One of the highly seductive concepts I have come across in my career is the notion of a personal brand.
It didn't quite click with me at first. How can a person be a brand?
At the time, I just didn't know what a brand was. I thought of it as a logo for a product. A brand is really a symbol, a pointer, a representation of an entity, usually an owning entity. The term "brand" started with the need to mark cattle in order to sort out their owners. Think about that for a minute...
What brand, or branding, would represent what you own?
How would you represent your body, your mind, your experience, your skills, the total sum of the activity you have and will impress upon the world?
These are phrased as product and branding vision statements on purpose. The most practical way to look at the brand "you" is to really imagine you as a product.
During my breaks, I had the chance to really look at my chosen path and the current state of the world.
I now realize that in the 15+ years that I have been working, I have seen and done a lot. In many countries, different cultures, different domains.
I have done programming, designing, writing, radio disk jockeying, sports announcer, IT technician, IT manager, skateboarder, amateur musician, systems analysis, business analysis and finally product management. I am very happy to have done so much and to have participated in so many things.
I have been in small companies, large companies, global corporations and start-ups. There isn't much in a business operation that I haven't been in touch with. I have failed and I have succeeded. Certainly more the former than the latter.
Sometimes I even think of myself as a "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none", normally when I get more self-pitiful.
Now, I just smile and think how hard it is to that flexible "jack".
Some call it "jack". I prefer to call it "seasoned professional".
It didn't quite click with me at first. How can a person be a brand?
At the time, I just didn't know what a brand was. I thought of it as a logo for a product. A brand is really a symbol, a pointer, a representation of an entity, usually an owning entity. The term "brand" started with the need to mark cattle in order to sort out their owners. Think about that for a minute...
What brand, or branding, would represent what you own?
How would you represent your body, your mind, your experience, your skills, the total sum of the activity you have and will impress upon the world?
These are phrased as product and branding vision statements on purpose. The most practical way to look at the brand "you" is to really imagine you as a product.
During my breaks, I had the chance to really look at my chosen path and the current state of the world.
I now realize that in the 15+ years that I have been working, I have seen and done a lot. In many countries, different cultures, different domains.
I have done programming, designing, writing, radio disk jockeying, sports announcer, IT technician, IT manager, skateboarder, amateur musician, systems analysis, business analysis and finally product management. I am very happy to have done so much and to have participated in so many things.
I have been in small companies, large companies, global corporations and start-ups. There isn't much in a business operation that I haven't been in touch with. I have failed and I have succeeded. Certainly more the former than the latter.
Sometimes I even think of myself as a "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none", normally when I get more self-pitiful.
Now, I just smile and think how hard it is to that flexible "jack".
Some call it "jack". I prefer to call it "seasoned professional".
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