Personal Branding 2 – The Relevance
Personal branding is a concept that was first written about in 1997, almost 30 years ago. But some of us may be under the impression that personal branding is of importance only to the CEO of a company or to film stars. Why should a senior manager who rarely meets the media be worried about his or her personal brand?
Yes, if your job involves interacting with the media or with industry bodies or with government authorities your personal brand will come into play. Obviously media will treat you differently if they are aware of your achievements. The same could be said of industry bodies and government officials. But if you don’t have any such role, does personal branding matter?
You may also be thinking personal branding is important to customer facing roles. I am an EPC person. I deal with vendors and partners. I don’t need to sell. I am often buying. Why should I be worried about my personal brand?
The truth is that irrespective of your level in an organization, you are a personal brand. You may have done nothing to build your personal brand, but it exists. In the words of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.
Everyone is a personal brand, irrespective of their own reservations. Look around you in your office. Are all your co-workers seen in the same light? Why is it some of them seem to be on a fast track, while some of them are plodding along? Did they do something special? Or did they create the right impression where it mattered? I am not talking of political jockeying for power.
Having a strong personal brand will help, in whichever role you may be playing in the organization. By a strong personal brand I mean that you are seen as a person who stands for certain values. You are genuine in what you do. And so on.
Being a strong personal brand will pay off in many ways. Even if you don’t have a media centric role, your personal branding will help you create a better impression with key vendors. If your personal brand is strong it will help you attract the better talent to work with you. You will have the best to pick from. In a service organization like an ad agency, or a consultancy or a CA firm, the stronger personal brands will attract the better talent. If better people want to work with you, want you to mentor them, this will have a beneficial effect in you’re the results you can deliver for your organization.
You are a personal brand, even if you have five people reporting to you. You are definitely a personal brand if you have a outside facing role. How to start understanding where you are, how to start managing your personal brand?
In this series specially being written for Coaching Foundation of India, I will be exploring the many myths that surround personal branding and present some simple steps to build your personal brand.
Ambi Parameswaran is a CFI Certified CEO Coach and a best selling author of 12 books. His latest book ‘All the World’s a Stage’ is a personal branding story.
