- Branding (6)
- Business Building (1)
- Executive Brands (3)
- Leadership Brands (1)
- Personal Brands (4)
- Beyond Niche Marketing
- Miboso
Where you go to transform your genius into your brand of success - My Rehearsal Hall
Where executives and leaders finesse their ideas, throughts and speech. - Miboso Coach
The original home of authentic personal branding - Miboso Radio
- Find My Niche
- Car Brands Like Me
Free Quiz: What car brand is most like your personal brand?
Archive for the 'Personal Brands' Category
May 8th, 2008
There’s a hidden wrinkle to developing a personal brand that I’d like to expose. The problem is simply that we, as humans, are unable to be truly objective about ourselves. We aren’t able to tell “what sets us apart” or makes up our “core genius” without external input. And even when it’s pointed out by others (a boss delivering a performance review or a friend offering a compliment) many of us will deny our own core genius. We just don’t get how whatever it is that we do so easily could be perceived to be SO outstanding.
I have been a personal brand strategist for 10 years and the process I have developed that delivers the clearest, most valid and authentic response includes self reporting and input from others, balanced by the results of multiple personality profiles. When you look at input from all three channels, and find the common threads - you will have the rock solid foundation you need to build a strong, compelling and “salable” personal brand.
Of course, it is possible to create a brand based on who and what you WANT to be – that’s how corporate branding is done. A product brand is built on the specific strengths, attitudes and values that have been chosen to appeal to the people who will buy it. But there’s a very real danger in doing that in personal branding, as it won’t be long before “you” show up, and the people or opportunities that your made-up brand has attracted will disappear when that happens. At best, you’ll be seen as confusing, at worst, as a phony.
Martha Stewart experienced this dilemma. She set herself up originally as the “perfect” homemaker or Domestic Diva. And despite the fact that what she represented was often more intimidating and exhausting than inspiring, (who could compare with “Perfect Martha?”) millions of women bought into her brand because they wanted to emulate her domestic flare. Then a Martha we had never met before showed up and created a stock trading scandal that cost her investors tens of millions. The stock price tied to the Martha Stewart brand has never recovered.
So in addition to building a strong, compelling and “salable” personal brand - make sure it’s real, as it’s far easier to “be yourself” than continually have to strive to be someone else.
Writer, Producer, Star!
May 6th, 2008
A cold winter weekend offered an ideal opportunity to curl up on the couch with a cozy blanket, a remote control and a raft of “new release” movies. The films I chose were enjoyable and entertaining, but afterwards I found myself thinking—not about their story lines, heroes or villains—but about their predictability.In the romantic comedy, after some absurd and amusing antics and near misses, the girl finally saw that Mr. Right has been “right there” all along… The drama also neatly resolved its characters’ issues and challenges in 157 minutes. The hardened criminal discovered compassion, took responsibility for his actions and turned in his ill gotten gains, then returned to the jail to enlighten and inspire other inmates to do likewise.
While we can learn a lot from movie characters’ experiences and discoveries, it’s useful to notice the impressions that these productions make on our thinking, values and expectations. Considering how Cinderella’s story has impacted generations of women’s expectation of men, how are movie characters’ goals, values and beliefs influencing our own? Are our expressed desires truly the yearnings of our own hearts, or are they merely concepts adopted from the silver screen? How can we tell?
After watching countless lives unfold on the big screen, many of us find that when real life shows up, loose threads and all, it feels like something’s wrong. It’s not “supposed” to be this way. Dad was not supposed to die before we had a chance to tell him how much we loved him. Our romantic hero is not supposed to marry someone else, much less stay happily married to them for a lifetime! Killers should not get away with murder—and yet they do. This discrepancy between real life and life as portrayed by movies can create serious cognitive dissonance for those of us who are unaware of their pervasive influence.
In Philadelphia in 2003, I introduced a new exercise into my Authentic Personal Branding workshops which required participants to describe their “dream lives.” They were asked, “If you had a magic wand and could recreate your life without time, physical, geographic or financial limitations, what would it be like?” While most participants were able to generate lists of socially acceptable desires (“A luxury home.” “A sports car.” “A million dollar jackpot.” “To be thin.” “To travel around the world.” “To be successful in business.” ), no one could explain why or what having them would do for them. A few even complained that the exercise was “too hard.” They were right! Surfacing our heart’s desires isn’t easy, but it is important, for while fiction can inspire original thinking, allowing mainstream cultural ideals to masquerade as our authentic desires can cost us our very lives. We can’t get back the years of effort and sacrifice we invested in getting “what we thought we wanted.”
To create exciting, fulfilling lives, we must first examine our soul-felt yearnings and distinguish them from the pre-packaged cultural ideals that we “buy into.” (Do you really want to find your soul mate – or are you happy on your own? Will you truly be happier if you are 20 pounds lighter – or have perfect teeth?) We need to develop the ability to tune out the razzle dazzle clamoring of our culture and tune in to the gentle murmurings of our hearts. Now I won’t pretend that this is easy, for we are as enmeshed in our culture as the peanuts in a Snickers bar are in the chocolate and caramel. But by identifying our true desires, we can create lives that are incredibly personally rewarding. And when we truly believe we can have what we want, we get to watch in wonder as synchronicities unfold, creating outcomes that far exceed our original expectations.
So enjoy movies for their ability to present new ideas and information, but don’t confuse their reality with your own. You can choose to live life as an independent producer, writing your original screenplay and starring in the lead role as the story unfolds, or you can spend your life replaying the same roles over and over again.
Tips for Writing, Directing and Starring in Your Own Life-Long Feature Film…
1. Look back to find times in your life when you were on top of the world, supremely happy and fulfilled. Write down as many as you can recall as stories (minimum 3). Compare them to uncover common themes, consistent plot lines, and similarities between the other characters who were involved. What sorts of activities/people do you consistently enjoy? What sorts of challenges bring out your best, time and time again? Who and what brings you down/makes you angry/wastes your time? This exercise will help you to differentiate fantasies from authentic, achievable dreams.
2. Make a list of everything that you have declared you want and feel is important to you. Prioritize the list. Now surface your heart’s desires by inviting your heart to expose its deepest yearnings. (You can do this by meditating, actively or passively, or by simply jotting down what comes up in your notebook or journal. Be sure to stock up on soap crayons if you get your best ideas in the shower!) Compile your notes into a new list that’s ordered from what is most to least important.
3. Take a trip into the future, to the end of your life. What do you want to be able to say you have achieved? What do you want to be remembered for? How do you absolutely not want to be remembered?
Combine all of your outcomes to create a strong plot outline – then cast your co-stars, choose your location, sets, props and costumes, write your daily scenes to match your heart’s desires and live the role of your life! they wanted these things or
February 24th, 2007
Benji* always has had a passion for clear vision. He grew up in an Indian-American family that owned a chain of eyewear stores, so new developments in corrective eyewear were discussed at the dinner table on a regular basis. Nearsighted as a child, he knew personally how different the world looked when he had his glasses on, and off. Benji’s grandmother suffered from glaucoma, so he witnessed her battle to maintain her vision, firsthand. Not surprisingly, he chose to become an eye doctor, and as he had always had natural strengths in mathematics and sciences, he did well in his schooling. Benji also had a passion for innovation and while completing his graduate studies, participated in several advanced studies that tested innovative applications of laser surgery for cataract removal and retinal repair.
Benji met a woman in graduate school who was a specialist in geriatric ocular diseases and the two married shortly after they completed their studies. After working in their fields for several years and meeting a number of excellent specialists, Ben and his wife Marie founded a clinic that offered a broad array of optharmological services. Once established, Benji was invited to teach in the graduate program in which he had once studied. As his teaching abilities burgeoned, he was more and more frequently invited to be a guest lecturer at educational institutions around the world.
Through this academic link, he was able to become involved again in experimental research and contributed to several important breaththoughs. Over time, Benji personally funded some studies of ocular disease in his the village in India where his Grandmother grew up, and was able to develop a simple and inexpensive cataract surgery procedure which was offered in rural areas of India, to tremendous positive response. Benji has since been referred to by the Prime Minister of India as the man who restored “clear sightedness” to India’s rural populations.
What is Benji’s Natural Equipment?
His Values are: Innovation, Collaboration, Education, Contribution, Community, Learning, Achievement, Excellence
His Strengths are: Intelligence, Curiosity, Perseverance, Compassion, Empathy, Fairness and Innovation
His upbringing gave him: An understanding of corrective eyewear and an interest in curing eye diseases. A compassion for those suffering with degenerative ocular diseases. An ability to mix with people from diverse cultures and socio-economic backgrounds.
His goal is to: Enable people to see more clearly
He is passionate about: Healing, teaching, breakthrough thinking, going beyond current boundaries.
He stood out from his fellow students due to: His passion for research and his ability to come up with simple, workable solutions for complex problems.
He works well with: Everyone from research fellows and the most educated professionals in the industry to the poorest inhabitants of the rural Indian villages where he took his innovative cures.
So when you look at Benji’s “Natural Equipment,” his story makes absolute sense… Now imagine what your life might look like if you had been given your “Natural Equipment” list when you were just starting out. Would it have saved you from making some career detours or entering some “dead ends?”
A personal brand gives you a clear understanding of:
1. “Who you are, and what you are one of.”
2. “What is it about you that’s unique, special and different.”
3. “Who you interact with most easily and effectively.”
4. “How to convey your authentic passion to the people you most want to serve.
Some short cut! If YOU want to learn about the “short cut” to your life’s purpose, visit http://www.miboso.com/.
*Name and identifying details have been changed for privacy protection.
Are You Being True To You?
February 24th, 2007
Are you living the life that as a child, you dreamed of living? Are you the brave soldier? The live saving surgeon? The philanthropic pillar of society? The adventurous explorer?
Too many of us fluff off this question by dismissing our childhood dreams as naieve or unrealistic. Other ways to look at this question are:
- Have you exchanged your passions for what seemed more practical?
- Have you sold out your desired for an ability to fund a family and/or a lifestyle?
I am working with a woman whose parents were what might be called, “professional hippies.” When she was very young they moved to a foreign country, where they did not speak the language, as they had a dream to pursue their medical professions in a country that had a great need for their services. As a result, my client had a most unusual upbringing that had given her a unique perspective, not to mention amazing multilingual capabilities, that have powerfully shaped her current life, and that will shape her future. Were these parents right to follow their passions? Think of the alternatives… Is it better to have an unusual upbringing, or a family history in which your parents are unhappy and conforming?
I can address this from some personal experience, for when I was four our family embarked upon a journey from Canada to Australia - a land that truly felt like the far end of the earth at that time. Dad was transferred by his employer, Ford, and my mother went along as the family homemaker and caretaker of my brother and I. I can honestly say that my time is Oz was the happiest part of my childhood. Did it make me different - absolutely?
It took me years to assimilate back into the Canadian climate. When I arrived back from Australia, after my early school years at an exclusive all girls Church of England grammar school, I had no idea how to dress for school in Canada, or what Canadian kids were interested in. Heck, I even brought all of the “wrong” things for lunch. (Marmite sandwiches can launch quite an aroma when kept in a warm desk or locker from 8:30 am until 12 noon!)
And despite my great efforts to acclimatize, all the while I had an escape plan cooking, should I fail to gain acceptance in the land of my birth. This plan involved me stting my sights on earning a scholarship which would enable me to escape the “great white north” for somewhere - anywhere more “me” friendly.
And so I did: my grades were excellent and I was accepted into the program and sent to South Africa where I was able to pursue art, my greatest passion. Well, maybe art was the “second runner up” to my primary passion for all things equine, but it was nonetheless, the realization of a dream. And it was also the continuation of a theme of travel, exploration, adventure and a search for belonging which may have begun, very subconsciously, when I was a infant, as I was adopted at birth (after 3 weeks of foster care while the paperwork was being completed). Many therapists and healers have told me that my beginning could not failed to have had a deep impact on my life, albeit one operating on a totally subconscious level.
My client with the “professional hippie” parents has a theme of being an eternal foreigner, seeking acceptance. My variation of her theme is that I am continually seeking my roots, my original home, my history. So when I wish to travel, or explore a topic, my researching it with depth and breadth keeps me true to my nature. And when I help others find their roots, their core themes, I am using what life has taught me to help others.
So I invite you to explore your own themes, and to determine, are you being true to you?
