Robert Lingard is the CEO of Power Brand Communications. Robert is a thought leader, influencer, visionary, and successful entrepreneur. Robert provides the leadership and energy that has inspired the creation of Power Brand Communications. Robert Lingard joins other leading CEOs and Founders taking part in our Leader Roundtable Interview Series. The DotCom Magazine editorial team has recently awarded Power Brand Communications with our Impact Company of 2019 award. We are delighted to have Robert join us for our Leader Roundtable Interview and our popular “speed round” as well.
Robert, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day for this interview about your company, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
1. What is the “elevator pitch” for Power Brand Communications?
Coming from a direct sales environment, at Power Brand Communications we have crafted a specific PR methodology based on PR that sells for startups and SMEs.
2. What is the key to your company’s success?
At Power Brand Communications we believe in cutting edge research to better deliver what we promise, which is the maximisation of lead generation and customer conversion through media coverage.
3. Many of our readers are just starting to build a company. What advice can you give entrepreneurs just starting out with a new venture?
Building a company is a complex task which requires psychological and operational attitudes. The secret consists of resisting the inevitable set backs and differentiate as much as you can from what it is already existing in the market.
4. For other entrepreneurs seeking to build a business as successful as yours, what advice can you give them when times get a little challenging?
What I have understood from personal experience is that when you think it is time to give up, it is exactly the time to carry on. Today it is easy to start a company but very few have the will to embrace what having a company really means: constant learning, cutting bridges with friends, sacrificing time for family and living your life below your means to invest all you have in the implementation of the entrepreneurial project.
5. How important is the commitment to client satisfaction at Power Brand Communications, and how do you make sure your customers will become raving fans of your company?
In 2019 the variety of offers in the market makes loyalty a very challenging task. I think the key to loyalty lies in the belief that the success of a business entirely depends on the success of its clients. There is no better way to keep a client than delivering what you promise.
6. In today’s fast changing business environment, how do you stay abreast of things?
Everyone with a brief introduction to positioning is utterly aware that the key to survive and prosper in a fast changing environment lies in the ability to embrace this change without sacrificing the identity of your business.
7. What is your “Why”? Why do you get up in the morning, and how do you keep yourself at peak performance to lead Power Brand Communications?
I started with a blog, Brand Bullets. The UK’s Broadcast Pr Blog, where you find the most advance expertise on broadcast PR. The blog gave me initial traction among entrepreneurs in London. I then published the first book in the world in the category, Brand To Sell. Ignite Your Influence and Build Your Brand with Broadcast PR before a more recent publishing in strategic communication Sabotage & Subversion. The 10 Principles of Business Guerrilla. In less than one year I was able to shift from freelancing to building a flexible but solid organisation that has allowed me to consult even Members of the Italian Parliament. The secret of our business is that we do care about our clients. We do care about their success. Most importantly, coming from a direct sales environment, we have proven with tangible results that the entire old school PR industry is based on cliche that are often times against the main interest of an entrepreneur: sales.
8. Can you recommend a book that has had an influence in your career? How did it influence you?
Everyone knows I am a restless reader and research is key to my organisation. Should I recommend a book is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The entire idea that a dream is a process and that every experience you are living right now is an instrument toward the realisation of that dream is priceless.
9. When communicating with your staff, can you tell us the most important thing you do so that they are able to carry out the objectives that you set forth at Power Brand Communications?
Even in a relatively small organisation it is very important to set a defined hierarchy. Leadership generates loyalty. The people I cooperate with are aware that they cooperate with me because I think they are the best in what they do. However, it is very important that their efforts are completely absorbed in the idea of serving the goals of the organisation itself.
10. Can you explain what leadership means to you?
A countless number of books have been written on leadership. To me leadership is trust. People follow people they trust and leadership consists on that ability of generating that trust.
We would like to have some fun and do a “speed round” with you! We will ask you ten more questions that we want you to answer in just one to three words only. Here you go!
1. In three words or less, what makes a successful CEO?
Vision. Execution. Leadership.
2. Describe your business in one word?
Pioneer.
3. Describe your customers in one word?
Pragmatical.
4. What one attribute do you look for when hiring an employee?
The will to badly prove someone wrong.
5. What is the one word you want your customers to say about your company?
Trustworthy.
6. In three words or less, describe your passion?
Restless. Intense. Obsessive.
7. In three words or less, describe what it takes to be successful?
Patience. Measure. Risk.
8. In three words or less, describe your first year in business at Power Brand Communications ?
Challenging. Enthusiastic. Life changing.
9. In three words or less, describe how running a successful company has changed you?
It has made me more humble.
10. What is the one word that you believe has the most power in the English language?
To affect.
Robert Lingard, thank you so much for sitting down with us for our DotCom Magazine Leader Roundtable Interview Series. We very much appreciate the time you spent helping our readers learn more about what it takes to be a leader. We wish you, your family, and of course Power Brand Communications, nothing but the best.
Thanks again!
Robert Lingard, CEO of Power Brand Communications The Leader Roundtable Interview Series
