Any of us who thought that marketing and branding were recent phenomena should visit the ‘Turner and the Masters’ exhibition at Tate Britain www.tate.org.uk.

Turner is arguably the most famous artist Britain has produced. But how much of his reputation is based on branding and marketing?

Professor David Solkin, dean and deputy director of The Courtauld Institute of Art explains, Turner started by studying the competition; not just his contemporaries, but also the historical greats such as Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto and Poussin.

First he emulated them, adding his own differentiation, and rebranding himself as JMW Turner.  Having established credibility within the Royal Academy he positioned himself as a ‘historical landscape painter‘, and found a unique voice. He succeeded in securing a legacy in his own lifetime, which has lasted for over 150 years.

The hangings of the paintings also use a technique familiar to advertisers, but unusual in the art world – side by side comparisons.

Well worth a visit during Frieze week!  www.frieze.com

Having a meeting? So you need an agenda? Circulate it 24 hours in advance? Book an hour in the conference room. Right?

Wrong!

Because having an agenda means just that, you ‘have an agenda’. It’s your agenda. You own the meeting therefore it’s not owned by the participants. There’s no group buy-in. Or perhaps each participant owns a different part of a siloed meeting which lacks unity of purpose.

Here’s a better kind of meeting. Define the issue that you need to resolve. Then invite the people who can help you solve it and who have a stake in the outcome.

What about the agenda? Decide that with the participants at the start of the meeting, so everyone owns it.

The last major downturn in the UK started on the day of the great hurricane in October 1987.

I know.

My wife and I were moving house that day. Not only was the buyer unable to get funds to us, we physically couldn’t move out because of all the fallen trees.

A downturn is the best time to roll up your sleeves and fell some trees - to plant and nurture new shoots.

Energy is stimulated by urgency – Capture the energy before it entropies!

You may not get a better wind for another 20 years.

Would you like to take a day out of the office?

Step away from leading your team, from serving your customers and stakeholders for 24 hours and listen instead.

Facilitators (www.iaf-world.org) are temporary leaders. We provide space for you to observe, think and listen.

You may know where you want to go and what you want to do; your challenge is how to take your people and customers with you. Right now they may be uncertain, uncomfortable and unaligned.

Or perhaps you’re looking for new directions, energies and ways to provide greater customer value at lower cost.

But at the end of the day you’ll get back the keys to your company - ignited and ready to fire on all cylinders, you and them.

Think about it.