Tell your employees and customers about how you think and behave, and you’ll see your brand loyalty grow.
Business guru Tom Peters is credited with popularising the idea of being your own brand 15 years ago. “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.,” he wrote. “To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called you…. You’re not defined by your job title and you’re not confined by your job description. Starting today, you are a brand.”
On a whim, I just Googled “personal branding” and got 7,300,000 results. On Amazon, I found 18,915 books listed under “Brand You.” That’s a lot of chatter. But I believe I have something new to add to the conversation.
Your brand is not your current job or title. It is not your skills and experiences, although of course these things matter. It is not, as many people suggest, one particular attribute with which you “differentiate yourself.” It is not your reputation, which is fragile and depends on what others say about you.
“Brand you” is the sum of your innate strengths and preferences that are locked into your genes and etched into your brain. It is the way you think and the habits you have, the way your mind processes information and the manner in which you explain your ideas. In the language of my company, it is your “thinking and behavioral attributes,” how you see and interact with the world. These attributes generally do not change over time, and always can be depended upon, by you and others.
…to read this article in full, visit leading US small business resource, Inc.
