Here we take a look at the importance of personal branding and the impact it can have on individuals and the businesses they work for. Introspective reflection is not something that many of us are comfortable with, but knowing your ‘ME BRAND' can be powerful when it comes to that essential fit between you and your career. And companies that understand their brand are more likely to find like-minded individuals that will deliver competitive advantage.

ME+ME+ME+ME+ME…. = YOUR BRAND

Employer brand

As people, we often seem to devalue ourselves – we readily place a value on a product or service but not on the human capital that drives success and wealth creation. A cost accountant will be able to tell you the net profit on an iPod but could he tell you the value of the people that inspired its success - Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO and Jonathan Ives, the director of Apple’s Industrial Design Group to name a few? Could he tell you what a £-value would be on the Steve Jobs brand and its ability to create value and lead change via his strength of personality, intellect, knowledge and personal ambition. The Apple brand is valuable but it is defined by the sum of the individual and unique brands of its people that, in turn, reflect the humanistic requirements of its customers. Apple is not about technology, it’s about human touch and ease of use –  attributes that have not traditionally been associated with the computer sector.

Your organisation's brand - your people

Over recent years, product and service brands have come under increasing competitive pressure and consumer scrutiny. People question their uniqueness, their value and ultimately the trust they place in them. We feel cheated when we read about the use of slave labour in emerging economies. We feel frustrated when we find that supposedly ethical brands are not so worthy after all. Managing brands is incredibly difficult – your weakest links will be all those individuals in your organisation that, for whatever reason, do not care or have opposing beliefs. Maybe because they have not identified their value or their abilities are being misplaced, maybe because they feel used and their future is uncertain. Whatever the reason, a product or service brand’s value will ultimately be dependent on individuals and the decisions they make everyday. These decisions (good or bad) will reflect the ‘ME BRANDS’ of every individual in your organisation.

Employees - good brand citizens

So, let’s take this a step further. If we are saying that the value and strength of any brand is based on the cumulative value and integrity of everyone’s ‘ME BRAND', why do we then not more deeply evaluate the people we propose to recruit based on their ‘fit’ to the corporate brands vision and values? Traditional recruitment is all too often based on HR’s assessment of qualifications and experience rather than ‘fit’. Because someone has the right title after their name or has worked for one of our competitors we assume they will ‘fit’ and that a quick run through of the company induction manual will mould them into a good brand citizen. What we should be doing is looking for people that share our brand’s vision, purpose and values. If we recruit these people, they will be more motivated, more loyal and less likely to let you or your brand down.

HR lacks focus

Perhaps HR’s lack of focus on the ‘ME’ BRAND’ is a reflection of their poor understanding of the corporate brand. To match an individual’s ‘ME BRAND’ with a corporate brand assumes that the people doing the matching truly understand the essence of their own corporate brand and why it is so important. It assumes that the companies themselves have defined and articulated their vision and purpose.

Authenticity of brand

Too often, sadly, companies develop what can be called a veneered brand, pledging competitive advantage that is distinctive only at the design and advertising level. This is not authentic branding but a façade that is seen through easily by those within the company and often by those on the outside too – your customers. Banks are an archetypal example of this approach; profaning care and understanding but practising the opposite. There is a famous supermarket that says on their website that: ‘One of our most important values is to treat people how we would like to be treated’, and yet sells chickens for £2.99 knowing that there is little goodness in them.

Likewise with personal branding (the ‘ME BRAND’), a term invented by Tom Peters in 1997, if this is not authentic, based on your true character, then unfortunately you will be found out or worse you will end up in a career that creates continuous disharmony with your beliefs and sense of purpose.

So, if you are looking for a job or you are about to be interviewed, think about your ‘ME’ brand first.

WHAT DO YOU REALLY STAND FOR?

Further action:
We are currently planning a workshop to help people define and articulate their Personal Brand. If you are interested please email me at paul@du-o.co.uk

Paul Middlebrook
Brand Consultant and Managing Director, DUO Design and Marketing