Bold Brand Leadership

Bold Brand Leadership - Culturally Intelligent Intrapreneurs

Celebrating women particularly those who pioneered or are pioneering non -traditional careers in non -traditional industries this International Women’s Month.

Celebrating a NEW Masculine Leadership heralding social justice reform, equality and recognition of the impact of poverty and limited access to education…

Warning… The content maybe controversial

This article and presentation on Bold Brand Leadership may contain material may be considered controversial. Watch Rachel Quilty’s Facebook Training Session or listen to the audio below.

Join us as we discuss: -

-Cultural Intelligence

-Cultural Norms

-Internal Brand Communication

-Protocols & Systems Bias

-Sustainable Branding

-Diversity & Inclusion Solutions

-Case Studies

-Coca Cola –Sustainable Branding

-NASA –Intrapreneurship

Warning… The content maybe controversial

This is intended to provoke your thinking & challenge you to Review, Re-build, Re-engineer your brand leadership. This is not legal advice. No income is derived from mentions.

Bold Brand Leadership

“Conscience leadership, competence, confidence and courage is often mistaken as crazy.” Rachel Quilty

Literally every person who has advanced in a non –traditional role or spoken up was mocked, belittled, meet with bias, considered crazy… #leadership especially female will always push boundaries … and push the buttons of the insecure.

“Intelligence Discrimination Is Real.” Rachel Quilty

Become a Contrarian - Grab your Free Brand Journal & Workbook with Rachel Quilty’s Personal Brand Audit

Cultural Intelligence -What You Do Today Matters.

Finally, we are getting to the heart & soul of matters with the emergence of what I call Cultural Intelligence research.

We need cultural intelligent #intrapreneurs who are prepared to be #contrarians, #influencers, be bold leaders and apply sustainable branding to address inequality and injustice in our society.

What is Cultural Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence as a conscious and mindful consideration of the cultural values and #norms of both yourself and others, that are both your internal and external stakeholders and your client interactions or customer touchpoints.?Rachel Quilty

World Health Organization #WHO defines

Social and cultural norms are rules or expectations of behavior and thoughts based on shared beliefs within a specific cultural or social group. While often unspoken, norms offer social standards for appropriate and inappropriate behavior that govern what is (and is not) acceptable in interactions among people. Social and cultural norms are highly influential over individual behavior in a broad variety of contexts, including violence and its prevention, because norms can create an environment that can either foster or mitigate violence and its deleterious effects.

Encyclopedia of Public Health defines

#Cultural Norms are passed from one generation to the next, #culturalnorms are the shared, sanctioned, and integrated systems of beliefs and practices that characterize a cultural group. These norms foster reliable guides for daily living and contribute to the health and well-being of the group.

As prescriptions for correct and moral behavior, cultural norms lend meaning and coherence to life, as well as the means to achieve a sense of #integrity, safety and belonging. Thus, normative beliefs, together with related #values and rituals, confer a sense of order and control upon aspects of life that might otherwise appear chaotic or unpredictable.

Cultural Intelligence in Branding

Iconic brands have used #culturalintelligence which underpins sustainable branding to broaden markets and brand awareness while addressing inequality and injustice.

Cultural intelligence: an outsider's seemingly natural ability to interpret someone's unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person's compatriots would. Harvard Business Review

Several researchers have identified at least four components of cultural intelligence: the cognitive; the physical; the emotional/motivational and meta-cognitive.

Cultural Intelligence (CQ), is the ability to recognize, assess and improve effectiveness in culturally diverse situations by adapting to that assessment of cultural differences. Rachel Quilty

Definition of Cultural Intelligence

Or simply the awareness, the ability and intelligence to relate to people from their cultural perspectives while recognising your own and its impact. Rachel Quilty

As an #IndustrialRelations and Brand specialist I looked beyond the definition existing basic definitions to consider its true depth and its application in society, branding and business growth.

Consider Cultural intelligence from the prospective of enhancing #performance, recognising discriminatory practices, #intrapreneurship of employees are brand ambassadors and also from a #sustainable branding perspective

Cultural Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence as a conscious and mindful consideration of the Cultural Values and Norms of both yourself and others, that is both your internal and external stakeholders in client interactions or customer touchpoints. Rachel Quilty

Cultural Intelligence in Leadership

Cultural intelligence relies on the assumption that individuals will express themselves, their culture and be true to their identity. This requires individuals to be brave, be risk takers, be non-conformist and contrarians and leadership to provide this opportunity.

Cultural intelligence from my perspective recognises that we cannot assume individuals are operating from a culturally comfortable space if they are constrained to another’s cultural norms.

And therefore, we must encourage people to stepping to their culture so its preserved and protected and their value & contribution leveraged. And on the flip side work becomes meaningful.

Cultural Intelligence in Business

We must also identify how individuals’ cultural norms impact on employee relations, management, customer service, internal brand communication & external brand communication and whether this is aligned to the organisation’s values & brand.

When we consider brand trust and your business brand promise how do you achieve this with cultural intelligence...

Cultural Intelligence in Workplaces

To ensure you brand is protected you must review and implement standardised procedures and protocols which are strict adhered to as a benchmark. These can then be reviewed for cultural nuances and oversights.

Cultural Intelligence requires the implementation of standardised procedures and protocols which are strictly adhered to.

These must not become inflexible; held too tightly to such a rigid standard that they fail to recognise an opportunity to improve performance E.g. “This how is always been done.”

Consider the Movie -Dangerous Minds. The death of a student because he failed to knock on the principal’s door when reporting a death threat.

Cultural Intelligence –Summary

Cultural intelligence relies on: -

-Understanding cultural norms exist about gender, sexuality, ethnicity and abilities.

-Understanding we are conditioned to cultural norms from birth.

-Discriminatory biases are embedded in all

-Understanding that we expect others to behave in line with our understanding

-Equality relies on us identifying the most appropriate norms despite our culture norm expectations and respecting other cultural norms which may provide equal or better solutions. E.g., Leave not Footprint, permaculture and storytelling, memory codes or songlines as documented by Scientist Lynne Kelly OAM.

Cultural intelligence relies on leadership, then acting on that knowledge in a manner that enables individuals to be secure in being themselves and cultivating a safe space to allow them to expressing themselves in a workplace appropriate manner. It’s about tolerance of a times small cultural differences, by restraining build resent and resistant which ultimately impacts on performance. And likewise educating people of our expectation and allow an opportunity to provide feedback or improvement of customer service.

Cultural Norms Can Promote Injustice

Inequality is often a reflection of broader cultural norms, stereotyping which may promote and enable injustice, discrimination and workplace bullying. We need to change the pervasive culture of minimizing, dismissing and de-valuing groups, particularly women.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents book by #IsabelWilkerson discusses the hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power —which groups have it and which do not.

Pulitzer Prize winner 1994, Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times, Wilkerson was the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism and her debut as an Author was the book, “The Warmth of Other Suns”.

Through her lectures, research and books Isabel Wilkerson explores with authority the need to reconcile systemic inequality and social injustice.

“Caste”, reveals a hidden caste system in America (consisting of structures and boundaries) like those in India & the 1900’s -1950’s Nazi Germany system.

#Caste explores, through layered analysis and stories of real people, the structure of an unspoken system of human ranking and reveals how our lives are still restricted by what divided us centuries ago. ?Source www.IsabelWilkerson.com

#TimeMagazine said, “Wilkerson offers a transformative new framework through which to understand identity and injustice in America. Instead of relying on concepts like racism—which Wilkerson sees as too narrow— she argues for understanding the U.S. social hierarchy as a caste system: a deeply entrenched yet artificial method of categorizing people by birth.”

In Oprah’s Conversations on #AppleTV+, #Oprah Winfrey hosts conversations around “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” by Isabel Wilkerson, they discuss the Modern-Day Cast System.

“Caste”, raises questions of the origin of the 1900’s -1950’s Nazi Germany system… which Wilkerson research argues is from the United States. “Caste”, in turn raises questions of the origin of the US system. Which raises the question of whether other Colonialised Countries such as Australia also have embedded Caste systems.

“Modern-day caste protocols are often less about overt attacks or conscious hostility. They are like the wind, powerful enough to knock you down but invisible as they go about their work.” Isabel Wilkerson

For Oprah’s #BookClub, Oprah Winfrey selected Caste and proclaimed it “the most essential...the most necessary-for-all-humanity book that I have chosen.” And particularly as it provides a new lens and framework to identify the need to reconcile systemic inequality and social injustice.

On Intersectionality: Essential Writings by Intersectionality Kimberle Crenshaw

“Intersectionality” was coined in 1989 by Professor #KimberléCrenshaw to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap. Using the concept of Intersectionality as a way to help explain the oppression of African-American women

I discovered Intersectionality watching #Gutsy -Apple TV+. Hosted by #HillaryClinton and Chelsea Clinton as they meet with some of the world's boldest and bravest women.

Based on The Book of #GutsyWomen, which shares the stories of the gutsy women who have inspired them with their courage to stand up to the system or establishment and express a strong view. They reveal that they were often in threatening, dangerous and controversial spaces.

A leading thinker and scholar in the field of critical race theory, a professor at Columbia Law School, Crenshaw discusses #Intersectionality and how the ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex’

Time Magazine asked Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, “How do women experience inequality differently than men? Where do we see that in our daily lives?”

Crenshaw’s response, “When we talk about inequality, we are often talking about material differences in conditions of life. Take income inequality. Numerous statistics show that women still get paid less for the same work. That multiplies over a lifetime and means that the problem gets worse the older women get. “

“There’s also a term called the feminization of poverty, which speaks to all the ways that life circumstances—like child rearing, divorce, illness—impact women more profoundly. Across the social plane, from issue to issue, from institution to institution, you see women doing on average more poorly than men.”

"The Feminisation of Poverty - From my research, the feminization of poverty is linked to pervasive systemic discriminatory attitudes to women which dismiss, trivialise and devalue their worth & contribution." Rachel Quilty

Bold Brand Leadership is overcoming systemic bias, discrimination, apathy and traditional ineffective methods that no longer serve with a radically honest dialectic approach.

It requires Cultural Intelligence and adopting a sustainable branding as well as an intrapreneurial strategy. Taking a public stand, promoting change, risk taking and non-conformity to cultural norms biases. This requires action, bold leadership of the gladiator and contrarian.

Let’s look briefly look at #Sustainable Branding

Cultural norms and significant discrimination are likely to be seen where cultural norms traditionally treated women as insignificant. Cultural norm bias and significant discrimination IS reduced with the introduction of clear policies, procedures and protocols.

Cultural norm bias IS revealed and more prevalent with the relaxation of due process and procedures. Personal assessment, lack of context or knowledge and resulting bias may compromise policies, procedures and protocols if they are relaxed and not adhered to.

What happens when standardised protocols don’t exist?

-??????Potential discrimination

-??????Biased attitudes seen

-??????Reflected in treatment

-??????Illustration is old boys club

-??????White & other privilege

-??????Gaslighting

It’s time to have an uncomfortable conversation … and be radically honest about the devaluing of women.?Research clearly identifies that women are dismissed, devalued and minimised

Research indicates that a pervasive attitude of dismissing, devaluing and trivialising women, occurs predominantly in Govt Departments such as Health, Mental health and Police & Law Enforcement and within traditionally male dominated Depts and large Institutions and Corporations.

How We Dismiss Women

·???????Misjudge emotional response

·???????False Assumptions

·???????Stereotypical thinking

·???????Not being trusted

·???????Not being believed

·???????Gaslighting

·???????Cultural Norm expectations and bias

·???????Lack of context or understanding for behaviour/activities

Research and Studies indicate women are treated less favourably than men in most government serivces including health care. Not only is this morally and ethically inappropriate, Political, Health, Justice and Law Enforcement have legal obligations which businesses and Government Dept have employment related legal requirements.

Dismissing #Women in #HealthCare

·???????Different standards of treatment

·???????Ability to understand your own body

·???????Emotional response

·???????Dismiss medical history

·???????Failing to listen

·???????Fear to call emergency services or attend medical centres

·???????Not respecting treatment preferences

·???????Gender differences –

·???????Delay in obtaining health care means usually greater care not dismissal

Dismissing Women in #MentalHealth

·???????Issues trivialised

·???????Real Issues dismissed

·???????Pharmacological treatment despite evidence

·???????Pathological assessment to normal emotional and developmental issues

·???????Depression and Anxiety -

·???????DV dismissed as Mental Health

·???????Gaslighting

·???????Different standard of treatment

·???????Continued treatment of Psychiatry which is now obsolete due to neuroscience, neuro biology and trauma resolution

Women Dismissed by Law Enforcement

·???????Not being believed

·???????Trivialised

·???????Gaslighted

·???????Fear of not being believed

·???????Fear of consequences if contact Police

·???????Biases in evidence procedures

·???????Refusal to investigate or take action

·???????Misjudge emotional response

·???????False Assumptions

·???????Stereotypical thinking

·???????Not being trusted

·???????Not being believed

·???????Gaslighting

·???????Cultural Norm expectations and bias

·???????Lack of context or understanding for behaviour/activities

Systemic Discrimination in Government

Importantly as mentioned many professions have legal obligations in relation to the care and safety of their clients and the public that not only are individuals able to be dismissed but criminal charges brought against them.

The issue is that as a result of this less favourably treatment women are harmed not only physical but emotionally and psychologically. This failure to support and protect women is evidenced in the overwhelming over representation of women in poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, foster care, food and housing security.

It is evidenced in lack of equal pay, equal superannuation, access to promotion and board representation as a result of the typical disruption of women’s careers.

Not only do we have the feminisation of poverty but the feminisation of pre-mature death; if not femicide.

"You do not rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems." #JamesClear

Today, it is vital recognise the importance of cultural intelligence in our management systems and internal brand communication.

To Become Culturally Intelligent

We all have a role.

Each of us must change.

Become Culturally Intelligent: To do this we need to resist accepting the norms, resist being the norm, resist pushing people back into old norms and more importantly punishing those who break out of norms.

Become Culturally Intelligent: To do this we need celebrate those who are stepping into their cultural significances AND resist punishing those who are breaking or stepping away from cultural norms. We expectations of both gender’s and can punish or clawback others.

Prof Jordan B Peterson spoke of this aspect of human behaviour in his book “12 Rules for Life”. The study of Crabs in a Pot revealed a crab attempting to escape was clawed back in.

Becoming Culturally Intelligent requires courage to be a contrarian and resist the popular view or the propaganda and continue despite others possibly trying to claw you back or harm your credibility.

Becoming Culturally Intelligent requires courage to be a contrarian. That it requires you to show yourself and let yourself be seen. Resist the claw back…

Becoming bold Leaders requires us to have our emotions and their expression under control.

Words, actions, inaction and silence can be used for good or harm. We often act out in our uncertainty, fears and insecurities. We also see toxic behaviour as a result of trauma and guilt.

Become Culturally Intelligent requires an awareness of norms and how they play out in all workplaces and influence public perception and internal policy is essential for brand growth and survival.

Choosing Courage

The Jordan B Peterson quote “A harmless man is not a good man; a good man is a very dangerous man with that voluntarily under control. “, illustrates the need to operate from a courageous and brave position of constraint and control; not cowardice, complacency and complicity.

“We judge others because we judge ourselves. We judge people in areas where we’re vulnerable to shame, especially picking those who are doing worse than us. “Dr Brene Brown

Recognising negative behaviors in ourselves and others is essential. We see this in violence and dismissal by men. Likewise, women with trivialisation and harmful words.

“Vulnerability is not weakness, and the uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional.” Prof. Brene Brown

Definition of Hero

Social scientists define heroism as exceptional pro-social behavior that is voluntary and involves risk and self-sacrifice.

Bold Brand Leadership Requires Bravery and Heroes

Case Study: Coca Cola - Sustainable Branding

Sustainability branding is the process of focusing and integrating identified social justice and ethical issues such as environmental, economic and social justice matters in the operations of a business.

Real magic happens when people get together and when what we share in common is greater than what sets us apart. ?Source: Coca_ColaCompany.com

“‘Real Magic’ is about creating a movement to choose a more human way of doing things by embracing our unique perspectives.” Source: CMO Coca_ColaCompany.com

Case Study: Coca Cola

During the era of segregation and integration of the 1950’s #CocaCola a company from the southern states of North America United States choose to promote Coca Cola with black African American women for the first time. The advertisements caused a sensation, protests in the south and a market opened up in the Northern States as well as the African American market.

This example of sustainable branding cultivated social justice and a greater market share.

Sustainable efforts involve creating, maintaining and projecting a brand that offers the benefits of social justice and sustainability.

A major trend in consumer behaviour is that individuals and business brands are re-directing their spending on brands that no only contain but contribute to pro-social messages, promote and embed social justice within their recruiting, management and board/ executive representation, apply sustainable manufacturing practices and exercise ethical business standards.

The greatest realization brands must make is that sustainability goes beyond caring for the environment. It involves three major aspects --environmental, economic and social -- each of which must be taken into consideration for a true sustainability strategy.

As reported by Forbes article, Sustainable Goes Beyond Green; a report published by Shelton Group reveals that it’s important for brands to take a stand on social issues. “Brands & Stands: Social purpose is the new black”. ?It found that not only do consumers support corporate activism (86% want companies to stand for social issues) but also that 64% of them are likely to buy from such companies.

According to Nielsen’s Global Corporate Sustainability Report, 66% of consumers would spend more on a product if it came from a sustainable brand. Up to 73% of the surveyed millennials had a similar view.

And according to Horizon Media’s Finger on the Pulse study, 81% of millennials expect companies to declare their corporate citizenship publicly.

Definition of a Leader

Prof Brene Brown defines a Leader as anyone who holds him or herself responsible or accountable for finding potential in people or processes.?

Case Study: NASA - Intrapreneurship

Within our Case Study of NASA, we identified a number of branding lessons.

The movie ‘Hidden Figures’ illustrates intrapreneurship and sustainable leadership by NASA during the early 1960’s where President Kennedy JFK inspired the nation with a mission to be the first on the moon. This directive lead to NASA Director taking unexpected and vital steps to seek employee skills and abilities outside the traditional male pool of scientists, engineers and mathematicians’ ?to the female pool of computers – female mathematicians and some of the most significant contributions to the moon mission have been recently recognised as the skills and abilities from black African American women.

This decision to look beyond traditional workforce to a gender blind and coloured blind solutions would be considered an important intrapreneurial strategy that advanced the mission to the moon.

The term intrapreneurship refers to a system that allows an employee to act like an entrepreneur within a company or other organization. Today, valuing an individual contribution and worth is vital.

What Is Intrapreneurship? And why is it of benefit to a business or organisation?

An intrapreneurship strategy is adopted when intrapreneurs are enabled to be self-motivated, proactive, risk-taking, results-orientated, and action-oriented people who take the initiative to pursue an innovative product or service, idea, project or solution. As such an intrapreneur is given autonomy within the system, structures, organisation or business to work on a project that may have a considerable impact.

Benefits of Intrapreneurship

? Improved employee morale

? Improved productivity.

? Attract top talent

? Better retention.

? Boost revenue

? Greater Brand Awareness

? Market growth

? Encourage innovation

? Increase agility

? Improve responsiveness

? Leverage in-house knowledge

? Cultivate and harvest talent

#StanfordUniversity research paper defines Intrapreneurship: A powerful driver for business growth and creating a culture of innovation.

Organisations must allow a degree of autonomy to address issues similar to including Executive Limitations into employment contracts or provided an expense account to quickly make necessary purchases. Requires adopting a Sustainable Branding and Intrapreneurship strategy and taking a public stand, promoting change, risk taking and non-conformity to cultural norms. Take action today.

Introduction of new legislation, is not necessarily needed. A great deal of legislation exists and is not implemented, enforced and monitored. Therefore, real change can occur quickly by promoting existing Organisational Policies, Procedure, Processes & Protocols which can provide consistent non-discriminatory or biased treatment immediately.

Policies, Procedure, Processes & Protocols can significantly mitigate litigation and social injustice costs. Becoming Culturally Intelligent is the intelligent choice.

“Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage without vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose.” Prof Brene Brown

So, what if we choose not to engage? Some would say only the privilege have a choice.

What is Privilege?

Privilege is a social advantage that benefits people from a particular group or background over others. ?

One vocal commentator on #Privilege, particularly around gun lobby, systemic discrimination, violence has been Dr #BreneBrown highlights “To not have the conversations because they make you feel uncomfortable is the definition of privilege. Your comfort is not at the centre of this discussion. “

Privilege -Opting out of speaking out because we may get criticized is the definition of privilege.?So, to opt out because it's safe is what privilege is. BreneBrown?

Dr Brené Brown's highlights the link between courage and vulnerability, which she describes as "having the courage to show up when you can't control the outcome."

Silence and inaction are an example of privilege and potential cowardice. We have to examine our own stereotypical thinking, judgements, insecurities, shame, secondary gain and prejudices.

Choosing to Be Courageous means recognising our privilege, choosing to be active in a event that where we may be criticised or worse. ?

“We will have to choose courage over comfort. We will have to feel our way through the shame and sorrow. We will have to listen. We will have challenge our resistance and our defensiveness.” Dr Brene Brown

Inequality is often a reflection of broader cultural norms which may enable injustice, discrimination and workplace bullying. We need to change the pervasive culture of minimizing, dismissing and de-valuing groups, particularly women.

Cultural Norms exist and enable discrimination within a culture as well as between cultures.

We have expectations of both gender’s and both genders will discriminate in line with their cultural norms. Brene Brown’s work talks significantly to this issue.

Cultural Norms are often Hidden.

Cultural Norms exist and as Isabel Wilkerson in Caste and Prof Kimerele Crenshaw rightly tell us these biases can become entrenched, stories of the same treatment and systemically embedded in our systems and policies. ?

Our Own Stories can be culturally relevant or unrealised …

“When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending.” Dr Brene Brown.

Inclusion & Diversity Solutions

Cultural Norms systemically embedded in our systems and policies, requires a cultural intelligence to review and monitor in all government department, if not government party policy breadth. Why because the values entrenched are replicated and inform behaviour of the greatest groups of employees and consumers.

As an individual brand leader, it is vital to review what you would like your brand to stand for and undertake a Personal Brand Leadership Audit or SWOTT analysis.

To Become Culturally Intelligent, we must recognise: -

We all have a role.

Each of us must change.

And become Bold Brand Leaders

To be Brave & Heroes

For Those Without Our Privileges

Become a Contrarian

Grab your Free Brand Journal & Workbook with Rachel Quilty’s

Personal Brand Audit

About Rachel Quilty, pioneering woman in economics and industrial relations.

Brand Management Consultant & Personal Brand Strategist at Jump the Q Inc, a Brand Coaching firm operating in both in USA & Australia with students & clients globally…

More recently Rachel has been studying Filmmaking working on a dozen short films over the past 2 years. Became a Qualified Director, and worked 1st AD, Camera, Sound, Lighting and Script writing

Recognised as an emerging Filmmaker during Northern Rivers disasters, she has also become known as a Social Justice Advocate & Lobbyist for the region.

Rachel has

-10+ yrs. Consulting in Industrial Relations, Crisis Management, Business & Employment Law, Management Systems, Managed Strikes, Industrial Action & Protests and appearing as an IR Advocacy in Commissions & Courts and Manage five industry wide EBA rounds

Some Key Experiences include

-Managing a Fatality and developing a management system

-Industrial Relations on Major $2 Billion Projects and many others

-Managing IR for contractors on major projects with $1mill/$2mill per day liquidate damages

-Significant Australian IR and Federal Court Proceedings & ILO matters

She has also

-10+ yrs. Brand Management Consulting & developing Internal & External Brand Communication Plans and as a Personal Brand Strategist focusing on embedded Big Business Branding principles to create an empire, legacy or cultural change in your sphere of influence.

Grab your Free Brand Journal & Workbook with Rachel Quilty’s Personal Brand Audit?