Okay Avos, so after our meeting on Tuesday, we have all been challenged to come up with one line that best describes us - our elusive ‘Elevator Speech’.

Here is the list of words that we wanted to use, so the challenge is to take these words (some, not all!) and make a one-liner out of them that best describes what we do, and how we do it.

Remember that the end date for the challenge is Thurs 31st May.

Words and Phrases:

Communication. Humour. Connecting. Business.

Conversations. Guacomole. Authentic. Soft Skills.

Fresh. Genuine. Open. Magical. Caring. Creative.

Passionate. Unique. ‘Fun with intent’. People. Real.

‘A symphony out of single notes’. Talking.

‘Work better together’. ‘It’s not what we do, it’s how we do it’

What we didn’t want to say/be/do:

Flaky. Corporate. Use ‘buzz’ words. Be ‘over-funky’. Stereotyped.

Be ‘just another training company’. Try to avoid ‘multi-syllable words’.

Go forth Avos, and find us a winner!

A copy of an email received from Discovery:

Dear Clint

On behalf of Discovery Institute and the Learners: A huge THANK YOU! We really appreciate your contribution towards the skill development of our learners and for making a difference with the skill that they will use in their daily lives.

Thank you for partnering with Discovery’s Values of liberating the best in our people.

Cherel Shepherd

Discovery Institute

…when I said to him that things come into being as a result of a critical mass of belief in them. My favourite reference for this idea comes from Terry Pratchett’s “Small Gods”. But I’ve heard it repeated in a huge variety of contexts. For example, in the shoo-wow new-age space I’ve heard it said that if just a handfull of people focussed properly for only 5 minutes on the problem, they could turn the planet’s geophysical influenza around. And I’m almost sure that my sister’s belief in the Boogy-man as a child made noises happen from inside the cupboard. Look what happened to Tinkerbell when (someone) said they didn’t believe in fairies. (Let’s also not forget the Celestine Prophesy)

I’m back/still on the branding journey of thought. I just wondered whether if all the Coke cans & bottles in shops simultaneously disappeared this moment, the Coke brand would still exist? And since the answer is yes, in what form? And if you weren’t allowed to make reference to anything about the (out-of-bounds-to-my-children) buzz drink, could you describe what the Coke brand was? Yes.

I’m thinking, in getting to the crux of the Avo brand, let’s ask “Who are we?” over and over again until we get a satisfactory answer. My favourite Nedbank guru, Carlos, told me about a retreat he went on (or heard about?) where retreatees were asked this question every day on waking up. Tom Peters says we should, and David Goatham tries to get us to…

The Avo brand is no longer a Brand of One, neither is it a Brand of a group of people or a team. It is represented by everything that the company does (the verbs it enacts) even down to the individually labelled shelves in the kitchen. Every component of the organism that is Avocado Vision carries the DNA of the brand like every cell in the body does. Avo is all about people, but the company is also about its systems, its processes, its waste-paper baskets, its stationary non-glut etc. So, stop for a moment basking in the glow of the spectacular Personalities that make up the Avo team, and think for me (us) about the broader-deeper picture. What is the Avocado Vision Brand?

Avos, since the primary Brand-delivery mechanism for our company is its people, what would the brand be if you took them out of the equation simultaneously and at this moment? Tell me. This is not a trick question.

Hi Avos. Please have a look at the list I have started on the ’solving page’: I would really value your thinking - any other issues that occur to you, please post them - I would like to have this list evolved ASAP, so we can make it accessible to clients.

This is a momentous occasion: we are dragging ourselves kicking and screaming into the new way of connecting and thinking in the world. I’m hoping that we will be able to become thought leaders in the space of management development, and other juicy things that Avos LOVE playing with.

But we must walk before we run - so the next few days is about all of us figuring this blogging thing out.

Step 1: build your own bio. Come-on: this is your chance to put your stamp on the world - build your brand in Avo space. The person to have the best bio up by Monday, as voted by all the Avos on Monday, wins a free day off in March! How to do it? Figure it out - Mike is really helpful: skype/email him for blow-by blow instructions

Step 2: watch this space………