Mike Wagner wrote a heartfelt valentine to Mom – the original “brand manager” – on his Own Your Brand blog. His own Mom, he says, in essence taught him...

...the fundamentals of brand ownership. Mike writes:

I can still hear her voice in those brand-critical “moments of truth” every parent faces raising children:

• “I don’t care if everyone else is doing it, you won’t be doing it.”

• “That’s not how I taught you to treat people. Go back and make it right!”

• “Are you going out looking like that? That’s not how you dress to meet the public!”

• “That’s how we do things in this family!” (The ultimate brand management dictum.)

In a comment, Tom Guarriello summed up Mike’s post nicely: In branding, “…leaders (Moms, in your example) make all the difference. Keeping the brand personality on the right track, making sure it’s well behaved, well dressed and well spoken is a huge undertaking…kind of like raising a child.”

So give your own Mom a huge thanks! And yes, I realize Mother’s Day was yesterday, so I’m a day late in flagging Mike’s Thank You. But speaking as a Mom, trust me…mothers are happy to hear “thank you” any old time: Mother’s Day, again on the day after Mother’s Day, or any old Tuesday in May.

As long as they hear it…eventually.