The Person to See

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand

This seventh and final section of Dave's personal branding excerpts deals with having multi-dimensional appeal...

Categories to think of when expanding the multi dimensional appeal of our personal brand:

 

     -How well read are we (i.e. the number and different types of books we read)?

     -How informed are we on current events?

     -Political involvement (e.g. Which party?  How articulate are we on our party’s positions?)

     -Our spirituality/religious affiliation

     -The hobbies we enjoy (e.g. wine, tennis, golf)

     -Interest in sports (conversant on most subjects)

     -Our participation in charities (e.g. time/money)

     -Our physical fitness

     -Our professional accomplishments (i.e. professional track record)

     -Our educational achievements (e.g. degrees)

     -Awards we’ve earned (e.g. personally/professionally)

     -The diversity of our networks

     -Being well traveled

     -Developing our articulation (i.e. expression of ideas and breadth of vocabulary)

     -Maintaining a positive, proactive attitude

     -Developing an engaging personality

 

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand - Step Six

Section 6 of Dave's recap has to do with dressing for success:

Dressing for success:  Does your dress create the expectation that you are:

 

     -Smart?

     -Skillful?

     -Reliable?

     -Trustworthy?

     -Disciplined?

 

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand - Step Five

Section five of Dave's list focuses on gestures:

Gestures which have a profound impact on a personal brand:

 

     -Write thank you notes all the time

     -Call one person a day and tell that person how important he/she is to you

     -Send a small gift to celebrate the birth of a client’s, friend’s or family member’s child

     -Make sure your shoes are shined all the time

     -Express your condolences in person for someone else’s loss

     -Never miss acknowledging the birthday of someone important to you

     -Send relevant articles to others that touch them personally

     -Congratulate your adversary on major victories

     -Always make sure your car is immaculate

     -Be the first to contribute to another’s charity

     -Say, “I’m sorry”

     -Help set up and clean up, especially at functions that might not offer you great rewards

     -Say “Good morning” and “Goodnight” to everyone

     -Take your team to lunch.  Invite them to your home for dinner

     -Say “Thank you for your hard work today,” to your staff every day

     -Smile a lot

     -Be open, honest and direct with others

     -Give without expecting anything in return

     -Volunteer to go last instead of making sure you are always first in line

     -Have a firm handshake

     -Make the best of tough situations

 

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand - Step Four

Section four.....what impacts our personal brand:

What do the following things say about your personal brand?

 

     -Your briefcase

     -Your business card

     -Your handshake

     -Your weight, teeth and hair

     -Your shoes, tie and belt

     -Your car

     -Your pitch

     -Your table manners

     -Your reading habits

     -Your immediate friends

     -The jokes you tell

     -Your language

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand - Step Three

Section three of Dave Kinney's comments (see original post on 2/18 for details) pertains to paying attention...

You ought to start paying attention to:

 

     -Who your friends are – jettison people who undermine your credibility

     -Unprofessional drinking and drug habits – stop it

     -Following through on your word, especially when it is a huge inconvenience

     -Well-roundedness (current events and interests beyond your profession) – be interesting

     -Your 15 second commercial –sharp, crisp, compelling

     -Your uniqueness statement (yes, it is different from your 15 second commercial)

     -Honesty – tell the truth always, no matter how painful

     -Bragging – stop it.  Don’t tell people you are great, just be great

     -Self-discipline – practice delay-gratification

     -Attitude – positive can-do

     -Treat everyone equally (don’t just play lip service to this principle.  Strive to be Gandhi-    like)

     -Be a spectacular public speaker – work your tail off at it.  It’s a craft to be honed.

 

 

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand - Step Two

Section two of Dave Kinney's comments (see yesterday's post) pertain to personal brand alignment.

Things we should all make sure are in alignment with our personal brand:

 

     -Our brochure

     -Our website, including our bio

     -Our office space

     -The quality of delivery of our products/services

     -Our dress, grooming and manners

     -The way our receptionist answers the phones

     -How we treat our staff

     -How our team handles our clients

     -The credibility of the company for which we work

     -How we respond to difficulties

Seven Steps to a Great Personal Brand

A client of mine, Dave Kinney who is the founder of Madison Street Partners, recently read my book, The Power of Personal Branding: The Secret to Positioning Yourself as The Person to See™ and surprised me with a summary of what were to him the key points.  The summary is divided into seven sections.

Over the next seven days I will publish the totality of Dave's summary section by section. 

The first category is public speaking.  Here's what Dave perceived to be the salient points...

To be a star at personal speaking, I must excel in:

     -Selecting a compelling topic

     -Writing a great speech

     -Delivering an inspiring speech

     -Using my space (e.g. the stage) to its fullest

     -Cleverly using props in my presentation

     -Using drama to enhance my speech

     -Usefully involving the audience

     -Enhancing my storytelling capabilities

     -Improving my use of humor

     -Shocking, inspiring and helping my audience feel empathy