22:1 – A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver or gold.
A few months ago, I was conducting a leadership training program, and our discussion turned to “managing our personal brand.” After a few minutes, we realized no one could define what “personal brand” actually means.
The next day, I searched online for more than 45 minutes. Every guru who had training on it seemed to have their own definition, and none of them seemed to capture what I thought it should be. (They probably all thought the same thing, which is why each had their own definition.)
Since I couldn’t find a good answer, I decided to create my own.
What is a “Personal Brand”?
What does “Managing Our Personal Brand” mean?
Here’s my answer:
- Personal Brand = Reputation
- Managing our Personal Brand = Being Intentional in Creating and Protecting Our Reputation
Choosing a good name is more important today than ever before. (If you haven’t googled yourself, you should. Is what you find what you want other people to see?)
People are desperately looking for a trusted resource to help them make sense of the avalanche of data that threatens to overwhelm us all. Usually, they look for someone in their network, for someone they trust.
Which means, the secret to effective networking is NOT:
- increasing the number of people YOU know; or
- increasing the number of people who know YOU.
The secret to effective networking IS:
- increasing the number of people who WANT to know you, and
- increasing the number of people who WANT OTHERS to know you!
As a young child, George Washington chose the kind of man he wanted to be. For the rest of his life, he worked to transform himself into that man. When the country had to choose a first president, they turned to the retired general as the only man who could unite the country – not because of what he had done. But because of who he had become!
The bad news? There are a huge number of options available (to others) to destroy our reputation.
The good news? There are a huge number of options available (to us) to create our reputation? All we have to do is consistently strive to be the person worthy of the good name we have chosen.
Eventually, we’ll be right.
