Friday 4 - Brand Management in Uncertain Times & More: 3/20/20

Published: Fri, 03/20/20

Something tells me that it doesn't feel like your typical run into the weekend. I went almost two straight years where I was able to get my weekly newsletter sent off by noon every Friday, and now find myself in a two-week slide of late deliveries. Turns out having my two little guys at home in a full-time format is just a little bit distracting.

This being said, I hope to maintain some level of consistency in your world by delivering my weekly collection of interesting material to either wrap up your work week, or kick off your much deserved down time.

Let's get things started by sharing the second episode of Niched, a podcast I released earlier this week:

Is "Build It Like You Intend to Sell It" Useful Advice? - If I was limited to sharing a single piece of advice on effective networking, it would be to make sure that you look outside of your respective industry as you make connections. My buddy Zack Gould is a gold mine of small business insight that I wouldn't have ever stumbled across if I decided that I couldn't learn from someone functioning in the insurance space. Thankfully we did cross paths, and I think you'll find that we've got a good rapport and an ability to find insights that travel well across multiple fields and industries in this expansive conversation.

My Friday FOUR:

Four pieces of content I've consumed this past week that will influence my future blog material and challenge me to think differently about how I manage Cressey Sports Performance. As always, I'm looking to bring you some business-specific information from outside of the world of fitness. Enjoy:

Coronavirus Champions: A Running List of Brands Getting It Right - Since there isn't a handbook on how to properly handle a worldwide epidemic from a brand management perspective, the best we can do is continuously survey the landscape and emulate those who handle themselves particularly well. This article from Forbes shares a whole bunch of quality examples.

How Orangetheory Has Built a Devoted Following in a Crowded Boutique Fitness Market - Bite your tongue if you feel compelled to share your two cents on what you may not like about OTF...this share is about making a habit of keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer. You should watch what this company is doing if you're concerned with identifying where and how technology might be impacting the fitness industry in the coming months.

This Is Success - Dan Brown (podcast) - This quick podcast interview was especially interesting to me because Mr. Brown spoke at length about the way his work was interpreted both before hitting it big with The Da Vinci Code, and after. My favorite takeaway was that content that failed to accumulate critical acclaim early in your career may very well do so at a later time when you've found your audience.

Virtual Meetings Don’t Have to Be a Bore - Let's be honest...we're all probably going to need to make meetings of this nature more tolerable in the coming weeks. As always, the Harvard Business Review hits the nail on the head.

Make sure to let me know if you come across any material that you think I'd enjoy. More importantly, have a great weekend.

- Pete