and communicate brands.
You may not have known that such a process exists, but trust me: Great brands don’t get to be great by accident! It’s only because of the process put in place by good, strategic marketers that these brands make millions. And it’s only because of this process that successful brands not only survive but thrive through economic ups and downs.
You Aren’t a Product Brand, But …
Several years ago, when I began actively coaching individuals to reach their goals and develop their own brands, I started to experiment with applying these same principles of corporate branding to people. I took the elements and framework used by corporate marketers and adjusted them to work for self-branding, so that we—as individuals—could thrive in our careers the same way successful name brands have thrived in the marketplace. Over time, I perfected this approach until it evolved into the unique leadership personal branding system I am sharing in this book—a system that walks you step by step through the process of building your own brand as a leader, whether you are focused on leading yourself or leading others. This is how you craft and effectively communicate YOU™®. That’s right—the trademarked YOU.
(YOU™® is a registered trademark of Brand Development Associates (BDA) International, Ltd.)
Today, you—or YOU™—can apply the same system in your work life that corporate marketers have used for years to build wildly successful product brands. Just as a corporate marketer uses this proven process to build mega-brands like Pantene, Apple, or Evian, you, too, can build the brand of YOU™.
Bring New Energy to Your Job
We all want to earn a good living and enjoy our work, but statistics indicate that few of us do. In fact, research shows that about 75% of employees today are unhappy with their jobs. Can you imagine this? We spend more than half of our waking hours at work, yet 75% of us are unhappy while we’re there!
If you’re one of those people who aren’t as satisfied at work as you’d like to be, defining your own leadership brand can help you start to enjoy your job again. Once you define and clarify your role at work and what you want to accomplish—which is what leadership personal branding is all about—your work will have new meaning. Knowing who YOU™ are can help you eliminate that groan that escapes from your throat when the alarm goes off in the morning. Yes, you can be happy, fulfilled, and motivated on the job.
When you look at your work as an opportunity to build a brand for yourself, you start to make every minute of your career count. It brings new energy and purpose to your job. When people ask you what you do, you’ll be able to answer the question with enthusiasm.
Grab the Steering Wheel of Your Career
Author and motivational speaker Nido Qubein said, “Life doesn’t give you what you want; it gives you what you deserve.” What you focus on is what you get. So, if you want a better career and a more satisfying work life, it’s up to you. Your success at work is in your control, and a large part of the foundation of that control comes from learning how to master the brand called YOU™.
Defining your brand is only the first step in the process, though. It makes no sense to get clear on the brand you want and then leave it in a desk drawer. In order for your brand to serve you well, you need a roadmap to help you communicate to others what you want it to stand for. That’s how you achieve your goals. That’s how you change your work life for the better. That’s how you master self-leadership and become a leader of others, if that’s what you want in your career. And that’s how you grab the steering wheel of your career and drive it to where you want it to go.
Believe It or Not…You Already Have a Brand as a Leader
When I speak about leadership personal branding at conventions and corporate gatherings, often an audience member will say, “Sounds very interesting, Brenda, but no thanks. I’m actually not into self-promotion, and I’m not a leader. I don’t have—or even want—a leadership personal brand.”
It’s then that I break the news: You already have one.
It’s true. You don’t have to sit down and give your brand any thought to have one. Just by virtue of being you in the workplace, you are branded. And whether or not you lead others, you do lead yourself. The question is: Do you have the leadership personal brand you want?
If you don’t take control of your leadership personal brand and make a conscious decision about how you want to be known, you may be leaving an impression that actually works against your success. Are you living up to the potential that YOU™ could achieve if you took charge of your brand consciously rather than leaving it to chance?
Don’t Like the Brand You Have Now? Change It.
Many years ago, a famous man discovered the hard way that his leadership personal brand wasn’t what he wanted it to be. Alfred Nobel was a very successful and wealthy Swedish industrialist who lived in the 1800s. He was widely credited with two inventions—dynamite and the detonator (the apparatus that causes dynamite to ignite from a distance). He had made millions from these two inventions, and he was living a wonderful millionaire’s life.
Alfred’s brother, Ludwig Nobel, was an equally well-known and wealthy businessman who had developed successful inventions of his own. You might say that Alfred and Ludwig Nobel were the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of their day.
In April of 1888, Ludwig Nobel died. But the death notice that showed up the next day in the newspaper was switched, and it was Alfred’s obituary that appeared, not Ludwig’s. So, Alfred Nobel had the rare opportunity of opening up the morning paper and reading his own death notice. Can you imagine how powerful that would be?
But Alfred must have cringed when he read the headline of his obituary. It labeled him “The Merchant of Death” because of all of the work that he had done with dynamite and detonators. In that single moment, Alfred Nobel realized that everything he had done would forever associate his name with death—unless he took control and did something about it.
That was the day the seed was planted for the Nobel Prizes. Alfred didn’t want the name “Nobel” to stand for death and destruction, so he made a plan to develop a series of prizes for those who confer “the greatest benefit on mankind.” When he died, he left the bulk of his millions to the establishment of the awards that eventually included five categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
Look at what the name “Nobel” stands for today—the most prestigious prizes awarded for the highest achievements of humankind. While you’ve no doubt heard of the Nobel Prizes, you might not have known about the other work that Alfred Nobel did in his life. This is a true testament to the fact that he was successful in changing his brand so that his name could stand for what he wanted.
The same holds true for you. If you aren’t happy with the brand you have now, you can change it. As author Carl Bard said, “Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.” This book can help you kick start that brand new beginning.
A “Systematic” Way to Master Your Brand
Now that you know you already have a brand, it’s time to take control of it by learning how to manage it. Since the advent of personal branding, several books
