Manage your brand for better career results
Published on 03/17/2003 under Branding
I was conducting a seminar recently for a group of real estate executives on the value of brand image when an interesting dichotomy appeared. They were willing to accept the importance of brand image for their company, but unable to see the value of their own personal brands in achieving their goals.
They understood their company’s reputation was key in helping them sell properties and get new listings. But other than dressing well and acting in a professional manner, none of them had given much thought to the importance of their personal image.
Do individuals have brand images? Absolutely. Brand images define expectations and a person’s name (or nickname) is his or her brand. When you hear or see any person’s name, you immediately think of certain attributes associated with that person. He’s funny. She’s smart. He’s always working. She’s someone you can count on. And so on.
Are these attributes coincidental, or can we “manage” our personal brands? Many celebrities, public officials and successful business executives will attest to the value of managing their personal brand.
In his book Build Your Own Life Brand, motivational speaker and author Stedman Graham tells of his close relationship with Oprah Winfrey and how she became aware of her brand image, shaping and focusing it for best advantage. It’s important to note how she used this process to guide decisions about what kind of programs she would produce and what kinds of related activities she would allow. If it didn’t fit the image, it wasn’t allowed.
Often, an individual’s brand image is so strong (or is made to be so strong) that it determines the image for an entire company. Think of late fast food restaurant founder Dave Thomas and Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s International Inc., Chairman Bill Gates and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp., former CEO Lee Iacocca and Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler Corp. (now DaimlerChrysler), ex-chairman and CEO Jack Welch and Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Corp. The obvious problem is when these people die or retire, then the company has at least a temporary identity crisis.
But I’m not writing today about celebrity brands or images for entire companies. I want you to think about your personal image. How do people see you? What attributes spring to mind when they recall your name? And how should you go about refining or re-emphasizing those attributes to create expectations that are more suited to your personal goals?
More than 20 years ago when I joined a large oil company in Houston, I was required to attend a weeklong training class on the basics of “The Managerial Grid,” a concept pioneered by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton back in the early ’60s. Those sessions were notorious for being spirited, even brutal, because you spent a good part of the week giving other attendees feedback on their personal management style and receiving comments on yours.
If you hadn’t ever thought about how others saw you before attending one of those sessions, you certainly did from that point forward. The grid was essentially a nine-point rating system in which your concern for productivity (getting things done) was plotted against your concern for people. A 9,1 manager was extremely concerned with productivity and not overly concerned about people’s feelings, while a 1,9 manager (the “country club” manager) was more concerned with keeping everyone happy. If productivity happened in the midst of this happiness, so much the better.
It’s important that you size up the way your personal style is being perceived by others. One place to start is by asking yourself what drives you. Is it money? Knowledge? Recognition? Status? Power? The opportunity to interact and have relationships with others?
Be assured that what drives you is probably front and center to the image you convey. And if you’re not careful, it can result in a negative image (“He’s a money-grabber,” “She always takes all the credit,” “Mr. Know-it-all,” and so forth).
On the other hand, there may be things that are important to you that nobody knows about—secret dreams or aspirations you’re too embarrassed to discuss with anyone. That’s not good, either. As Graham points out in his book, people will help you get where you want to go, but only if they understand where you’re going.
Here are three tips to begin shaping or expanding your personal brand image to better reflect the person you want to be known as:
• Write a brief “brand statement” that describes the way you would like to be known by others. Avoid the mission statement trap by not putting too many attributes in it. Usually when describing another person, we go with the one or two strongest characteristics. That’s all you get, so keep it short.
• Do a critical self-assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Do they fit the brand statement? If not, decide which ones need attention. Expand or focus your strengths to better support the brand personality you wish to convey. If a weakness is holding you back, do something about it. Take a night course. Read a book. Volunteer for a work assignment that will help fill the void.
• Recruit a trusted colleague to get feedback from others on how people see you. Don’t try to do this yourself, because people will generally tell you what they think you want to hear. Another person can solicit their true feelings much more successfully.
Back in the early ’80s, when personal computers were still a curiosity, I had a friend who had essentially plateaued at the product manager level. All the other people who had served in that position had moved on within several years to something up the ladder. Poor Ed was stuck.
Even though he was a likeable guy, dependable and willing to take on any assignment, Ed wasn’t viewed by upper management as being the brightest bulb in the pack. So Ed decided to make the PC his ticket to the big time. He spent hours in the room where the two token PCs were set up (no need to put them on desktops, because no one knew what to do with them).
Ed figured out how to prepare spreadsheets. He entered his marketing data and looked at it in ways no one else ever had. He made pie charts, even convinced someone to buy a color pen-type printer so his pie charts really stood out.
Within a few months, Ed was being asked to make presentations to the board of directors, and within a year, he was promoted to plant manager. I was never sure if that was because his pie charts were snappier or because his observations were crisper.
All that matters is that top management finally welcomed him into the club. You can join any club you wish. It’s just a matter of brand management.