Rangers Henrik Lundqvist in Sport and Fashion

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been absolutely beastly on net, in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs.  The Montreal Canadiens, their opponent in the Eastern Conference Final, lost Game 2, not so much because of the absence of their injury starting goalie, as it was the presence of the Rangers' starting goalie.  King Henrik, as he is respectfully known, & Co. absolutely stoned the high-flying, high-pressure Canadiens.  Enjoy the highlight reel above.

But here we are talking fashion.  Because their ubiquitous profile in the media, athletes really have loads of opportunity to present themselves creatively and fashionably.  Fans don't often see who they really are and what they really look like, underneath a mountain of gear or in the swirl of their sport.  

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook is colorful and whimsical

Miami Heat superstars Dwayne Wade and LeBron James are a fashion contrast

Henrik Lundqvist's sense of fashion fits my style better

So off the ice, Lundqvist is in perfect position to showcase his handsome looks and easygoing style, which I imagine the guys want to emulate and the ladies want to be with.  

I am often glad to see athletes get into business, while they're still in the midst of their sports.  What they do has such a brutal, wearying impact on their body, that 30s is old and a prompt for retirement.  In fact it was early this year we saw Bread & Boxers Announces Partnership with Henrik Lundqvist.  I imagine the King has positioned himself in good stead for that inevitable transition to retirement.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

Editor-in-Chief Eva Chen Speaks Lucky Fashion

Eva Chen is attractive and articulate in a relaxed, natural way.  Her sense of style doesn't overpower you, but instead makes you feel like she's a friend you'd have lunch or coffee with.  She's bucked the trend of young Asians going into engineering, law, finance or medicine, and happened upon a job and a career that is clearly something she delights in.  

Lucky

Eva Chen

Chen is noteworthy for her editorial youth in fashion magazine, but she's actually on the older edge of the coveted Millennial group that Lucky Magazine targets.  Her personality must be as colorful, spirited and fashionable as her profiles on social media.

Twitter

Tumblr

Instagram

Chen certainly has a pulse on her target audience, those 20- and 30-somethings, and works at being empowering, rather than imposing, and no doubt shops, wears and shares fashion in ways that resonate with her readers.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

CMO Marc Speichert Speaks L'Oreal Marketing

Chief Marketing Officer Marc Speichert suggests that to complement an already well-structured, well-executed product innovation, L'Oreal has worked to refresh its go-to-market strategy and efforts.  Media and digital are clearly on his mind, given the four billion Google searches a year on beauty alone.  

YouTube ventures forthrightly into downtown Chicago

In this regard, Michelle Phan is a nature choice for L'Oreal to partner with.  I took a photo of this glossy poster of her, as there is now a concerted effort to raise her online virality to another level.

Beauty continues to be a growing area of content on YouTube, and brands like L'Oreal are tapping into this online community. More than 120 million how-to and beauty videos are watched every day on YouTube, and makeup videos are now the most searched for how-to content on YouTube.

According to Google research, 50 percent of all beauty shoppers watch a beauty video on YouTube while they are shopping for products – that's 1 out of every 2 people shopping for beauty products.

Reference: L'Oreal Launches New Makeup Line Designed by YouTube Beauty Guru Michelle Phan.

The `Path to Purchase is about demarcating and perpetuating the purchase process

Speichert also spoke about `Path to Purchase.  It's building enough awareness, if it isn't there already, so consumers can consider what L'Oreal has to offer.  Besides the active viewing they do online, they talk with their beauticians and stylists, and no doubt their friends, too.  In the best case scenario, not only does an evaluation lead to a purchase, but also the overall experience prompts consumers to keep buying L'Oreal and talking it up themselves.

The product consideration phase is serious because the consumer is discovering something new or making a connection. People spend a lot of time in the consideration phase engaging their stylist, media sources and their friends moving them from being interested to a desire to try the product “evaluation”.

The extensive evaluation process is one of L’Oreal’s key focus points since people are searching for pier to pier recommendations, prompting them to buy. Evaluation is a very collaborative process and also involves more content discovery. The buy side is not the end of the cycle, it’s only the beginning. The next stage is creating brand advocates that have an emotional connection. A carefully nurtured evangelist is required to spread out the target brand’s DNA to the salons and the consumers. Using an authentic tone and voice will perpetuate the organic reach and referrals that can last a lifetime.

Reference: How L’Oreal Tracks the Consumer Path to Purchase.

Registered on July 31st 1919 in France, L'Oreal has had nearly 100 years to build itself up as the largest cosmetics company in the world.

Numbers in brief

Consolidated Sales

Operating Profit

Stock Performance

Topline and bottomline numbers are steady in growth, and while investor confidence has level off since a year ago, L'Oreal is not far off its 52-year high (€137.65) with its current stock performance (€128.10).  That's beautiful in both literal and financial languages.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

A Suspect Article on Confidence

(image credit)

Reference: The Genes That Control Confidence - Do You Have Them?

This article on LinkedIn, by Katty Kay, has had 64,069 eyeballs | 677 thumbs up | 305 comments.  Why not, it's a catchy title (though misleading, as I argue).  Also, it leads off with a picture of a very attractive lady, presumably confident in her own right (but genetically so, who knows).

Mine was one of those comments:

There is something terribly concerning about this article! We have to define confidence clearly, and for the purpose of any research, we must define it operationally (i.e., in ways that can be researched). In either case, we don't have a clear definition in this article. Also, any measure of anything must have construct validity. What kind of validation tests have these scientists made to ensure that SLC6A4, OXTR and COMT do in fact relate to confidence? Might there be other, yet undiscovered, "confidence genes"? Moreover, making the leap from animal studies to human testing is fraught with risk and uncertainty. The genetic similarity among monkeys, rats and humans, notwithstanding, confidence is also psychological, behavioral and social in nature. How well did these scientists account for the full nature of confidence? Finally, Katty, your last paragraph actually diminishes the very thrust of your article and calls into question an exclusively genetic effort to research confidence.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

A Multiple Intelligence Toolkit for Leaders

Leaders ought to be emotionally intelligent, and appreciate emotion as part of any situation

Leaders ought to be intelligent, too, and ought not believe others who give it short shrift

Leaders ought to be socially intelligent, in modern day and old fashion meanings of the word

Leaders ought to be scientifically intelligent, and know how to read research reports or references

Leaders ought to be creatively intelligent, and use both halves of their brain

Leaders ought to be spiritually intelligent, and acknowledge there are things far larger than they are

Howard Gardner related Theory of Multiple Intelligences years ago, and while some may question the soundness of his framework, the fact is that intelligence is far more complex than a single general (g) factor.  Some may advance the notion that Emotional Intelligence trumps cognitive or other intelligences, and we simply need to be cautious about overly simplified or narrowed views.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

The Esquire Guy Dispenses Hilarious Tips!

• Fight the urge to fight.
• Honesty isn't necessarily the right approach.
• If you're squinting, shaking your fist, sneering, and stroking a white cat, then you're an evil genius in a James Bond movie, and you need to relax.

• Platitudes are fine in a pinch.
• Don't hang out too long, don't drink too much, don't act offended if they cause offense.
• Wing Chun, but don't Wang Chung.

• When typing your witty rejoinder on Twitter, first go to the drop down menu on the upper right, then select Sign Out.
• If you're in the habit of sending letters, God bless you, for it's a dying art.
• Never minimize the complaint, never maximize the complaint, either.

• The 1st rule of energy, when it comes to meetings, is not too much and also not too little.
• If you find a helpful energy tip in a YouTube clip of `Glengarry Glen Ross, do not let that tip inform your behavior in any way. 
• The leader of a meeting is a facilitator.  Of discussion.  Solutions.  Pastries.

• If you're not a close associate of the person whose brain you want to pick, never ask for more than 15 minutes.
• "I'd like to ask you about your career," not "I'd like to ask you about my career."
• There's no need to praise the person whose brain you're picking.  Your request for their time is praise enough.

There are many tips for the workplace, and many of them are useful and earnest.  But not many are funny.  The Esquire Guy does good with informative and hilarious tips.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

Leadership Lessons from Howard Gardner

One has to live as an optimist.  Nothing will get better, if we don't try.  

Gandhi did more than anybody else to convey what it means to respect people, even if you disagree with him or her or them.

Stories are the universal lingua franca [i.e., bridge language].  The leader's challenge is to be Darwinian, namely, to create a story which can struggle with the stories that are extant and say this is a better story.

Howard Gardner is a psychologist and professor at Harvard University, who advanced the notion that intelligence is far more complex and wide-ranging than just one general ability (i.e., the g factor).  He published Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD