Amazon, of course, I have my own website, and lists of some of the retailers 163 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,880 that can get the book if you're interested or simply reach out to me, I'm very happy to always 164 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:47,680 connect with people and that's at Henry Wong dot co. Well, thank you so much for your time today. 165 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:50,960 Sheila, I really enjoyed hanging out with you and talking. 166 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:56,960 And thank you all for listening today on another episode of Milestone Moments in Business and 167 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:11,840 Leadership.