It was back in 2002. I organized a roadshow for my boss to our major offices of KPMG in Germany. The idea: The board member meets the team and informs about our vision, strategy and action plan for the transaction & restructuring department.
As usual the slides didn’t show any bullets. Numbers and buzz words were neatly presented in boxes and buildings. Some images of animals at the end of the presentation had the biggest impact. These images reflected the characteristics of employees our leadership was looking for.
My boss was more the visionary type of leader. He liked the idea of doing something different and approved the animal slides.
I encourage you to use animal pics more often to support your point. Animal pics imply great messages in a sticky and entertaining way.
Below I give you some examples.
Alertness
In the world of investment bankers, consultants, lawyers and auditors risk awareness and alertness are vital. Liability can turn into a big issue as we could all witness in the Andersen case a couple of years ago.
Message to employees: Be alert at all times!
Team Spirit
The message of accomplishing more in a team is omnipresent in our corporations. Teamwork, team spirit, team performance – you are either a team player or you are out. I guess that’s why I left the corporate world…
Message to employees: Be better, be faster, be a Husky!
Lifelong Learning
An important message to Spanish companies. Lifelong learning is not necessarily a corporate core value in Spain. But of course this is a super important message in general.
Message to employees: Learning doesn’t stop when you can look above the grass. Keep learning your entire life!
Be Different
Do you want to be part of the gray mass? Or do you want to take a different direction sometimes? If you choose the latter one, congratulations! 3M grants its employees so much time to be creative because they want to nurture different views which in the end can turn into innovations. Innovation does not happen when the gray mass play football.
Message to employees: Find new paths – swim against the current sometimes!
Vision
Visionary people have a gift: they can picture what lies beyond the horizon. Visionary leaders combine this capacity with the ability to inspire others to share their view and move them to action.
Message to employees: You do not have to be a giraffe to be visionary!
So – next time you want to show your company’s core values or visualize the strengths of your target employee, maybe you think of our animal friends. They will boost the POWER in your POINT.