Why I wrote this book
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it … improve it, make your mark upon it. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again. Steve Jobs
I see you in my office each week, and in your boardrooms. I talk with you on the phone, in cafés, and at community barbecues. You are smart, successful, articulate, talented, and speak passionately about what you do.
You have a lot to say if I ask the right questions. You have big plans and aspirations.
But you are frustrated by what your competitors are up to. They haven’t worked as hard as you, yet they are getting all the attention. They are overconfident, cocky, and selling image over substance.
Why are they soaking up all the oxygen from your space?
Nevertheless, you keep working quietly and optimistically behind the scenes. You have faith that hard work will win in the end.
When I see you a year later at the same event, you feed me the same lines.
I talk with you about doing more to get out there, about being more visible, about claiming your expertise, and building a platform for your message. You listen—however, you are reluctant to act. Instead, you valiantly defend the importance of keeping a low profile.
These are some of the reasons you give me for staying in the shadows:
“It’s not my role.”
“I don’t have permission—my employer wouldn’t like it.”
“It’s better to ‘fly under the radar.’”
“It would just telegraph my moves to the competition.”
“I don’t have time.”
“I feel guilty.”
“It’s not about me.”
“I don’t want to look silly.”
“I’m not ready yet.”
“I’m not good enough yet.”
“What if I make a mistake?”
“That sort of thing makes no difference to my bottom line.”
These excuses may feel real to you, but they are just words you use to disguise your fear of standing out.
So, instead, you dim your light. You stay in the back room and complain about those who don’t. But you never feel sufficiently acknowledged for your hard work.
What does self-doubt cost us?
Professionally, I help others promote their business brands. Quite often, this requires the promotion of the leaders, experts, and brand ambassadors.
Of course, organisational brands themselves can’t speak. And no one is usually overtly interested in a brand (aside from advertisers). Most of us are interested in other people - the voices of our leaders, experts, and customers.
And this requires visibility.
It often amazes me how uncomfortable many are about stepping up and being in the spotlight, even when a commercial or professional imperative is so clearly present.
More disturbing is how devastated those same people become when others receive the acknowledgement they feel that they themselves could have had. This is one of the harshest penalties for remaining invisible: seeing others make claim to the space that you have worked so passionately for. The famous author, Henry Miller, puts it best:
Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That's why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers. Henry Miller
Public acknowledgement—of your skill, talent, contribution, or expertise—is part of a fair reward for labour. While most of us are comfortable giving it, we still need to get a lot more comfortable receiving it.
What you do is important, so now it’s time to get out of your own way, and get out there. Yes, you!
What is a personal brand?
Some dislike the term personal brand: "A person is not a brand," they argue. And it's true, as multi-dimensional human beings, we are all much greater, deeper, and far more mysterious than just a brand.
Nevertheless, we all also have a reputation—one that becomes our personal brand by default if we lack the ability to manage it. Our personal brand (or, if you prefer, our professional profile) constantly changes and evolves. The semantics of what that reputation effect may be called, however, is far less relevant than the impact it has on our livelihood, career, and sense of personal satisfaction.
Our personal brand is never the result of just one thing, such as a media profile, a string of public presentations, or how we portray ourselves to our social following. Instead, a personal brand is the sum of all the parts of our reputation. To paraphrase Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, it’s what people say about us when we’re not listening. It’s why they do or don’t recommend us for a promotion, send a client our way, ask us to speak at a conference, or to participate in a media interview.
In a business sense, this Brand You is what we are known for professionally, and, hopefully, it is also what we are known for being good at.
It may surprise you what others think you are really good at. Brand You doesn’t always relate to your immediate role or the business brand you currently work for. And that can be a good thing because it means your personal brand is portable; it travels with you through many different career opportunities.
I would like to see the Pope wearing my T-shirt. Madonna
The truth is you are already something of a branding expert. Even if you’re not in the marketing game, you may spend more time than you think promoting others’ brands, for example, talking up your company at a corporate breakfast, convincing a new staff member to join your team, or thinking about how your new product or service will be received by customers.
Importantly, building your brand profile will provide you with not only greater recognition, but also greater rewards, such as:
Acknowledgement—giving and receiving acknowledgement for your work and achievements is important.
Improved business prospects—a higher profile can deliver a boost to your current and future business ventures. This could be increased revenue if you have your own business, a promotion if you’re in a corporate role, or the ability to sell something you’re passionate about such as a book, product, or an invention.
The bridge to a new future—after spending some time in one area, it’s easy to feel trapped or boxed in. We can become labelled as only being good at one thing, which, even if that used to make us happy, in time it can feel a little claustrophobic, as if we could never break free of that particular label. Even though I will discuss both playing into and drawing strength from that label, once you have a strong brand profile, you then have license to do something a little bit different, as long as you use that previous profile as a bridge to the new you.
Personal satisfaction—fame and fortune are nice, but these are not an end in themselves; most are engaged in their work for much deeper reasons, such as we may feel we have a message or a gift that we feel compelled to share with others. Lifting your brand profile increases your ability to do so.
Building a personal brand is a