Level 5 Blog

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           You know the old barb about I may be fat, but you’re ugly and I can go on a diet? A human-resource-minded adaptation of same might take the stance that: I may be unversed in the particular skills required of this position, but you’re an unpleasant SOB and I can learn the stuff.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Your company, and your brand, are a measure of your players, and how well you fare in the game is in large part a function of the personalities with which you’ve stacked your deck. Sure, your competitor might have just hired a technically brilliant crew, but if they don’t have an attitude consistent with the values of the organization all the know-how in the world ain’t gonna make them fit or successful.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Signing on staffers based on the fit between their attitudes and values and those of your organization is vital. At LEVEL5, we consider vision, mission and values (from which attitude springs) to be the most fundamental features of a strong brand. So, apparently, does the guy who penned this blog, “Hire for Attitude, Teach for Skills,” on the CMA’s site.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Through an anecdote about an encounter with a technically proficient but socially inept electronics salesperson, he expresses perfectly our point of view: namely, that humans come equipped with a closed set of inherent characteristics, but with the wide-open potential to augment them with any number of acquired skills.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         “Time and again, employers focus too much on the technical skills instead of the behavioural qualities of prospective employees,” the author states. True enough. Play the former hand—fat, ugly or otherwise—and it’s game over.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford recently proposed a plan to address a revenue shortfall for the chronically cash-strapped TTC that might include the sale of naming rights to Toronto’s 74 subway stations. Think Spadina-McDonald’s. Indeed, any city property save City Hall itself, he points out, should be eligible for corporate branding as a means of generating cash.

As Toronto’s leader, Ford’s understanding of the city’s brand is vital in order to ensure that any choices he makes optimally benefit it. Subway stations are one element of Toronto’s business system, so before he makes any decisions that affect them and, potentially, the perception of the city (by, for example, the nearly 950,000 daily TTC/RT riders, to say nothing of tourists), it’s critical that he first have a clear grasp of the vision, mission, values and brand DNA upon which the Toronto brand is based, along with Toronto’s positioning vis-à-vis other global destinations. Is the plan to corporatize subway stations consistent with those brand elements? It better be, or it’ll all go rapidly off track.

As with any organization (and city), creating alignment of the entire business system around a promise to the market that guides every decision and action is imperative to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive environment. With technology and transportation enabling millions of new global citizens to consider visiting Toronto, it’s up to Mayor Ford, as the leader for Toronto’s brand, to ensure that the decisions he makes on behalf of the city have all trains going in the same direction.