Some people market products. Others market services or events. Michael Blucher markets people.
A published author, columnist and radio commentator, Michael has had more than 25 years experience in the Marketing and Public Relations fields, working initially in sport, and subsequently for a large corporation actively involved in sport.
Through his company, The Third Half, he now works with professional service providers – in particular accountants, lawyers and bankers – helping them build “personal equity”. In the professional world, technical excellence is just the beginning – of equal importance is an ability to relate to and connect with clients.
Michael also includes among his clients some of Australia’s highest profile athletes, whom he helps survive and thrive in the public spotlight, by developing life’s “critical non-essentials”.
Play On
In life, we never stop learning. We continue to accumulate knowledge until the day somebody puts us in a box. But personal growth doesn’t necessarily need to involve text books or certificates or university degrees. Of equal importance (in some vocations – greater importance) is increasing our ability to relate to and connect with others. This is Third Half’s “Play on.”
Extend
Extend. (Verb. with obj.) Cause to cover a larger area. Make longer or wider. Or last longer. Extend (oneself) – exert or exercise oneself to the utmost. You have to extend oneself to change rather than keep doing the same thing. We improve by extending ourselves, by stepping out of our comfort zones and doing the things we find challenging. The Third Half specialises in extension.
Excel
The Third Half is an accredited practitioner in the delivery of Human Synergistics’ Life Styles Inventory TM (LSI), a 360 degree leadership tool which links thinking style to behavior, and ultimately, personal effectiveness. In some ways, it’s complex, in other ways, it’s quite simple, but the data it provides is irrefutable. Of all the leadership programs and personality profiling tools I’ve encountered throughout my career, this is far and away the best. Used properly, the potential impact is enormous.
More From The Third Half
Lessons from the Locker-Room
There is no questioning the parallels that exist between achievement in elite sport and achievement in business. What works in one field, applies just as readily to the other.
But we can learn much, much more from our star athletes than the cliched staples of hard work, discipline, perserverance and self sacrifice. Delve into their lives and their achievements and there are countless other bankable lessons, some even centred around what not to do.
Brand You
It can be construed as self indulgent American-style gobbledigook, but it’s not. It’s real. People are subject to the same immutable laws of marketing as products, services, organisations, even destinations. But sadly, too much gets lost in the translation and the execution. Branding is not about fame. It’s not about self promotion. It’s about clarity and consistency. And of course authenticity. In an hour and a half, I can explain to audiences the key elements and nuances of personal branding, by holding up a mirror to the world and examining what we see. It may make you laugh, it may make you shudder, but it should certainly make you think. Download the Third Half Personal Brand Template.
Bubble Boys
Over the past decade, there’s been a significant change in the relationship dynamic between our sporting heroes and the ticket-buying public. Once revered, our elite athletes now carry the dual burdens of high expectation and public skepticism, the indifference fuelled by the perception of inflated salaries and less than perfect behaviour.
Fair or not fair? For the past seven years, Michael Blucher has been researching what really goes on behind the locker-room door. The end product, Bubble Boys, provides a rare insight into the increasingly complex world of our high profile professional sportsmen. It will surprise, it will entertain, it may well make you think again.