Book: Smartwoman, Sylvia Walker

A very comprehensive book about where to start when it comes to managing your money and investments. Live within your means and invest the rest, but where to start? This book gives a great outline of all the different choices available to you. 

Reputation clearly does not matter for Nissan

This week, in fact for the past couple of weeks, my dealings with Nissan South Africa and by association Infiniti, have provided me with the near perfect proof that our reputation model that we’ve developed, our Repudometer^®, isn’t just theoretical or academic. They have armed me with a wealth of practical examples that I will be incorporating as ‘how not to do things’ when it comes to treasuring your reputation at any and every opportunity I get.

The basic outline of the story: I absolutely love my Infiniti Q60 Cabriolet [here’s my rave about them when I first got my car]; the problem with my car is that it’s not very conducive to my current lifestyle. I bought a bicycle at the end of last year, as the Cape Town Cycle Tour was one of the things I wanted to tick off my list of things to do this year. Little did I know just how I would really enjoy getting onto the saddle and exploring our wonderful province on two wheels. Needless to say, transporting a bicycle in a cabriolet isn’t all that elegant or user-friendly, so I have been starting to look at what other options are available. Unfortunately, Infiniti hasn't brought any new models to South Africa for a while, so Nissan was the next logical choice. As the service I’d received in the past was so amazing, it made sense to me to look and stay within the same car manufacturing stable.

Apart from a massive fight I had with the dealership after my most recent service, I still went along to Nissan Milnerton to test drive the Qashqai. They had shared a quote and trade in value on my current car; it baffled me a bit that they were offering me their Qashqai for R100 000 more than the advertised value. They indicated that it was to make up for the amount still outstanding on my car. I really don’t want to or need to sell my car; if the numbers work and it’s a good deal, I will most certainly consider it.

When I arrived at Nissan Milnerton, I was asked whether they could have a look at my vehicle in the meantime while I went out with the Nissan Qashqai 1.2 CVT. The gentleman that took me for the test drive was terrific, I specifically asked to test drive hills if possible, as that is all we have to get into and out of Hout Bay; he suggested a route and also took me through the pros and cons of the vehicle; great guy. As I sat down to discuss the details after the test drive, the new car sales manager, came along to find out whether the roof of my car works. I confirmed that it most certainly does. They had opened my boot (removed my handbag without my permission), then tried to open the roof, not knowing how to. They managed to break the roof and boot. My blood pressure revved into overdrive; how does the dealership not know how their cars work? The blame was passed from one person to the next. I was told that if I have a problem I could go upstairs to speak to the dealer principal (DP). As an owner of one of their premium brands, I expect the DP to show some interest in the client and take responsibility. Reluctantly he came downstairs gave a lackluster apology and said that I could get one of the staff member’s Nissan Almera to drive in the interim, then disappeared as quickly as he could. This did not help to calm my mood; my work jacket was in my boot, and with it now broken I couldn’t get it. This meant going to my next business meeting without a jacket and in a dirty Almera. Common sense dictates” ‘here is a potential customer, she has shown an interest in the Qashqai, let’s give her the demo vehicle to drive around with in the interim’. There were many words to and fro, with a promise of massaging the deal they had already sent through to me. Long story short, I left in the demo Qashqai; they did themselves a favour by letting me drive around in it for the day, as I really enjoyed it. I know the CVT gearbox has been criticised in the media; I enjoyed driving it, it was quite peppy and didn’t show signs of strain into Hout Bay. The next day they came to fetch it, and brought me an X Trail rental; I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the Qashqai, it was too sluggish. Fortunately, my car is still under warranty so they tapped into it to fix the roof. The car was returned to me later in the week (I went to fetch it; from past experience, when they deliver the car to me, they see how fast they can drive it to me and leave me with filthy wheels covered with brake dust, engine fan blowing at full tilt, which it has never done in the three years I’ve owned it and an insanely high fuel consumption of 22l/100ks, whereas I normally use 10l/100ks). As I was driving around with my car, there was the loudest “clank” every time I drove over the slightest bump, it sounded like all the panels of my car was about to fall off like a circus car. I texted the sales manager on the Friday (yes, we were now on a texting basis as there were so many issues) after getting the car back on Thursday. He said that I could bring it in on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, when I arrived, the service manager and I took a drive; we hadn’t even made it around the block when the “clank” was confirmed. I was then told that the service side was closed. A massive internal fight pursued. I was assured that my car was safe to drive; I refused, so an Almera was again allocated to me. More words exchanged; I got a Qashqai to drive for the weekend.

Happily, I got my car back later in the week with no further incidents.

Silence ensued.

No feedback or follow up about the quote for a new Qashqai.

Not one for sitting back I mailed the Corporate Affairs Manager to alert him of the situation that this dealership is on a slippery slope to ruin the reputation of Nissan. Customer service jumped into action and the general manager of the area Tommie Hamman said that he would follow up the situation personally and a meeting was set up with the corporate affairs manager during my next visit in Pretoria. This was more the response that I was wanting to see.

After a long telephonic conversation with Tommie of chatting about the situation and my needs, what I don’t want (really don’t want a Sedan, I’m after an SUV), I felt confident that I was, at last, being heard. He then shared an updated quote, this was R100K more than the original quote I received, which was already R100K more than the original selling value… after being queried about this and sharing the original quote with him, he asked for a bit of time to work on a deal.

In Pretoria, en route to my meeting with corporate affairs manager, ten minutes before we were meant to meet, I received a phone call from his PA indicating the meeting wouldn’t go ahead as, there was a family matter, ‘these things happen’ and we could set up a quick telephonic meeting later in the day. If it was a massive family crisis, the rest of the day would have been a right off too. All my correspondence has my mobile number in it, so no reason why the person couldn’t phone me directly. Sadly this is all going back to the service I’ve come to expect over the past couple of weeks from Nissan [update: I did receive a call from the corporate affairs manager earlier today after sharing this blog entry with him; he did apologise for the shoddy way this specific meeting has been managed].

The general manager asked me to meet with him at Harley Davidson in Greenpoint to discuss different options available to me. Harley Davidson is one of the brands under his portfolio. His first question to me, after calling me Mrs le Roux for the umpteenth time (and I had corrected him umpteen + one times), was what I thought about the Harley dealership. I really couldn’t care less about Harley or the dealership. Anyway, once the ‘chit chat’ was over he said that the quote he sent through couldn’t be changed as the outstanding amount on my car is still too high; I did query how Nissan Milnerton was able to provide one quote and he another; he then tried to confuse me by drawing numbers and graphs on a piece of paper and pretty much talking down to me as if I was some type of idiot. He then showed me another option of a Mercedez-Benz C-Class, keeping in mind that I had shared with him previously what my disdain towards Merc AND that I have no interest in a sedan type car. When we did have our earlier conversation I did indicate that I would prefer not to have to pay a deposit but didn’t say I can’t. He basically then made the assumption that I can’t pay a deposit or afford any vehicle. As a client it was incredibly frustrating not to be heard and I mentioned it and said that the lack of showing any leadership or alignment of values is ruining their reputation; I could see that this was like water off a duck’s back and he then went into a long soliloquy of my focus being reputation, his focus is the car industry, which he has over 20 years of experience in and again talked down to me explaining the industry. Basically, I have no clue and I should leave the car industry stuff to them. Clearly, he does not regard reputation management part of his responsibility.  I wonder if his manner would have been the same had Mark joined me for the meeting?  I left deflated, angry and no trust in the brand.

Taking our ten reputation elements into consideration this is where Nissan is going wrong, and my advice to them:

Strategic Intent is the golden thread that needs to be communicated on all levels of the organisation to all the stakeholders. This entails the vision, mission, and values; Nissan’s vision is “Enriching people’s lives” I can most certainly attest to this whole experience as one of the most un-enriching experiences that I had to deal with. From the low staff morale that I experienced, it is clear that this vision is not shared by employees and that they are most certainly not ‘enriched’.

Corporate governance looks at the leadership element of an organisation; when the corporate affairs manager cancelled the meeting ten minutes before the time, puzzle pieces started falling in to place for me; here is an executive who is meant to set the example and lead the bigger team; his nonchalant cancellation shows the disinterest and lack of follow up in people who have a genuine interest in the business. Take accountability for your actions, admit if you forgot about the meeting say so, I would respect that a lot more than some or other meek excuse passing the blame to something else. This action does then explain why the general manager also doesn’t take accountability and blames others for incorrect pricing and information shared with me. The GM also sets the example of not listening, so I really can’t blame the DP for his lack of leadership and the poor example he is setting for his team. Part of governance is policies and procedures; there is a clear lack of procedural documents, what is needed is a step by step manual of ‘how we do things around here’ taking someone’s handbag out of the car without their permission is an issue; not following the steps as to how to open a cabriolet roof is problematic; sending through a questionable quote is massively concerning. If there were proper policies and procedures in place, then the first time I indicated an interest in a car and they felt that I still had too much owing on my current car, they should have indicated that they don’t have an offer for me, I should wait a few months when they would be able to offer me something better; I would have had a much greater respect for them if they had given me sincere honest advice to start off with.

It’s the employees who need to deal with the brunt of the customers when the pawpaw hits the fan because management really couldn’t care less and can’t palm the person off quickly enough to someone else to have to deal with. Is that perhaps why there are hints of corruption, possible fraud with dodgy dealings taking place internally?

This leads me to the next reputation element:

Corporate Capital entails the employees, are the right people appointed to do the right work in the right way? Majority of the employees I dealt with reporting to the DP are really fantastic individuals. A number of them when they heard what my profession is, actually whispered in my ear to find out if I couldn’t please help Nissan. It’s all good and well to have a great staff compliment, but it is just as important to invest in the team.

Operational  Capital of the organisation, investing in training, mentorship and coaching are very important. It doesn’t help having top talent but you are not investing in them as individuals; this does not link to the ‘vision’ of Nissan of enriching people’s lives. The low morale is palpable. If the team felt nurtured, invested in and heard; this would make a profound positive difference to the morale of the team. Employees are your brand ambassadors, they represent the brand; if they have lost faith in the organisation their friends and family will be the first to hear about it; these friends and family are more likely to listen to someone associated to the organisation, than some or other clever advert. If management is not listening to the customer, the chances of them listening to their employees are very doubtful.

Value offering this relates to why someone will be willing to buy your product or services opposed to the competition; Nissan’s value offering is competitive; however letting the client feel inferior about not being able to afford a vehicle does nothing to build confidence or get the client on your side when they do decide to change their vehicle.

Business results this focusses on the transparency of financial dealings; with the number of different offers made to me, the transparency level is clearly in need of some Windowlene.

Strategic Alliance relates to who the organisation associates itself. Infiniti is the luxury brand of Nissan; with the poor interaction with Nissan, purely by association Infiniti now suffers from it too. Why would the General Manager meet with me at a Harley Davidson outlet and not the Infiniti branch? Clearly, he is much more concerned and proud about Harley Davidson than the Infiniti brand. Interestingly, not all the staff drive Nissan vehicles as their personal vehicles, this is something I really found quite surprising as they are your billboards for an organisation, and this seems like a no-brainer to get your staff to drive the cars that they represent. I had a great conversation with one of the employees about his own personal non-Nissan vehicle and how highly he regarded that vehicle and the great fuel consumption he got in it; imagine him being empowered with a Nissan vehicle to have a similar conversation representing your brand instead.

Corporate Social Investment is something that we also look at when it comes to a reputation; I have no clue whether they do have community upliftment projects; hopefully, they invest in the community better than they invest in their people. This is doubtful.

The glue that ties all of these elements together is communication. Here we look at the internal dialogue, which is very poor if I look at the massive fights I’ve witnessed at the dealership. With no clear leadership, unclear values it is not surprising that employees are in a difficult position and I wouldn’t be surprised if they regard this just as a ‘job’ and can’t wait to get home at 16:55 each afternoon.

External dialogue takes all the external communication channels into consideration, public relations, website, social media, all the ‘fun’ and exciting elements of communication; however you can spend millions on a funky ad campaign or brochures (which they have A LOT of just plonked down in their waiting room); if you don’t have the basic building in place you’ll be wasting your money and actually cause more damage to your reputation. There is much to be desired with their external communication; they didn’t even bother to let clients know that their Infiniti premises were moving location; this would have been an ideal opportunity to invite current customers to showcase the new venue and offers.

So why am I so upset about this situation, I think the main thing is the strategic alliance part; having invested in an Infiniti I was signed up for the ‘brand promise’ and expectation of being treasured. With this appalling treatment, my values are put into jeopardy.

Book: Own Your Space, The Toolkit for the Working Woman, Nadia Bilchick & Lori Milner

The book is described as, “the toolkit for the working woman”, and it is indeed a wonderful guide of tips and tricks from taking control of your headspace, physical space, people skills and virtual space. It also includes clever tips on networking, finances, managing your time and presentation skills. There are magnificent examples and proposed videos to watch throughout the book. I also thoroughly enjoyed reading the chapter on, “Words From Women Who Own it”, all very inspiring. All in all, a very useful and great read. 

Training your brain

This was a post via Classic fm's Facebook page:

It links quite well to this video too:

"Just as you build a muscular structure, working at it a little bit each day, so too you need to build a neural structure, doing a little bit of work every day," is what Barbara Oakley says in this video and also shares two interesting examples employed by Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison.

Book: Everest Untold, Diaries from the first South African Everest Expedition, Patrick Conroy

It's fantastic to read a book that grips you from page 1. I managed to finish the book in less than a week. The key message for me from this book is stick to the plan.

As I read the book, I was wondering why I had not heard about this expedition previously, it really was quite something;, the first South African team to summit Mount Everest and it being one of the most tragic expeditions to date. Then I realised that it took place in 1996; that was the year my cousin and I took our gap year in London, so I was not too focussed on South African news. 

It's beautifully written; that is what I love about journalists writing books, they truly have quite a gift of telling a story. Thank you Patrick for sharing your story. 

When I met Patrick a couple of months back he mentioned that he does a talk linking his experience to reputation management, I am very keen to hear it. 

Leadership Magazine: Valuing Internal Dialogue

The September 2017 Leadership Magazine is out, my latest article is on page 100 and 101

Valuing Internal Dialogue

One of my favourite quotes regarding employees is still that of an American oil-well fire fighter, Red Adair who hit the nail on the head when he said, “If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” How do you turn your business into a professional company that clients invest in, instead of hiring family or friends fresh out of varsity?

When speaking at a conference recently, about the importance of having a social media policy, I bumped into Guy Parton. He is the Founder and Director of Hippocampus, the “Design-Gineers” who solve problems using the science of creativity. We chatted about the topic and he put it very succinctly, you wouldn’t have a family member represent your company in front of a jam-packed auditorium, so why get them to represent you on social media where the audience is even bigger?

Don’t get me wrong, I love working with young people and giving them an opportunity to gain experience and cut their teeth in the research and reputation industry. It’s an absolute thrill to challenge them to do something new and to see how they tackle it and grow from the experience. What is important is getting the right fit, having a rigorous interview process as well as encouraging a culture of learning and continuous growth. We are always looking for ways to improve and for talented individuals to join our team. Robin Sharma, author and leadership speaker, says that you can’t have an A-level company with C-level performers. Everyone on our team is driven and ambitious with a track record of being an A-player. To add someone to the mix that is lacklustre just does not work. Finding these A-players is quite a process, however really worth the journey.

Apart from cementing down your key values and encouraging continuous training and learning, the third key element that is vital to building your company’s culture is communication. Engaging with employees may be more challenging than ever before. For the first time in the history of the business world we have at least three generations that are all working together, the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y (also known as Millennials). All these groups require different ways in which to be engaged with. Navigating through these different characteristics, values, and attitudes toward work, based on each generation’s life experiences can become a bit like walking through a mine field. Getting it right and aligning your key messages internally is intrinsic to building a solid reputation.

Different communication strategies are vital to successfully integrate the multigenerational work force. Why is this important for your reputation?

Employees play a vital role in the reputation of an organisation. Very often this is where the reputation of an organisation starts, as their daily perceptions and interactions become the reality for external stakeholders.

In addition to taking an inside-out approach to aligning internal beliefs and behaviours to external perceptions, organisations need to understand that the way in which they communicate with a Baby Boomer, is quite different to that of a Millennial. It is important to note that there is no right or wrong way of communicating, it’s about being able to adapt to what is most effective.

The key is to take advantage of the differences in values and expectations of each generation. While it is important not to follow blanket stereotypes, it does, however, help to have a broad overview of each generation. This will help with understanding and tolerating each other.

Baby Boomers, born between 1943 and 1960 prefer direct interaction be it in a meeting, strategy session or phone call as means of communicating.

Generation X, born between 1965 and 1977 really don’t enjoy networking. They are generally the first people to take out their laptops at a meeting, using it as a shield between them and other people. This generation naturally questions authority figures and are responsible for creating the work/life balance concept. Send them a text or email so that they can respond when it fits into their timetable, this speaks to their quest and need for work/life balance.

Generation Y or Millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, are the technology whiz kids who always ask ‘why?’ They are a lot more socially conscious and generally don’t mind engaging and doing things if the ‘why’ is explained to them. They are among the most resilient in navigating change while deepening their appreciation for diversity and inclusion. They prefer to communicate through platforms such as email, Instant Messaging (IM), blogs and text messages, rather than over the phone or face to face.

Did you know that there is a new definition to the above list? "Boomerangs" lend influence. This is the label for baby boomers who retire and then go back to work for their same firm part-time, maybe just a day a week. In this way, they impart their knowledge and mentor the new generations coming through the doors by sharing from their wealth of experience.

When it comes to improving your internal communication, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, what is needed is flexibility and an understanding of how best to get your message across. It’s also about tolerance for each other and upskilling the team in new ways of communicating, helping them to understand each other. That’s why I always return to the importance of research; you may think that your team prefers to communicate in one way, but if you don’t ask you won’t know. It might really be worth doing a quick poll to find out what employees’ communication preferences are and how often you should communicate, it’s all about finding that happy median.

To wrap up, keep in mind that the workforce currently consists of different generations with whom you need to communicate. Align your communication to the overall business values and objectives using the most appropriate channels of communication per generation. Facilitate mentoring between employees of different ages to encourage more understanding and multigenerational engagement. Employees like to have a voice and to be heard; so facilitate opportunities for feedback through different forums.

Now that you’ve figured out what communication style and frequency your employees prefer, it’s also important to get to understand your other stakeholders’ preferences too. 

Book: Between the Devil and the Deep, A memoir of Acting and Reacting, Pieter-Dirk Uys

After the rather emotional book of Winnie Mandela’s life story, I opted for Pieter-Dirk Uys’ “Between the Devil and the Deep,” what I thought would a lighter read. To be honest, I only really know him as Evita Bezuidenhoudt. I had bought the book earlier this year when a group of us visited Darling to enjoy one of her shows at The Perron.  Compared to Winnie’s book, definitely not as heavy; however, not a light hearted or frivolous read either. It gave a poignant view from the ‘other side’, the white side, during the apartheid time and the pressures he was faced with being an activist and strongly speaking out, and acting against the government. He has a magical way of writing and describing things.  It’s a mixture of a biography and his different plays and personas. A very enjoyable read, I am keen to read his other books too.