The Man/Woman Behind The Brand Series: Part 1

01: The fallacy of personal branding

Everyone has a brand.

Moms have a brand at home, students have a brand at school, managers have a brand within their department, and executives have a brand within their organization.

We all have a brand.

And, of course, entrepreneurs and founders have a brand that directly impacts their business brand.

The question isn't whether or not you have a brand but whether the existing brand impedes or accelerates your ambitions.

What are you known for among the people who know you? Are you the type who gets Sh** done or whines about everything?

Are you the Debbie Downer who blames and victimizes every situation, or the guy or girl who goes out of their way to serve clients above and beyond your pay grade?

For entrepreneurs and founders, working on their personal brand is a no-brainer because, for the most part, they recognize the value of consciously building their brand.

In the case of executives, few understand why they should care about it or even how to build the right brand.

For instance, I recently had the pleasure of meeting with an executive who seemed keen to raise her status online and build a personal brand.?

She wants a book and a podcast to help further her career and position herself as an authority in a predominantly male-dominated field.

The problem?

She assumes building a personal brand is about logos and color palettes or even posting trending topics on LinkedIn so she can get the same attention her male counterparts get and hopefully accelerate that promotion.

The truth is that this executive already has an existing brand, and it's not serving her ambitions.?

How can we make such assumptions??

That's easy. Observe the person in question for a few weeks or months and get to understand the gap between what they say and what they do. How do they show up? What's their level of commitment? Do their ambitions match their actions??

You see, many of us want to be iconic like MJ and Serena, but we only operate at average levels of execution.?

How you show up is part of your brand. And you can't act one way and expect to build a successful brand that portrays you differently.

So you can hire a marketer to help build your brand, and they can add "makeup" to cover up for the underlying mediocrity and lack of substance.

Still, sooner or later, that lack of authentic meaning will become your undoing.

Building a brand online is more than posting tons of content and insta perfect pics.

It's about genuinely connecting with the world and consciously telling your story. But the story has got to be good, it's got to be worthwhile, and it's got to be told consistently.

To build the kind of image you want the world to know about you, think above and beyond competing with peers.

Look within and determine how much substance you genuinely have to give the world.?

Then commit and show up. No excuses.

Because the truth is a brand is intangible, and the only way to make it stick is to live up to the image, values, and ambitions your claim to want.

Part 2 coming next. Hit that like icon if you're the type that prefers kind candor over comfortable BS.

With ??love, Janette.