The Person to See

The Measure Of A Great Personal Brand

As I've said many times in this blog, don't confuse a great personal brand with a powerful one.  Great brands inspire, powerful ones thrive on intimidation.

If you want to know if you have a great personal brand you should be able to answer these two questions affirmatively...

• Do people seek out your advice for guidance beyond what you do for a living? In other words do they trust your judgment as much as your expertise?

• When they seek out your advice do they follow it or are you just another person they want to bounce an idea off of?

If your answers to these two questions is yes than you have, in my opinion, a great personal brand.

Shaq-A-Claus To The Rescue Again

I admire Shaq.  He's never been in trouble with drugs, the law or the league.  He is also a personal brand management master.

He's so smart.  All his self promotion efforts seem to always involve helping others.  His latest venture involves helping homeowners who are in danger of losing their house due to foreclosure.  In his words Shaq "...wants to buy delinquent homeowners' homes and than resell them back to these same folks at affordable interest rates."

Good for you Shaq.  You are the perfect example of the power of the free market.  We need more Shaq's and less government.

The Best Brands Are Always On Offense

I ran into a friend of mine the other day at the Coffee Bean in Los Angeles and we got to talking about the economy.  We both agreed that things have slowed down quite a bit for many industries.  We also agreed that fear is driving many people to the sidelines.

My colleague remarked that he is absolutely shocked at how contagious fear is.  I agree.  I also think fear creates opportunity for the very best personal brands to shine. Stay on offense. Be the shining example of optimism.

I don't mean pretend like things are superb all around, all the time, in every way.  If you want to build a great personal brand that others gravitate towards you have to fight the temptation to succumb to the negative dialogue. This may mean you will have to be more selective about the people with whom you are spending your time.

Another colleague of mine had a great line: He said "When I wake up in the morning I say to myself I choose not to participate in the recession." How about if you adopt a similar attitude when it comes to negative people.

The Best Personal brands Are Unflappable

I have a client who is working on his temper.  You see, losing your temper is bad for your brand for three reasons:

• It makes you look out of control
• It is a waste of valuable energy
• Most of the time it is destructive to those around you

So here's what I told him to do.  Pick someone who you admire who you think is unflappable in the face of pressure, conflict and frustration.  Try to model that person as much as possible.  If you stick with it you may find yourself making more progress than you thought very quickly.

People I look to are Peter O'Malley, former owner of the Dodgers, James Baker III, former Secretary of State and Colin Powell.  Who do you admire?

Personal Brand Management. It never Ends.

If you think you can at some point rest on your laurels when it comes to personal brand management, you might want to think again.  Don't know if you saw the story on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal about former Federal reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan.

The title of the article is "His Legacy Tarnished: Greenspan Goes On The Defensive."

As recent as three years ago the then 79 year old Greenspan was hailed as "the greatest Central Banker who ever lived."  Now that we are in the midst of some tough economic times, poor old Alan is being scape-goated.

What I like about Greenspan is he is fighting back.  He admits that his reputation matters and he refuses to take this criticism lying down.

Whether you like him or not you have to admire his feistiness and tenacity when it comes to personal brand management.

The Man With No Brand Finds His Brands In Defeat

For many in America Governor Mitt Romney's personal brand remained elusive.  The Las Vegas Review Journal even ran a poll asking people" What top three words come to mind when you think of the leading presidential candidates?"

While Hillary Clinton registered as a Feminist, John McCain a Military Hero and Barack Obama Hope believe it or not the phrase that came to mind with Mitt Romney was "I don't know."  No doubt Romney has struggled mightily with this issue throughout his campaign but I think he finally found his footing.  Ironically, it happened when he bowed out of the race yesterday.

In Romney's own words "I joined this race because I love my country and it is because I love my country that I now withdraw from the race" (Not an exact quote but close enough).

My wife summed up Romney's personal brand best, A True Gentleman.

Now if only Mike Huckabee would get a clue.  Talk about a guy loving the sound of his own voice. 

Romney's Personal Brand Falls Flat

I'm watching Governor Mitt Romney give his concession speech in New Hampshire and I'm thinking to myself, how can this guy not be President...

• He looks the part
• He's a proven success (multi-millionaire businessman)
• He's obviously very smart (JD/MBA Harvard)
• Great character and family man

Yet he could never get traction.  Why?  Because he could not sell his personal brand to America no matter how much money he poured into the race. 

While McCain, Huckabee and Giuliani have very human personalities (whether you like them or not) Romney came across as a technocrat.  Almost like the Stepford Candidate.

I'm telling you everything hinges on a candidate's ability to make the people feel. Look at Barack Obama.

By the way, I predicted many months ago in my blog that Romney would be the nominee and Huckabee his VP.  Shows you what I know!

Kudos To Brad And Denzel

A breath of fresh air in Hollywood at last...

Denzel Washington donates $1M of his own money to Fisher House, a charity dedicated to helping rehabilitate soldiers injured in combat.  It's a great story.  Take time to read it.

Brad Pitt puts his money where his mouth is and donates $5m of his own money to housing efforts in New Orleans.

At last two Hollywood stars who realize it's not all about them!

At Least One Guy's Happy About The Mitchell Steroid Report

I was watching Sports Center the other day when I noticed a guy named Bobby Petrino signed on to coach the Arkansas Razorbacks football program.  I thought how funny that there are two guys named Petrino who coach football ( one who coaches the Atlanta Falcons and the other now the head coach of the Razorbacks).

Than I learned that the new coach of the Razorbacks was actually the same Bobby Petrino who coached the Falcons.  You see Petrino, the same guy who preached teamwork and the need to finish, actually quit the Falcons in mid season!

Being the class guy he is told his players he was resigning in a 70 word letter he left in front of their lockers which they discovered when they came to practice the next day.  What a sissy.

So what do you think Bobby Petrino's personal brand is?  Oh I'd say Quitter or maybe Coward.

Just the kind of guy I'd want coaching my kid.  NOT!

Sorry to be so negative but I was just so disgusted when I learned what Petrino did to his players.

Ten Tips To Build Personal Brand Equity

Here are ten things which you may not have realized impact your personal brand:

What does your posture say about you?

Are you current on all of your financial obligations?

Do you return everyone's phone call or just those people who can help you?

Do you smile a lot?

Do you say "thank you" and "please"?

How do you talk about your spouse to others?

What charities are you involved with?

Are you on time all of the time?  Even when the person will tolerate your lateness?

Do you donate money?

Do you sacrifice your time for others?

Grade yourself in these areas as follows: always, sometimes, never

The Person to See has mostly "Always"