In Immunity to Change, authors Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey show how our individual habits and mindsets, along with the collective norms and beliefs in our organizations-combine to create an overwhelming immunity to change. The authors go on to show us what we can do to overcome these forces. 

 A strong brand image helps an organization communicate with current and potential clients and consumers.  It is an important tool to help you to stand apart and be recognized.  We are proud to share with you that Paddling's brand image just won an award!
 

 

 
Richard Reitz Smith entered the Paddling the Rapids logo to Broderson in July 2009 to be considered in the Logos: Trade/B2B category. The award ceremonies were October 21, 2009 at Merrill Auditorium. Paddling the Rapids Logo was one of 4 award winners in Logos: Trade/B2B category.
 
The Broderson Awards were created by the Maine Ad Club 30 years ago in memory of Dick Broderson, a Portland radio and advertising professional and members of his family are always in attendance. It is a biennial award to showcase Maine's design and advertising companies and professionals for outstanding creativity and excellence. This year overall, there were over 400 entries across about 40 categories. The Maine Ad Club is one of the nation's oldest professional organizations for advertising executives. The Ad Club's mission is to promote professional development, create networking opportunities and recognize creative excellence.
 
Each award level, either Gold, Silver, or Bronze, is bestowed at the discretion of a panel of judges from outside the state of Maine as to how well the entry meets the worthiness of creativity and excellence. Entries are not competing against one another but against the ideals of industry standards. There may not always be a winner in each category level or sometimes there may be more than one per category level.
 
Smith was thrilled and proud for himself and for us, knowing the depth and the breadth of work that went into the development of this identity for Paddling the Rapids. The development process took place over a period of several months. There were regular sessions of hard discussions about what "persona" this legal entity would have. "Who" was this company going to be? Smith's role as the designer was to translate the results of those focused conversations into visuals.   We trusted that the process would work and would create something strong and concrete. Which it did did. The identity is deserving of the award. You can contact Richard Reitz Smith at richardreitzsmith@gmail.com.

Thank you Richard!  And congratulations!