Newsletter - March 2009
The Power of a Personal Brand
March 12, 2009 - Karyl Innis
Why do companies brand their products?
I ask this question at the beginning of every personal branding workshop I lead and, then, I smile inwardly. I can’t help myself. The question reminds me of a really old joke. I’m sure you remember it. The joke begins with the question: “Why does the chicken cross the road?” The joke ends with the answer: “so that it can get to the other side.”
The answer makes me laugh, or at least it used to the first 100 times I heard it. It makes me laugh because the answer is so obvious in its simplicity and correctness.
Back to the first question: Why do companies brand their products? The answer: so you can find the product on the shelf. This is a simple and a correct answer. Yet, when asked this question, there are lots of other answers proffered. Those answers might be complex or more academic, yet, like the answer to the chicken joke, no other answer is better in its correctness and simplicity than the answer “so you can find the product on the shelf.”
At its core a “brand” is a locating mark and it is a way to locate just exactly what you are looking for. Imagine that you are looking for the very specific taste of Heinz® Ketchup yet you don’t know the brand name. Picture you going to the grocery store and asking for a flavorful, edible red sauce. This lack of specificity doesn’t work very well. You may get handed Tabasco™ or a zesty jar of marinara or even ketchup other than Heinz. All three selections would be unhappy substitutes for the shopper seeking Heinz Ketchup.
A “brand” separates the product you are looking for from all of the other similar products and allows you to do so quickly, correctly and repeatedly.
And so it is with people….we all have personal “brands” too. Personal brands are the labels we use for ourselves, the labels others use to describe us. These personal labels are the ones that bosses, the press, customers, coworkers, all use to describe us at times of selection, promotion, or any time they wish to compare and differentiate us from others. Sometimes these labels are accurate, sometimes out of date, sometimes they are career accelerating and at other times the exact opposite.
A senior oil and gas lender with one of the largest banks in the world wondered out loud to me several years ago, ”just what will it take to be seen as a viable contender for an executive role outside of the oil and gas sector? I have the skill and desire to move up or over, I just want out of this stove pipe,” he continued. At that point I asked him what he was known for at the bank and he said, “I am known as an oil and gas expert.”
He had a branding problem. He was receiving recognition and reward for his precise and well-known brand, yet the brand was limiting and stifled his ability to be seen as a viable candidate for other leadership positions. Coaching about his personal brand helped this leader to become known as an executive that fixed broken deals and broken businesses. His refined brand soon led to two big promotions—in commercial lending and in bigger markets and outside of oil and gas!
Here’s the truth of it: one’s personal brand is always used as the basis for decisions made by others about them. An effective personal brand does the same work for you that the shield shaped logo and word Heinz does on the bottle of ketchup. Your personal brand defines and differentiates you from all others in your competitive set. Your brand is your creation and it either helps to accelerate your career success or it keeps you squarely where you are. To leave your brand to choice, or to your competitors, leaves your future in the same hands.
And that’s the power of a personal brand.
Karyl Innis is an expert in helping executives around the world reinvent their brand in ways that accelerate their careers. Karyl owns OI Partners - The Innis Company (Dallas). She is a business leader, author and commentator with an eye for talent and the ability to accelerate growth to your senior leaders. You can reach Karyl at kinnis@inniscompany.com or kinnis@oipartners.net.