What do you live by?
Let's talk about having a personal brand. |
| "Crafting your story 'til it makes sense" |
I first heard about personal branding from Tommy Karam at LSU and I honestly thought it was a silly idea. I wasn't a company or a saleswoman, so I didn't want to be branded. But when I bombed the "So tell me about yourself..." question during an interview, I realized that having a personal brand could actually provide some guidance.
What Mr. Karam teaches athletes is also helpful for aspiring students who want to stand out. Just like football players, students have to find a way to stay relevant and favorable to get a better chance of being 'drafted' by a company. However, just like Dell, it takes a lot of research to define your brand and it will evolve over time.
My personal brand has changed from "267 Watts of Bright Ideas" in undergrad to what I currently use: "Strategic Storyteller." Both ideas were actually a result of somebody else telling me I was good at something. After doing well in a pitch contest, a friend said I had bright ideas; I used that to motivate me to continue producing 'bright ideas.' Then a few years later, I was volunteering at a math conference and I spent an entire night sharing stories with high school students. They always asked for 'another story' and before I left, a few them told me that I was a good storyteller.
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| I had a mini Sharpie ready to fill this in at networking events |
I'm writing this to politely nudge you to work on your personal brand. Ever since I defined my personal brand, I've felt I had a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses and my value proposition. It also keeps me focused on my reputation; I can't claim to be a strategic storyteller and then not tell effective stories. But let's keep talking about this. Do you have a personal brand or statement that you live by?
#dellinterns13 Please 'like' this post on Facebook or retweet on Twitter!
My personal motto is "What are you trying to accomplish?" Now I need to figure out whether that's my brand too. ;-) Thanks for another thought-provoking post Sheila!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Steve! That's a great motto to live by!
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog Sheila, thank you. Do you have any tools or templates you used to arrive at your brand, how to work through it and boil it down?
ReplyDeleteHi Maria! A few tools I've used are:
ReplyDelete- StrengthsFinder (http://strengths.gallup.com/default.aspx) identified what my strengths are regardless of how I perceive myself. It's helped me accept and embrace characteristics that I used to downplay and it also helped me understand that some characteristics aren't natural to me.
- 360 Reach (http://www.reachcc.com/360reach) is a great tool to see if how you present yourself matches how you're perceived. It was awkward asking family and colleagues to do it and sometimes hearing the truth was hard to take, but I got a lot of feedback I could act on. I have a better idea of what I need to fix and what I need to continue doing.
A good template would actually be your Twitter bio. How do you describe yourself in just a few characters? Is it jargon-y or is it creative and genuine? When I came up with my brand, I asked myself, "Will this start a conversation?" You want a brand that your audience will ask about; provide enough information that they know a little bit about you, but also create the opportunity for them to learn more.
As for design, I really like the designs I've seen on Moo.com. They print custom business cards and more, really neat stuff!
I hope this helps and thanks for leaving a comment! :)
-Sheila