Personal Brand

Coke and Microsoft have a brand. Shahrukh Khan and Steve Jobs have a personal brand. Do you have your personal brand?

I asked this question yesterday to Magneteers in our Monday Meeting.

The fact is that each one of us have a personal brand. Simply because we communicate. In Rajesh Setty’s words, “Everyone has a personal brand, because very simply everyone makes a promise to the world— some explicitly but most implicitly.”

How do you determine what’s your personal brand? Ask yourself these questions:

1. What will your project mates say about you when you are not around?
2. What will your leaders say about you when you are not around?
3. What will your clients say about you when you are not around?
4. What will HR say about you when you are not around?
5. What will management say about you when you are not around?

You may or may not like your brand. But you do have it.
So what are the steps in creating a powerful personal brand?

1. Deliver on your promises: This is the most important. People relate to you as your word, and how you fulfill on that. If you say you will reach a place at 9am, you should reach there at 9am. If you say you will complete a task by Saturday, you should complete it by Saturday. Each time you make (or break) a promise (explicit or implicit) you are creating a brand image.
2. Learn to learn (and unlearn): Learning is a life long exercise. I am curious about things and that keeps me going. Knowledge is crucial to gain expertize and expertize can create a powerful brand. For this, you must keep learning. You may need to unlearn some in the process to learn better!
3. Contribute to Others: If you are expert, and nobody benefits of your expertize, there is no use. Unless you contribute to others, you will not grow. People will not even know your capabilities until you start contributing to them. Start with giving, than receiving.
4. Work Hard: There is no alternative to hard work. No success comes without hard work. To create a powerful personal brand, you have to keep working hard. You will get results in due time. And the time can be pretty long at times. But you will get there!

Ok, so that was good learning. But what next?

• You have already listed down how you think others think about you.
• Now list down what you WANT others to think about you. What is the brand you want to create?
• Analyze the gap.
• List down actions that you need to take to bridge the gap.
• Get started now!

Keep doing this consistently and look back after a year. I promise you would have created a powerful brand for yourself.