Branding Yourself to Growth and Success

Brand and Branding is ubiquitous. It is often used to mean varied things in various contexts. While browsing the internet I found pages and pages dedicated to brand and branding. Why is a brand and values of a brand so important? The brand is one of the key elements that builds not only the image of the products and the company, but ensures profits for the company, for generations to come. According to World’s Greatest Brands,” The brand starts as a product and a name, but much can be built on that name. In fact, a brand name, can be best described as the foundation stone for an elaborate edifice. Branding has shaped a wealth of perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and experiences to turn a product and name into something to which the customer relates.”

Great brands learn to manage themselves at all times, both in certain and uncertain times. They are driven to learn, adapt and discover different paths of growth and excellence. They keep growing, extend, rewire and reinvent themselves using different tools: new ideas, concepts, practices, systems, technology and processes. They develop strong, defined personalities and garner deep affection, staunch following, trust, integrity and loyalty. Some classic global examples are Coco-Cola, Harley Davidson, Starbucks, McDonalds, Apple, Nike, Disney, Microsoft, etc. In the India Scenario, some examples of brands that have contributed to India’s growth in the distinctive market and have grown sustainably are Amul, TATA’s, Infosys, Maruti, Parle Glucose Biscuits, Airtel, Thums Up, Hero MotoCorp and Cycle, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Blue Dart, and India Post.

Like, how branding is used to build an image, visibility, credibility, value, affinity, incredible experience and delivery, similarly, the same principles of product branding can be applied to individuals for Personal branding. Personal branding can be a very useful exercise for an individual’s personal, professional, and holistic growth.

A personal human brand constitutes of your inner self, the outer self, further sub-divided into physical or appearance, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual self. Personal branding is a tool to build self awareness, self improvement, self confidence, clarity and consistency in communication. It helps define who you are, your aspirations and what you want to be. It is the essence of your being.

It can be a rejuvenating process, to let go of the old, unwanted; taking stock of the present; assimilating the old strengths, cultivating new, and build the future with these values. Personal branding is dressing up with your values, goals, aspirations, giving the right voice and actions for your imagined self.

A great personal brand has a powerful engaging story, with purpose and meaning that inspires and empowers to take action, thus enabling you to realise your goals. The entire branding process helps you be better equipped to meet the challenges in personal and professional life. Some examples of the great successful personal brands, who built themselves on values are Mahatma Gandhi, Ratan Tata, J R D Tata, Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Oprah Winfrey, and Charlie Chaplin.

Personal branding is a structured, thought out exercise to assist the individual in the path of self discovery, improvement and excellence. Brand yourself for success with a simple yet compelling branding tools and techniques.

Simple tools and techniques to personal branding, growth and success :

Taking Stock – A self inventory Review: The first step to a personal branding exercise is to take stock of your current self. Understand, What is your Physical (appearance), Intellectual, Emotional, Social and Spiritual self? How do you view yourself in all these five dimensions? Answers to these questions will not only bring better understanding of self and clarity, but will enable you to become aware of your strengths; cultivate them, accept your weaknesses and work around them in each of these areas.

Building your Personal Brand Identity: Personal Brand Identity is how you look, sound and act. It is that which makes you unique, stand out in the crowd, be an individual. To build your Personal Brand Identity you need to identify your assets (skills, abilities and experiences), values (the importance, worth, or usefulness of something as well as your passions), image (what you project to others), and aspirations. This exercise will pave the path to charter further growth of self in both personal and professional lives.

Image Building with Johari window: The Johari window created by two American psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955 and is a technique used to help people better understand their relationship with themselves as well as others.

Open or Arena: It is the image what everyone sees and understands about me. It represents traits of the self that are both known to self and to what peers are aware of.

Hidden or Façade: It is the Private Self, that I know about myself but others don’t. Only the nearest and the dearest get a ‘look in’ to my Private Self, others don’t have a clue.

Blind Spots: These represent information that the self is not aware of, but others are. These are the things that others see about me, but I can’t see for myself.

Unknown: Finally, there is the unknown dimension of our potential. This is unknown to me and to others. This may be because they do not apply or because there is collective ignorance of the existence of these traits.

The Johari Window is another very effective tool that facilitates clear understanding of the different dimensions of self. In personal image – building, you can explore the Hidden (Private Self), try to find more about your dreams and aspirations. You can bring out more from your Private Self that you want to project, sort out the Blind spots so that your potential to influence others increase along with your self- esteem and self confidence. The Unknown self which we don’t know about ourselves presents itself with possibilities and opportunities for self growth.

Branding is dynamic; it is not just limited to the confines of a product or a company in a business landscape, but its application is equally effective and valuable in building a powerful, successful, growing personal brand for self growth and success.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernhard Shaw, Author

“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend, or not.” Isabel Allende, Chilean writer

“ I have come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you .” Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and philanthropist.”