Managing Brand You: Seven Steps to Creating Your Most Successful Self - Hardcover

Wilson, Jerry S.; Blumentahl, Ira

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814410685 ISBN 13: 9780814410684

Publisher: Amacom Books, 2008

Synopsis

Whether we realize it or not, we are all brands. We all have qualities that shape and influence how the people in our lives see us—and how we see ourselves. Nationally respected brand experts Jerry Wilson and Ira Blumenthal have helped some of the most exceptional companies and individuals in the world perfect their images. Now, in Managing Brand You, they reveal their proven seven-step process for personal brand building. Using illuminating examples from successful corporations like Coca-Cola and Starbucks as well as high-profile celebrities like Bono and Oprah, Managing Brand You gives readers a step-by-step guide for conducting a self analysis, creating a unique identity, defining their objectives, discovering their passions, creating a plan, putting that plan into action, and monitoring their progress. Wise and insightful, this book will help readers identify what it is that makes them unique and communicate it in a way that guarantees them success.

About this title

About the Author

Jerry S. Wilson (Atlanta, GA) is a noted speaker and senior vice president at The Coca-Cola Company.

Ira Blumenthal (Atlanta, GA) is a highly respected brand consultant, author, speaker, and university educator who has counseled high-profile brand clients such as Coca-Cola, Disney, Marriott, Nestlé, and American Airlines.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION: WHAT BRANDING

CAN DO FOR YOU

“If you want to predict the future, create it.”

—PETER F. DRUCKER

WHAT DO SUCCESSFUL CONSUMER-GOODS companies

know that could help transform your life? And how can you use

this knowledge to become a more fulfilled person? The answers to

these questions lie in the discipline of building strong brands.

What if you could take a page right out of the corporate book of

business development and use it to craft and implement dramatic,

important changes in yourself that are focused on development

of your own life? Successful brands convey a consistent

message and create an emotional bond with consumers. Don’t we

all want to convey a consistent message and create a similar emotional

bond with those important people around us? Absolutely!

The process of building such brands is widely used in the commercial

world, and now you, too, can use these techniques to

build a brand-new you—a Brand YOU!

W H AT I F YO U T H O U G H T O F

YO U R S E L F A S A B R A N D ?

Who am I? What do I stand for? What do I want to stand for?

These are questions that have been asked by people for ages. In

our fast-paced, highly competitive, stressful, often chaotic

world, it is even more difficult to know what you stand for—

what uniqueness you have to offer. Don’t stress about this any

longer. There is an answer to these deep questions, and the answer

comes in the form of the threshold question, What if you

thought of yourself as a brand?

What if you not only think of yourself as a brand but also actively

analyze your personal brand assets and deficits, and you dedicate

yourself to changing or refining Brand YOU? Yes, as strange

as it seems, you can dramatically change and grow your life by

studying the time-tested precepts, postulates, discipline, and

processes of corporate and product branding, and applying them

to your personal life. This step can lead to your living the life

you’ve always imagined for yourself.

In the wonderful Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street, Kris

Kringle tells a disbelieving child that dreaming of magical holiday

moments and a better tomorrow is important. He says, “To me,

the imagination is a place all by itself . . . a separate country. Now

you’ve heard of the French nation, the British nation . . . well, this

is the Imagi-nation. It’s a wonderful place.” It’s time for you to

now book passage on a trip to the magical, mystical “land of imagination.”

Building a Brand YOU requires that you dig deep into

your imagination and visualize what you want to stand for and

what spaces in life and business you want to occupy.

So, what if you thought of yourself as a brand? Just imagine,

for a moment, that you are, in fact, a brand. Step outside yourself

and look at you, your background, your lifestyle, your philosophy

of life, and your views on right and wrong, as well as the expressions

you use, the stores you frequent, the foods you eat, the

clothes you wear. Think of your educational background, your

experiences, your special areas of expertise. Consider the features

that others respect about you, the features of people you

respect and why. These are your personal brand attributes. And

now you’ve made the first move toward establishing your Brand

YOU.

B U I L D I N G A N E W B R A N D YO U

Yes, you can create your future. It’s in your hands. If you commit

to the Brand YOU process, you can and will succeed. It will take

work. It will take focus. It will take time. And in the end, it will

all be worth it. In the words of the poet Spirella, “There’s no

thrill in easy sailing . . . but there is satisfaction that’s mighty

sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you thought

you’d never make.”

Why is personal branding so important to you? You may be

someone who doesn’t believe in “tooting your own horn”—or

drawing attention to the things you’ve done, or do, or plan on doing.

You may also believe that if you just do the best you can, good

things will automatically come to you. Well, this may be the case

for a few lucky individuals, but the majority of people are confused

about how they can, in fact, stand out in a crowd, how they

can succeed, how they can clearly stand for something, and how

they can gain the respect of others. After all, there are times in all

of our lives when we’d like to be noticed, to be appreciated for our

personal strengths, competencies, good nature, and insight. Everybody

wants to be special and receive respect, acknowledgment, and

even admiration from others. The reality is that each of us, regardless

of our position in life, wants to be special, hopes to be noticed,

craves attention from others, desires respect, and regularly wants

to feel important. Who doesn’t want to feel (and be) important?

And who doesn’t want to make a mark on the world we live in, to

truly make a difference to the people around us? It’s human nature

to want to make a difference, whether it’s to your family, your

significant other, your children, your friends, your business, your

community, your house of worship.

Who doesn’t want to feel (and be) important? And who

doesn’t want to leave a mark on the world we live in

and truly make a difference to those around us?

Personal branding is relevant to anyone who wants to unleash

his or her inner passions and proactively build a fulfilling future,

as well as grow in importance, relevance, and reputation. Too

many people are just floating down the river of life, expecting that

everything will work out in the long run. But why settle for the

possibility of life’s taking care of itself when you can draw the

roadmap that captures the kind of life you envision for yourself?

Why not create your own future? It’s cute, it’s funny, and certainly

it’s an example that reinforces what we’ve all known throughout

our lives. Too many times in our lives we seem to be waiting for

something to just pour into our mouths or fall into our hands—or

for challenges to just work themselves out in the nick of time. But

life isn’t like that. When changes and challenges confront us, doing

nothing will result in—nothing. Business guru and author

Price Pritchett wrote, “More of the same gives you one thing . . .

more of the same!”

We have to become more proactive, more energetic, more spirited,

and more focused on making positive changes in our lives. After

all, there are only three things a person can do when confronted

with change. Ignore it. React to it. Make other changes. Now, ignoring

it will lead to disaster. Did you ever have a toothache? What

happens if you ignore that biological change in your mouth? It

doesn’t get better; it gets worse. The second strategy, reacting to

change, will keep a person at status quo and he or she will survive.

But is just surviving enough? Of course not. You want to thrive.

You want to succeed, to achieve.

Then there’s the final strategy in dealing with change: making

other changes. Yes, you want to be a catalyst for change—a change

agent, as business consultant Peter Drucker has said—to create

your future. One theme throughout this book is simply stated as

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me!” Being proactive, being committed to

building your personal brand, will allow you to:

Identify your inner passions and core essence.

Stand up for what is important to you and stand out

in the crowd.

Focus your energy on meeting your top priorities.

Stop spending time doing things that do not excite you.

Execute your own personal Brand YOU plan.

Achieve fulfillment, personal success, and, ultimately,

happiness.

There are only three things you can do when

confronted with change.You can ignore it.

You can react to it.You can make other changes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0814410685
• ISBN 13: 9780814410684
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 236