A Connected World means A Connected You

A Connected World means A Connected You

It’s no secret that social media is intuitive, global, interactive and most importantly real-time.  Based on this context it is changing behaviors with consumers, individuals and groups spanning personal, government, business, consumer and social networks.  With the power of the real-time communication affecting behaviors there is an overwhelming case for how your personal brand is being fueled.

People need to seize the social media social for five reasons.

• Virtual advocacy of your own brand, driving authentic messages 24/7
• One stop shop - Increases the speed of connection simultaneously with friends, peers, professionals, customers, and the broader public.
• Real-time mean increasing your speed to market on your brand presence.
• Low-cost and low barrier to entry - build your personal brand, communicating who you and what you stand for are both within your personal and professional networks.
• Transparency – Allows you to define who you and consistently shape you brand by providing a platform to learn from instant information, transparency and sometimes brutal feedback.

Branding, Engagement & Learning – Foundation to your Brand

Social media (as defined by social media website Wikipedia) are “media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues.”

Now that you understand the benefits of developing a social media presence, where should you start?

It helps to look at the two areas of social media activity when building your personal brand—personal and professional. Additionally building your brand through key messages; engagement on key topics that drive your brand and learning from feedback and key themes in how you present yourself.

To formulate your personal brand’s social media strategy, you need to answer the following sets of questions:

• Are your goals personal, professional, or both?
• Do you have similar views or different views between how you want to present yourself in the two areas?  
• Think about the three areas of social media: branding, engagement, and learning, what you are hoping to achieve in each?
• What are the characteristics of your brand will drive authenticity?

The answers to these questions can help you choose the right combination of content, platforms and channels decide how much time to devote to each to build you brand.  Social is about connections, meaningful and relevant connections so continuity is important to fueling your brand.  Once you start you must continue the virtual advocacy of your brand.  Breakthrough the clutter and make a name for yourself.

Develop People, to develop your Brand

Advocacy a key component in building your personal brand

Advocacy is critical in developing your personal brand.  You need develop others in order to develop yourself.  This contributes to your leadership brand through advocacy of peers, friends and professionals. So much of what we focus on in our lives deal with the typical command and control approach – control is an illusion it is about influence.  Influence can only be achieved through trust and advocacy in your actions.  Your personal brand is built or eroded based on your actions and interactions.

How many meetings have you attended where the outcomes have not been defined, but it appears to be more of a directive?  The meeting or conversation was really a one-sided directive versus a dialogue and creative discussion.

It is important to be flexible not only in your own plans but also when listening to peers and professionals.  There are too many people who begin meetings with decrees: “This is my view about where this project should head. And these are the steps we need to take.” That gives a meeting a direction and focus, but it may also dishearten participants from voicing concerns.

Gaining Buy-in through Advocacy

Thinking about your personal brand – how do you want to be perceived? Think about creating a catalyst for new ideas and insights to the question.  Make your brand known as an advocate and collaborator.

Consider taking the approach—to encourage debate, ideas, dialogue and innovation. Position the opportunity in a different way to your peers and professionals, “Here is the area where we really need to do something. It is a difficult area, and there are several ways to address the problems. Now, this is my current view of the path we should take, but I could be wrong. I want you to feel free to disagree and offer alternatives.” Then I have to be willing to discard or modify my hypothesis if someone comes up with a better approach.

Make the commitments through all of the discussions – activate. All of the participants need to agree on the deliverables and to set their own timetable to infuse buy-in.

• What are the actions?
• Who is ultimately responsible?
• What are the deliverables associated with the actions?
• Deadlines - when will they be delivered?

Then they will have an ownership interest in the follow-up, rather than just going along with abstract ideas. People often select a more aggressive timetable when people act as a group versus the naval gazing when you ask who is on point.

You can reinforce the principle of ownership in many ways for your personal brand, by driving this entrepreneurial approach to driving new opportunities. When you apply this principle, you must be patient as people need to make mistakes and learn from them.  Become an advocate for people and cultivate growth for others and your personal brand.

It’s all about the Pre-Game

Learn to start thinking more about how you shape your personal brand and effectiveness through small adjustments in your daily or weekly planning.

Mindset and attitude are critical elements for defining and acting upon the future vision of your personal brand.  The challenge more often than not is the consistency of your actions in realizing this vision in the near-term.  I have discussed how we embrace speed as a driver to perceived productivity, versus getting quiet and focusing on what is needed to accomplish your activities and goals.  Many of us dive right into the weekend shedding the activities of the prior week only to come to the paralysis of Sunday night paralysis staring at  a anxiety ridden schedule for the week – I once knew someone who characterized this as Sunday Night Syndrome.  Instead of being frozen with the myriad of tasks, simply and question; what do I need to do this week and how can I get my head around it?

Mental preparation is a broad topic within the arena of sports psychology – people use the term “pre-game” to adjust their mindset. The purpose of daily mental preparation is to create a mindset that lets you consistently perform up to your capabilities and talents in competition.  Preparation requires discipline and a small amount of time at the end of each day.

Near the end of each workday, schedule time for you to think…yes to think.  Reflect on the day and plan your actions for the next day. After a few days, you will be able to identify issues by examining patterns based on your own reflections.

• First focus on the activities you set forth to accomplish today or this week – what was accomplished?
• Then focus on progress and challenges and think about specific events and activities that cultivate, maintain or erode your personal brand or effectiveness. Write them down

o   Which 1 or 2 events today indicated either a small win or a possible breakthrough? (Describe briefly.)

o   Which 1 or 2 events today indicated either a small setback, erosion or a possible crisis? (Describe briefly.)

o   Finally, prioritize for action. The action plan for the next day is the most important part of your daily review: What is the one thing you can do to best facilitate progress tomorrow?

·         Outline activities you need to accomplish tomorrow – consider using the 48-hour rule working on tasks that are due in 48-hours.

Building consistency is critical not only for your personal effectiveness, but for shaping your personal brand.  Take time every day to stop and think – so much of what we do is in accordance to how feel, start thinking and you will see a big difference in how things you work on personally and professionally relate to each other.

How do you prepare yourself mentally and what rituals create a steady focus in your activities?

Future Vision – Breaking the Mind Game

Having a future vision requires a change in mindset, objectivity and passion - I personally want to surround myself with passionate people that are interesting and interested in achieving those things they did not think were possible – to effectively Breakthrough!

If nothing were out of reach, what would you want to accomplish within the next year? Challenge yourself and write down two specific things that have to happen in the next year for you to be satisfied with your progress in life. Put your thoughts into affirmative, narrative sentences that create passion.

Breaking through is about progression, forward movement, not getting caught up in your own head with thoughts of negativity and pessimism – we need to move from “complaint to commitment”.  Constantly innovate and prototype your future vision or what a friend and I say...rapid prototype, road test it.

Don’t forget to reset as you are bombarded – quiet the mind.

Make it a point to read your future-mindset statement every morning and night and speak it out loud as if you were confidently telling it to someone else. When you do this, eliminate fear, negative emotion, and doubt from your thoughts. 

With the daily deluge of emails, meetings, phone calls, homework, music, video and other mass media it is easy to get lost in the static.  Focus the mind and focus your purpose by changing your mindset.

Thoreau said “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler”.  The quote is more than dynamic and inspirational it is hinting at the amount of focus we place on what we should have versus what we truly need.

By teaching yourself to believe in your future vision—you don’t just accomplish one thing; you accomplish everything. When things don’t go your way, you’ll pick yourself up, because more powerful than any failure is this vision you have. Eventually, you won’t even have to plan each day’s activities because you will do the things you should be doing—you’ll be moving toward that vision.

We could sit back and let things just happen to us and live day-to-day however we please. But we were meant to grow—to elevate ourselves. When you determine what you want your future to be, you have decided to grow—to live—not just exist! The ball is in your court. The power to succeed or fail is yours.

Define your future vision, before your future defines you – Breakthrough!

Building a Personal SWOT Analysis

Building a Personal SWOT Analysis getting to the heart of your brand.

Before you can build a brand, albeit a personal brand you need to know what you stand for, represent and the perceptions associated with your name and actions. Before you can do any of this you need an objective view of your strengths and weaknesses.  Think of this as a personal SWOT analysis that could get uncomfortable if you are not ready for objectivity and the truth.  Objectivity is the key word here; ask peers, team members, friends, family and your boss a set of simple questions listed below.

·         Where do I shine, what are my core strengths?

·         What leadership skills do you think are strengths for me?

·         What behavior do I exhibit that could significantly impact my career negatively or lead me to fail if it’s not addressed?

·         What is the one skill or ability that if I mastered, would have the most significant impact on my personal effectiveness with our relationship and/ or organization?

·         What abilities of mine have the most significant impact on you and why?

It is often difficult to listen to the constructive elements if you are not prepared.  Remember this is to build a foundation for your brand both personally and professionally. When seeking clarity on responses make it clear that you’re seeking self-improvement. Tell your friends and peers honestly that you are open to constructive feedback, because there is no way you can address a behavior if you do not know about it.  

Try it out and turn those insights into action. In the context of the Start/ Stop/ Continue feedback framework draft a short list based on the answers to the questions.

Brand New Day, Brand New Way

The blog was designed to address insights into the topic of personal branding through inquiries, existing relationships at work and in my personal life.

Many of the discussions that I have on this topic deal with work in standing out and getting noticed through the blur of activity.  The person you are in the office and the authentic self you are in the rest of your life are one in the same. The images and impressions you make in all contexts of your life relate to your personal brand.  As we march through the stages of life we need to be cognizant of those elements that are authentic to ourselves.

Breakthrough and Attack Your Goals

Breakthrough is about your personal potential and living the life you not only want, but ultimately need.  Standing out of the shadows and building upon the person you are today and who you will become.  Your personal brand is similar to that of the products and services you consume, use and love.  Every interaction you have either builds, maintains or erodes your personal brand.  I say interaction as it could relate to the people you meet, your thoughts and actions.

We spend most of our time externally ruminating over the “how-to” address the daily challenges and opportunities we face life.  The speed in which you address these challenges and opportunities is often valued more than the quality of your actions.  Your actions are critical Very few people ask the question why, often hiding in the shadows or process and prescribed emotions. 

There is no magic bullet, algorithm or solution it requires time and a personal investment to truly understand yourself and who you want to become. It is about focus and goals - What does it mean to you personally of going all in? There is no limit to action - Attack your goals ruthlessly.

Attitude is the key to everything you do both personally and professionally.  We are often overwhelmed by the time, so speed takes over.  There is a natural comfort in being busy as we can delay and ignore the critical elements that will feed our personal brand, passion and goals.

This is the time to stand out, step out of the shadows by going within, quieting the mind asking the questions to ultimately shine.  Take stock in identifying who you are and what you need to assess your personal brand. Getting started should focus on who you are now and who you would like to be.  This requires introspection and basic questions – What’s working in my life and what’s not? What do I want or need? What’s best for me to focus on now?

The question I ask on a daily basis is “how can I breakthrough the static” and achieve my personal best – my brand? Find your passion in every role your have and demand more of yourself to maintain that passion.