Optimizing Ombudsman Opportunities | SFR.U 📺

"Argh, when will the old guard get it?”

Melina Cordero wants to know. (And, frankly, we all wanna know.) If they don’t change the way they work with other people, she tells us in “In the Hot Seat: Live Coaching Melina.” they’re unconsciously (or even consciously) creating a whole lotta more friction in the workplace than they know. Maybe they’re blind to it, or maybe they don’t want to see it, but until we give up a lot of the way we’ve always done it, we’re going to get a lot less done as a team, any team.

“If you want to go far, go together" - African Proverb

Previously, on the Stoned Fruit Roll.Up, Melina jumped into live coaching with me for some good ol’ “entrepre-therapy,‘ the soothing elixir to entrepreneurial angst and messaging madness.

Together, we did a deep and profound discovery. I wanna know: Who are your people? What do they need? Who are you? What do you deliver? Why are you special, different, or The One?

After an hour of connected conversation, the way I see it, Malina has a very grown-up brand that is looking for love in all the wrong places. Her marketing is legit and she has a fine product, freshly-launched, and destined to be “the Netflix of Leadership Training / Equity and Inclusion Videos,” her words. She has a personal connection to this work and lots of reasons to believe.

And yet, she doesn’t feel like she’s ‘living the brand.’ Her network is deeply rooted in an antiquated industry where folks are slow to change—and even slower to ask for help.

What’s more, I believe that she has to make some brave decisions about who she is actually “for.” Where you plant your flag matters. After all, if everything is special then nothing is special. Is she for people of color, women, and other folks who experience marginalization in the workplace for no other reason than the powers-that-be don’t know any better? Or, is she for the “stale, male, and pale (and sometimes Yale)” who don’t want to be irrelevant as their way of thinking dies out and become a post-2020 leader? Or, is it for small/medium sized businesses who want to invest in the kind of professional development that pays off big time in a healthy culture and talent attraction?

This calls for a positioning statement! 🦹‍♀️✏️🍒

Get a ringside seat as I reveal the three very different and totally original positioning statements I have crafted, based on our conversation, what I know about DE&I /JEDI work, and the nature/nurture of company culture.

One’s a little vanilla, one’s a little butterscotch, and one’s a little avant garde. Let’s identify the best of the best in messaging that matters. Come along with us as we do it in real-time—and absolutely live.

When we’re done, Melina will have a fully-realized positioning statement and a hearty crop of mighty messaging, i.e., words that work. And if I’ve done my job, the courage to own them, loud and proud. 🥥 

WATCH PART 1: Live Coaching: A Positioning Statement for Melina

 🥥🥥🥥 Transcript 🥥🥥🥥