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Do you have nothing to say in your e-mails?

Layton

The passing of Jack Layton just recently was especially personal as I found his courage in the battle with cancer was an inspiration for my own. I was not surprised by the outpouring of emotion and support for someone I considered a rare breed – an authentic and generally honest politician! 

The more cynical and condemning responses, especially to his letter to all Canadians, were a little more surprising, but perhaps not totally unexpected – it is politics after all! 

But this letter was not just about politics, it was also a clear display of Layton's personal leadership brand. it was totally what he believed and stood for. 

In fact I have discovered that Layton displayed this brand with every e-mail he ever sent. At the foot of his e-mails was the following Tommy Douglas quote:

"Courage my friends, 'tis never too late to build a better world."

How many e-mails do you send out each week? Do they reflect your personal brand? 

They do not have to contain a link to a web site or social media connection, it could be as simple as a quote that sums up your personal brand. Just don't leave it blank anymore – it's a waste and suggests you have nothing to say!

Just my toonies worth!

6 thoughts on “Do you have nothing to say in your e-mails?”

  1. Your post reminds me of “Lovemarks”, Paul: http://www.lovemarks.com/, and the power of a loving Brand. Jack Layton’s Personal Brand was definitely one of a powerful, articulate, and caring Leader.
    As you mentioned, his last letter touched the Hearts of so many, including mine. Thanks for a great Blog post, Paul. Best, Mike.

  2. It’s too bad Jack Layton did not support his brand in those e-mails with a remark that was original. It’s a paraphrasing of a couple of lines (Lines 56-57) from “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson:
    “…Come, my friends,
    ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
    I wonder if Layton displayed his debt to Tennyson by providing proper attribution. I note that you haven’t.
    Jack Layton may have been many things but he wasn’t a poet and he wasn’t original.
    I think an accurate observation we might make of Layton is the one that Ulysses made of his son, Telemachus, in Line 43: “He works his work, I mine.” Telemachus’s work was fine, “centered in the sphere of common duties”, but he did not have the heart nor the spirit of his sea-faring father. Nor, I submit, did Jack Layton though he may have been, like Telemachus,”decent not to fail/In offices of tenderness…” and capable of rule.

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