The Wrath of Khan

No, this is not about the Star Trek character played by Ricardo Montalban. The real Khan of history, or THE great Khan of them all was Genghis Khan. Like the fictional character, however, the Mongolian Khan was a prince who did become emperor, and certainly wielded power over millions. 

Mentioning Genghis Khan brings to mind the Mongol hordes of the 13th century that swept across the Asian plain like locusts, that made deep incursions penetrating the eastern frontiers of medieval Europe. Whole nations trembled before the horse-mounted archers of Khan's armies. The Turks revere him even now, while the rest of the Arabic world curses his name. In his lifetime, Khan went from prince to slave to emperor, casting Mongol dominance over the largest continuous land empire in history.  Unlike Alexander, Caesar, or most other of history's conquerors, Khan's empire outlasted him and even expanded.

Talk about brand endurance and market share...

Like all nomadic tribes, Khan's family roamed north central Mongolia with the Burkhan Khaldun mountain at its territorial center—and where Khan was born. No one knows the exact year, but Khan was born somewhere in the mid twelfth century on 31 May, maybe around 1162. His birthname was Temüjin, which means "iron." So he began with a strong branding attribute—he was also the son of a tribal chieftain. Although not a major one, Temujin's father gave his son noble blood. 

The discovery phase for Khan reveals differentiators from the outset. In addition to being of a noble clan, he emerged from the womb marked for success because legend holds that Khan was born grasping a clot of blood in his fist. In Mongolian tradition this meant Khan was to be a great leader. Another sweet brand attribute to start with, to be sure. But it may have been Khan's early life that fueled his drive to unite the Mongol tribes—perhaps even his wrath for events that formed the warrior to come. 

Khan's trials began at age nine. His father was murdered by a rival tribe—and Khan's own tribe refused to recognized the boy as chief. This left him, his mother, brothers and half brothers in poverty, surviving the next years by eating wild fruits and nuts, and hunting small game. While learning to survive the harsh, rugged Mongolian landscape, Khan's mother tutored him in Mongolian politics—tribal rivalries, the need for alliances and tips on how to form them. Then during a hunting trip, Khan killed his half brother over the spoils, which put him as the undisputed head of the family. What's more, it was the first of many strategies that defined the rise of Khan.

Therefore, submitted for your approval...

1. Determine the most appropriate brand-positioning attribute.

As a young man of 20, Khan was captured in a raid by former family allies, the Taichi'uts, and temporarily enslaved. He later escaped and formed a fighting unit with his brothers—the lead steps in Khan's ascent. Eventually with an army of 20,000 men, he set out to erase traditional tribal divisions. In doing so, he quickly proved his military tactics and merciless brutality. 

On the receiving end of Khan's wrath were the Tatar tribe who murdered his father. Khan wiped out the Tatar army and had every Tatar male less than 3 feet tall killed. The Taichi'ut tribe was up next. A series of massive cavalry attacks hammered the tribe and Khan showed no mercy in having all Taichi'ut chiefs boiled alive. By 1206, Khan also had taken control of central and eastern Mongolia.

The key words here are “merciless brutality.”

2. Devise a distinctive way to articulate the brand position.

In Khan's own words, "It is not enough that I succeed—all others must fail."

3. Develop a focused brand personality that customers can use to recommend or introduce your brand to others.

Following the victories over the rival Mongol tribes, tribal leaders pledged to Mongolian peace and Temujin became "Genghis Khan," which means "universal ruler." This not only provided huge political clout, but it gave Khan divine  authority—recognized by shamans and playing off the position of God's punisher. With divine status, it was accepted that Khan's destiny was to rule the world.

4. Establish graphic standards. 

One image is synonymous with Khan and his Mongol horde. The mounted archer—a devastating and innovative weapon in Khan's attacks. Mongolian horsemen could maneuver a galloping horse using only their legs, leaving the riders' hands free to loose arrows.

5. Implement internal branding programs to reward employees for behaving in ways that are consistent with the brand personality

Religious tolerance was practiced under Khan, that was the reward for loyalty. But to defy him was akin to defying the will of God. Thus Khan is supposed to have said to an enemy, "I am the flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."

 Khan was also known as the "Punisher."

6. Consistently and uniquely execute the branding program.

Khan wasn't above diplomacy. In fact he often sent ambassadors to heads of state, allowing his reputation to precede him. In one incident, however, Khan's brand was dismissed when the Shah Muhammad of the  Khwarizm Dynasty defied a diplomatic overture by sending Khan the head of a Mongolian emissary.  

The wrath of Khan was personally unleashed with 200,000 Mongol soldiers sweeping through every city between central Asia and eastern Europe with unceasing savagery. Those not immediately slaughtered were marched ahead of the Mongol army, serving as human shields when the Khan took the next city. No living thing was spared. Even the Shah Muhammad and later his son were captured and killed, making the Khwarizm Dynasty extinct in 1221.

Genghis Khan died in 1227, although no one is exactly sure why—age, a hunting accident, or possibly intrigue. Regardless, he had appointed his third son as Khan, who continued to expand the empire. One final tidbit: Perhaps Genghis Khan's legacy is that his DNA remains the single most prolific DNA on the planet today.

The Lady with a Lamp

Florence Nightingale was the woman who lit the way for the entire modern discipline of nursing by creating the world's first secular nursing school in 1860. In doing so, Nightingale embedded herself in western culture as the conjured image of a gentle, concerned, and dedicated caregiver. Yet more than simply history's celebrated English nurse, Nightengale was a writer and statistician, which significantly aided her efforts. And it was Nightingale's deep belief in God that led her to nursing. And what nurse she was.

While the overview is that Nightingale established professional nursing, it came with sacrifice. Her decision to enter nursing in 1844 angered her mother and sister because she was going against the accepted grain of expectation—meaning she wasn't going to automatically become a wife and mother. Her access to family capital was therefore reduced. Despite this family opposition and the restrictive societal code for affluent young English women, Nightingale went on to educate herself in the art and science of nursing. Moreover, she remained celibate her entire life. Certainly Nightingale was courted by men of influence and means, she even developed emotionally intimate friendships with men, but she was convinced that marriage would only interfere with her ability to follow her call to nursing.

Catapulting Nightingale's nursing efforts was the Crimean War, circa 1854. Without overindulging in background, suffice it to say that the Crimean War was a powder keg that went off between Western and Eastern European powers—a preview to World War I, and it took place primarily on the Crimean peninsula of the Black Sea—hence, Crimean War.

Word of horrendous conditions for the wounded reached Nightingale, then in Britain. Along with a few dozen volunteer nurses she had trained, Nightingale traveled to a British base in Crimea. Team Nightingale arrived in November of '54 to find an overworked medical staff, indifferent to the wounded and resulting in poor care. Mass infections were common and often fatal.

Eventually the experience would convince Nightingale that most of the soldiers at the hospital died because of poor hygiene and living conditions. On her return to Britain, in fact, she arrived at convincing evidence about the importance of sanitary living conditions through statistical study. This was a compelling study that proved the need for better hygiene in hospital care. Ultimately her efforts would reduce military deaths in peacetime. This also led to her focusing her attention to the sanitary design of hospitals.

Still, the situation Crimea was overwhelming. Team Nightingale worked hard to treat the wounded, leading to public recognition of the effort. This led to the establishment of the Nightingale Fund for the training of nurses with the help of generous donations. It was with £45,000 now at her disposal from the Nightingale Fund that Nightingale set up the training school at St. Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860. Her first trained nurses began work on 1865 at the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary. Her movement only grew from there.

By 1882, Nightingale had established nursing as a growing and influential presence. Her trained nurses were becoming matrons at leading hospitals throughout Britain, and her movement was spreading to Europe, the United States, and as far as Australia. Nursing was no longer plodding care by the uninformed. Nursing was budding as a profession of dedicated professionals educated to provide healing assistance.

Therefore, submitted for your approval...

1. Determine the most appropriate brand-positioning attribute.

Florence Nightingale is in herself a brand position. Her astounding efforts make her name synonymous with nursing and excellent care of the sick and wounded—and the founder of professional nursing.

2. Devise a distinctive way to articulate the brand position.

Nursing—caring for the infirmed—is a calling from God. 

3. Develop a focused brand personality that customers can use to recommend or introduce your brand to others.

During the Crimean War, where Nightingale tended to wounded soldiers, she was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp", after her habit of making rounds at night while carrying the lamp through dark wards.

She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.  —London Times

4. Establish graphic standards.

The very mention of her name still conjures the image of a gentle face in white bonnet and apron. She was considered an angle, and not altogether unlike a Mother Teresa. Not so much today, but the lamp was also a symbol of Florence Nightingale—holding vigil over the sick, the bright light in the darkness to give hope and comfort. 

5. Implement internal branding programs consistent with the brand personality.

Once trained, Nightingale nurses took an oath as follows:

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.

6. Consistently and uniquely execute the branding program.

Writing aided Nightingale in her successes in establishing nursing and the importance of disciplined care of the infirmed and wounded. Published in 1859, her 136-page Notes on Nursing was the cornerstone of her curriculum her school and other nursing schools being established. Once excerpt follows,

"Every day sanitary knowledge, or the knowledge of nursing, or in other words, of how to put the constitution in such a state as that it will have no disease, or that it can recover from disease, takes a higher place. It is recognized as the knowledge which every one ought to have-distinct from medical knowledge, which only a profession can have."

Nightingale's slim book appeared when the simple rules of health were only beginning to be known.

It isn't widely known that from 1857 onwards, Nightingale was sometimes bedridden and suffered from depression. There is no documentary evidence on the cause, or causes. But some agreement proposes that Nightingale might have suffered from a particularly extreme form of brucellosis, the effects of which only began to fade in the early 1880s. Nevertheless, Nightingale was a phenomenal impact on social reform. During her bedridden years, she still managed pioneering work in the field of hospital planning, and her efforts spread quickly across Britain and the world.

Viva Villa—the Centaur Lives On

Villa rides! He is Francisco "Pancho" Villa, the enduring brand as the iconic Mexican bandit to most Americans and Mexicans. To Americans, Villa is the quintessential Mexican bandit as characterized in films such as the Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Professionals, and Blazing Saddles. And to most Mexicans, Villa is a legendary folk hero along the vein of Robin Hood—fighting for not only Mexico's poor and downtrodden, but Mexico herself.

The reality of Villa was that in as much as he really was a bandit, and a ruthless killer, there was another side to his brand that cements his immortal status. Far more than a simple criminal is the amazing revolutionary who passionately fought for a constitutional government against the conspiring dictators like Porfiro Diaz.

To this day, Villa is remembered with immense pride by most Mexicans.  Rightly so, really. An effective leader, he is celebrated for having led the most important military campaigns of Mexico's revolution—and winning most of them. When speaking with Mexicans about Villa, especially those of the northern regions, do not underestimate the respect this brand still commands.

Villa was born circa 1878 as Doroteo Arango in San Juan del Río, Durango. The son of a sharecropper, his life was typical as a Mexican peasant.  He knew all too well the hard life of his class, and that too often peasants were little more than slaves.

Manhood came to Villa at the age of 15 when his father died, leaving him to work in the fields to support his mother and four siblings. Yet within a year, he would be set on the path dominating the rest of his life. Coming in from the fields, Villa found the landowner about to have sex with his 12-year old sister. Some historians record it as rape. Either way, Villa became incensed, grabbed a pistol and shot the offender. 

From here, there is a burrito supreme-wide gap in the "official" record for the next 4-years or so. We do know that within this time frame Arango changed his name to Francisco Villa. "Pancho", by the way, is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. And Pancho Villa rolls off the tongue. Of course, the whole idea of a name change was to confuse the law. It was also a major step in repositioning himself from sharecropper to, well, something else entirely.

We do know he worked here and there as a miner, a laborer, even as a wholesale meat-seller. Although the latter is in the official government biography, historians note that it is a metaphor, meaning  that Villa sold stolen cattle. But hey, the prices were wholesale!

Around the turn of the century, Villa discovered bank robbery and added it to his criminal repertoire of cattle rustling and murder. This is about the same time he established himself with a band of bandit followers and dug in somewhere in the sierras. That is, until Villa made his historical transition from bandit to revolutionary in 1910.

Joined by his men, Villa sided with the forces of Francisco Madero. Apart from how we perceive the man, Villa was reportedly very charismatic—at least enough to ably recruit an army of thousands, including American mercenaries.

Unfortunately for Villa, he was on the losing side of the revolution. Although Madero enjoyed a short-lived victory, he was assassinated. However, Villa so earned the respect and regard of his enemies that he and his forces were permitted to remain intact. Based in Chihuahua, Villa ruled over northern Mexico like a medieval warlord. He financed his army by stealing from the endless cattle herds in northern Mexico and selling them north of the border. Sometimes the sale was outright cash, other times Villa found willing American merchants to trade for guns and ammunition.

Villa sits to the left.

Perhaps out of the caricature of bandits, but worthy of note, is that Villa did not drink. He did love to dance and had an affinity for the ladies. In fact, he supposedly married 26 times. And here is something else out of mold. Villa was an avid swimmer and would run to stay in shape.  Huh, go figure.

Even though Madero was gone, and there were interim presidents/dictators, the revolution kept on. And as these things often go, a split formed among the revolutionary leaders. The result meant that Villa squared off against former allies, sort of, Obregón and Carranza. Of course, and despite that this was an internal affair, the U.S. got in the middle of it ... a couple of times and not on the same side twice. At this point in the mess, the U.S. supported of an opposition presidency. Understandably annoyed, Villa raided a few U.S. border towns, the most famous raid being on Columbus, New Mexico.

Villa's brand in the southwestern U.S. was pretty strong up to this point. But the raids dropped his stock significantly. On the flip side, Mexicans saw Villa as an "avenger" of American oppression. Apparently they'd forgotten Santa Anna.

At any rate, all this led to Villa's eventual defeat. The Mexican government accepted his surrender and, once again, let Villa live. He retired on a general's salary to Canutillo, Durango. The terms of his retirement prevented him from engaging in any politics. However, Villa couldn't help but be Villa. The result was his assassination in 1923. Still, in nearly a century, the bandit's brand lives on. Therefore, submitted for your approval...

1. Determine the most appropriate brand-positioning attribute.

Villa was a daring tactician. He won 9 of 13 significant engagements during the revolution. Whether in battle or in negotiation (diplomacy would be too refined for some of the encounters with Villa), Villa knew how to turn the tide in his favor. He was forceful, convincing and successful—the strongest of all metrics.  In modern vernacular:

He came, he saw, he kicked butt!

2. Devise a distinctive way to articulate the brand position.

A lot of Pancho Villa’s fame is due to his flamboyant personality which he deliberately cultivated. He used the budding Hollywood media by appearing as himself in several early movies. This reinforced the popular image of Pancho Villa as a fearless horseman battling the forces of injustice (Can you say Robin Hood or Zorro?).

3. Develop a focused brand personality that customers can use to recommend or introduce your company to others.

In reality, Villa's brand personality was unto himself—Villa. And that name said all that was necessary to convey personality, concept, and brand experience. Of course, there was "Viva Villa!" But Villa was enough to encapsulate the entire brand in just two syllables.

4. Establish graphic standards.

No one put their personal stamp on the American perception of the Mexican bandit more than Villa. And he wholly owned the style. He sported a bushy mustache, the sombrero and the bandolier full of bullets. Moreover, he was an accomplished horseman. He often made sure he was photographed or recorded in movies riding into battle, exhibiting superior equestrian and fighting skills. In fact, he had a nickname beyond Pancho. The Centaur of the North because of his abilities in horsemanship. Not bad, since it also gave a mythical quality to the man. 

5. Implement internal branding programs to reward employees for behaving in ways that are consistent with the brand personality.

Villa had a multi-pronged program to incentivize support for his brand. Faced with a stagnant economy, Villa issued his own money; if merchants refused to take it, they risked being shot. Executions, which Villa often ordered on a whim, were usually left to his friend Rodolfo Fierro, so the brutality wasn't directly on Villa himself. On a generous side, and in true Robin Hood style, he broke up vast land holdings of local landowners and parceled them out to the widows and orphans of his fallen soldiers.

6. Consistently and uniquely execute the branding program.

Villa was persistent in his pursuit of a constitutional government for Mexico. He was further consistent in his tactics, his reward for service and his punishment for opposition. Yet he understood the benefit of a communications program, too.

At the height of Villa's popularity as a folk hero in the U.S, Hollywood filmmakers and U.S. newspaper photographers were on Villa like paparazzi. They captured his battle exploits, and others, many of which were staged for the benefit of the lens. And therefore, he put the best light on himself to target audiences outside his direct sphere of influence. It helped him gain support––political and financial.

Pancho Villa was the poster child for Mexico's wild side. Rebel, thief, general of the Mexican Revolution, and invader of U.S. territory—Villa was a man as complex as his country, and despite his dark side, you have to have a sneaking admiration for his abilities. The fact that his brand is living long is proof—Viva Villa!

Adios!