The Brand "Me"

The Icfai University Press
HRM Review   October '09

BRANDING

-- Padmashree Radhaswamy
Faculty Member, Soft Skills,
ISHRD, Hyderabad.
The author can be reached at
pam-radsumi@yahoo.com

The purpose of this article is to make normal individuals realize the importance of self-aggrandizement in this highly competitive world and know the importance of creating a brand called "Me". The article begins with the various definitions of branding and the different types of branding in existence at present. It then goes on to suggest ways to individuals, to create a message about self and a strategy to promote oneself. Individuals need to question as to what makes them a better brand than the others. The article finally ends with a case study on how normal and ordinary individuals have created a brand for themselves and have been successful in life.

Life is a game-play it. When life is compared to a game, we surely aren't referring to life being just a fun-filled exercise, but are talking about a game that requires dedication, strategic planning, and a certain methodology. A game when played seriously has some rules and regulations to be followed and if we want to win it, the rules are tougher and harder. The ground rule to ensure success in a tournament is that we need to start right at the bottom. To reach the higher levels in the tournament, we need to be, not just above average, but exhibit a stellar performance. So, what should we do to ensure success in life?

We need to create a brand called `Me'. At a time when the entire world is thriving in the use of branded ware, by creating a message for self and promoting self, we become a brand worthy of notice.

What is Branding?

In management terminology, branding is defined as a trade name for a product. Yet another definition says, it is goods and merchandise marked or labeled by a distinctive word or symbol indicating exclusive rights.

There are different types of branding like co-branding, corporate branding, individual branding, personal branding, and employer branding.

Co-branding is when two companies come together for synergy and better marketing purposes, e.g., Vodafone and Hutch.

Corporate branding is using a company's name as a product brand name, e.g., TATA Salt.

Individual branding is when each product or service is named differently. For instance, Voltas, chrome, Westside and Lakme are all Tata's products but each is a brand by itself.

goals, products, and services of the company. For example, employees of TATA, Microsoft, etc., are given orientation regarding the organi-zation's vision and mission.

Personal branding is where people and their careers are marked as brands. All celebrities come under this category as their name itself is a brand. Each of them is an achiever and so stands for certain qualities.

Personal branding in layman's terminology is all about developing distinctive qualities in self, thus making oneself so different from others that one becomes a brand worthy of notice.

So what does it take to promote self?

Much depends on how we would like to be described at our workplace, by friends and family. No one for sure would want to create a passive image of someone lost behind woodwork.

The Week magazine reported in one of its recent issues that the current trend we see in the world is "be less nice and you can be much happier."

A famous ad film maker opines, "Nice was out 10 years ago when the cola wars started." Now winners are not really nice people. When it comes to role models, nobody today, is interested in the `nice' specimens. The stars don't miss an opportunity to dig at their contemporaries… and that makes them popular. Frankly, Ram is out of fashion today, Laxman is perhaps a far better choice. Ravana has a massive fan following. "Nice is a victim, it is no longer a virtue."

This statement is contentious and thereby questionable—If being Nice is passé, why do companies still have credibility checks on their employees? Why do families waiting to get their children married perform background checks? Coming to the main concept, when we draw similarities between ourselves and a product, do we ever think of buying a defective, outdated and a harmful product?

In reply to the ad film maker, I can only say that its hip and happening to say "Nice is passé" but when a reality check is done, especially with reference to the employability of a person, there is a colossal need to stand out and prosper in the corporate world and when it comes to one's personal life, one can't risk having a notorious criminal as a partner or as a son-in-law.

Corporates insist on technical expertise and exceptional behavior. One without the other is not welcome. Apart from expertise, they also seek the differentiation factor. Just like the products and goods sold in the market, individuals need to differentiate themselves from others in the organization. Hence, the need to create a brand called "me" in order to differentiate self from others in the market and become a brand worthy of notice.

What each person needs to ask himself is, "Why am I a better brand than the others? What interest do people have in buying me?" Because it's a new brand world and you need to make yourself into a unique product.

"A differentiated product remains a differentiated product only until the emergence of the first follower"—Seymons Tiller. So, it must be understood that the ground rule for any product uniqueness is retaining the product uniqueness on a continuous basis. It is not a one time effort.

Harvard's Theodre Levitt, in his total product concept, speaks of the generic product, expected product, augmented product and potential product (Figure 1).

Generic product is the basic product composition, sans a brand name.

Expected product is what the customer wants.

Augmented product is where the frontiers of differentiation become visible. New innovative aspects of the product are presented to differentiate.

Potential product is value added augmentation that hasn't been thought of yet but is possible.

Applying Harvard's Theodre Levitt's product concept to individuals, a generic product is the individual who is determined by the race he belongs to: his genes, health, his socioeconomic background. For example, a Dravidian, with both parents highly educated, enjoying good health and coming from an upper middle class background. When I describe an individual thus, immediately it is a common perception that the product is an intelligent, hardworking, committed individual with a healthy mind.

The expected product is an appropriate blend of academics, extracurricular activities, friendliness and safety. For instance, if the individual is a product of IIM Ahmedabad, an active member of the cultural club, with an amazing interest in networking and an active member of the safe environment club—all these speak for the person and probably there are many organizations which desire a product of this nature.

The augmented product is the differentiation factor; the innovative self. For instance, if an individual has innovated products or comes up with some valid theories, it would be his augmented self.

The potential product is that aspect of an individual which has not been demonstrated as yet but based on the individual's capability levels and skill sets it is expected that he would carry off any work given to him with aplomb.

So, individuals with a profound desire to excel should aim for nothing less than being an augmented product or a potential product in order to become a noticeable product. Once again, the product requirements keep differing from market to market and segment to segment. There are nine ways to differentiate self:

Uniqueness: Be a brand which is not hackneyed. In other words, be a product that cannot be copied.

Net accessible: Networking is one sureshot means to publicize self. The wider the network, the greater the probability of increasing "brand me" popularity.

Focused expert services: An individual needs to demonstrate expertise in one zone, where he possesses exhaustive knowledge.

High degree of touch and care: When an individual exhibits a high level of care and commitment, it builds trust. Trust is a value that we cannot barter for any other.

Breadth of offerings: An individual should, not only have an expertise zone, but also answer the general needs of the organization. This once again builds trust and confidence.

Becoming a recognizable and a value brand: This takes decades to build. It needs efforts and investment. One needs to show stark differentiation.

Achieve distinction through size and dominance in the market: An individual can either build himself as a known brand in a wider market or within an organization he can multitask and become indispensable to the organization.

Low price, drive away competitors, cater to larger segments: An individual should offer more than what others can offer at a lower price to increase brand "me" popularity.

Behavior: Most often, organizations hire for attitude and train for skills. Attitude is the most powerful differentiator. It is immediate, real and emblematic. Having the right attitude is very essential to serve in any organization, so it sometimes takes precedence over technical skills itself.

However, there are several other factors which decide the make up of a human mind. Of those, "Genes alone are responsible for 50% of an individual's personality and abilities. The other factors that affect an individual's outcome are as follows:

Race: Each race has certain typical characteristic features. For example, blacks have remarkable energy levels.

Rural areas/urban areas: People coming from rural areas have typical qualities like hard work, faithfulness and so on. At the same time, people coming from urban areas are enterprising, multitaskers. Both groups also vary largely in their exposure to knowledge.

Family environment: In all aspects, family environment plays an effective role. It matters whether it is peaceful or a turbulent environment, educated or uneducated family, nuclear or joint family. Every aspect has a bearing on the individual.

Socioeconomic levels: Caste discriminations that an individual faces and the economic status of an individual go into the shaping of an individual.

Schooling discrimination: An individual from an International school or from a well-known school is deemed to be better skilled in the job market.

Illness: Illness has a direct impact on the attitude of the person. Some kinds of illness make individuals short-tempered and certain others make them weak to do any hard work or put in long hours at the workplace.

Sun signs: It is believed that a certain type of behavior is due to the sun sign of an individual. For example, it is believed that people under the sun sign Leo have leadership qualities.

Steps to Hone Oneself into a Brand Called "Me"

If we have so many predetermined influences, how do we hone ourselves into remarkable, measurable and distinctive personalities overcoming all those inescapable influences? First and foremost, the process of honing needs to begin really early in life. Individuals need to be advised by their respective mentors about the benefits of having a strategy for promoting brand "Me".

Define self: What do I want to be famous for? Many get stuck trying to reach goals. Some reach goals overnight but the journey can be less painful, if we know what is involved. Having an objective and a goal to work towards is the first essential step to branding self.

Advertise for self by signing up for extra work, seminars and cultural programs. Showcasing enthusiasm, commitment and high energy levels by taking up extra work sells the best. While selling, we need to bear in mind, not to sell the steak, but the sizzle.

Visibility has a way of multiplying. The hardest is getting started—writing articles, making presentations, conducting workshops, distributing business cards, having a logo to represent self—all these go a long way in promoting brand self (me).

Be original and you become popular. One needs to also remember that "its not whether you get knocked down—its whether you get up". How many failures one has had in life is immaterial but what lessons has one learnt from them is more important. Goethe has rightly said, "Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game". Hence, it is very important to be creative and innovative.

Change is indispensable in branding self because if nothing changes, nothing happens. The motto of each individual attempting to brand self is to grab opportunities, gain experience and to become powerful.

Passion: Thought or feeling alone isn't sufficient. Feeling has to be turned into action. Only wishy-washy people take whatever comes their way—nothing excites them. However, a motivated individual has an aim and works towards it. It is only when passion is combined with excitement and enthusiasm that goals can be achieved.

Passion + excitement + enthusiasm = Achieving goals and dreams.

Passion is why we do what we do and how well we do it. Everyone achieves something but how passionately we do it results in variation in the degree of success. So, make an attempt to reflect goals and dreams in every thought and action.

Bharathi Airtel, CEO, Manoj Kohli, said in one of his interviews, "My eagerness to learn and teach myself came in handy….. Nothing ever happens spontaneously. Work very hard to influence change around you……Personally I feel I have achieved a lot. I set goals every year, every decade…….. My belief is that if you build your capability, always over deliver you will be rewarded, salary, car, titles, clothes are a side effect of the performance, the main thing is the performance itself."

So, probably having goals set for every year helps in building brand "Me". Goals have to be set only to accomplish work and not for procuring objects.

The Cherokee tribal lore specifies three aspects for developing new competencies (Figure 2):

Clear intention - Know your purpose

Skillful means - Have good methods and be skilled

Affirmation - Without clashing with the fundamental values.

Behavioral Differentiation

There are two kinds of expectations from organizations: Technical and behavioral. Technical expectations comprise competence, knowledge and experience. Behavioral expectations of organizations are: honesty, candor, compassion, efficiency, effectiveness, practicality, communication, responsiveness, professionalism and confidentiality.

"You are how you behave and you behave how you are"—lack of it is evident in the performance and the way work is executed. We need to distinguish ourselves both by the things that we do and the by things that we don't. Finally, even the environment in which we conduct our business also speaks for us. It should be clean and professional.

Positive Behavioral Differentiation

One can show differentiation either positively or negatively. Positive differentiation is more difficult to imbibe as it is not imitable and its very useful for business. Positive differentiation demands authentic feelings. If there are two individuals possessing the same levels of academic achievement, a proper behavior can be a powerful differentiator.

Figure 3 shows that nearly 66% possess normal range of interpersonal skills, 17% possess significantly negative interpersonal skills and the rest 17% possess significantly positive interpersonal skills.

Behavioral differentiation can be publicized through four ways:

Operational: By setting new standards in the method of working. For instance, a smile when it isn't expected.

Interpersonal: By showing people that we care. For example, an uncommon degree of sensitivity towards someone else.

Exceptional: By breaking the set rules which have no basis and coming up with innovative ideas. For example, an accommodating act that need not have been made.

Symbolic: By walking the talk. We need to stand by all that we profess to be. For example, if we have said we are tech savvy, we need to necessarily prove it in ourselves.

The most powerful tool to aggrandize ourselves in the market as brand "Me" is a Resume. It gives us ample opportunities to speak about the skills we have mastered, projects we have delivered, our core values and competencies, our mission, company specialization, our target market—whom we can serve.

A Resume has to be used as our marketing brochure and we need to learn to speak without inhibition about our braggables. As the "CEO of Me Inc.", we need to be selfish and develop a good networking system and ensure that as many people as possible know about brand "Me". Individuals need to first master the art of speaking good about one's self and achievements as this is something that we are not used to.

However, in building the brand "Me", there is no set conduit. Consistency in the values we possess can also help us, as we see in the following case study.

The study has been conducted on an individual working for a public sector insurance company. The individual, henceforth to be referred as Mr. Genuine, now aged 51 years was born to a South Indian Telugu couple settled in, the then Madras. His father was a Professor of Commerce and mother a housewife but educated till SSLC. It was a traditional household with a set code of conduct. He was, however, brought up by his maternal grandparents during his schooling years in a small town of Andhra Pradesh.

All through his schooling, he has had a track record of brilliant academic performance, a regular topper and an active participant in all the extracurricular activities, with specific interest in elocution. After completing his Intermediate, he joined his parents at Madras and went on to complete his BCom and secured the 11^th position in his university. He was a promising student who could have got within the top three ranks but unfortunately had fainted in the examination hall out of tension. Even as he was preparing to write his BCom final year exams, he got placed in Bank of India as a clerk. He joined Indian Bank in the year 1978 as a probationary officer within six months of joining Bank of India. By 1979, he joined GIC as a trainee and 1980 he was posted to Chennai Oriental and Fire Insurance Company as an officer.

Mr. Genuine from the beginning of his career has been the favorite of all the superiors under whom he has worked. He has been dependable for his expertise in the insurance laws and his approachable ways. He deals with customers firmly and politely and they are left with no option but to accept and acknowledge him as a sincere manager who cannot be fooled.

Coming to his other personal qualities and values that he upholds, he is extremely hardworking, sincere and a person with a high sense of integrity. He has travelled by II^nd class sleeper coach when he was actually eligible for flights. He hasn't claimed one rupee extra even though one can claim a lot of money by just producing bills. Even though 100 liters of petrol can be claimed per month, he doesn't claim for one liter of petrol extra, unless he has really spent it on official work. He has even been rebuked by his fellow colleagues that no special honor would be bestowed on him for doing so, but Mr. Genuine believes in it and so he has continued doing it.

As stated earlier Mr. Genuine works for a public sector company. A public sector company in India is bogged down by reservations and other interferences from the government which stand as obstacles in recognizing and rewarding the deserving employees. Mr. Genuine's case has been an exception so will it be for any one who cares to build themselves into a brand worthy of notice. Since he continues to uphold all the values that he believes in, along with his technical expertise, he has had postings to the most challenging jobs and the most exotic places. All this without even craving for any of them, but by concentrating on the job assigned and giving it his best shot. The latest jewel in his crown has been, being posted to UK as the country head. For employees working under the umbrella of GIC, Mr. Genuine is a familiar figure. He isn't aggressive or loud mouthed by nature, yet he has built himself into a likeable brand with just his technical skills, integrity, hard work, a deep sense of honesty and excellent communication skills.

Asked how he has achieved it all, Mr. Genuine replied that he hasn't worked for it specifically but he does whatever work is given to him with a lot of commitment and within the given time frame. Humility seems to be his trade mark.

Conclusion

Personal branding can go a long way in marketing self as a desirable product in an organization. It is a slow and tedious process. It also needs a lot of planning. One can achieve the final stage of brand "Me" by having an agenda and setting goals each year. One needs to realize that Nice is not passé but is still a trend that we cannot do without. One has to write only about one's braggables and present an impressive self in one's resume or there would be no call for an interview. This in itself is a proof that one needs to build oneself into a desirable brand "me" by meeting all the expectations of the organizations.