A thing
As humans, we want things to look human to us, so that they become familiar. Hence, the use of language, mascots, adding personality traits to businesses/brands, cartoons, etc. It makes them non-threatening. However, it doesn’t go the other way around: making people things. Well, unless you’re a psycho or run an exploitative way of “biz”. That’s why also, the whole HR thinking and leadership has been shifting from Resources and Capital into Talent and Development. Because a thing, becomes a…
“You need a personal brand”
You’re a brand, you’re the product. Get all the bells and whistles of a brand (visuals, narratives, stories, etc.). Be “consistent” on your projected image. Put yourself out there. Make noise (so people will hear you). Always be pitching. Always be selling. The end goal? To get your clients to trust you. The approach? Showing your “personal brand” “This is me. These are my values. This is my personality” → Me, Me, Me. Here’s the thing Your clients don’t care. They care about themselves and…
Leveraging effort
“People buy/do things because they aspire to become something else.” Most marketing (and advertising) bros Well, that’s not necessarily true. A (desire to) change is a representation of who you are. Inspired by something: low effort, high impact. Aspiring to something: high effort, unclear impact. Which one would you take?
Sprinkling personality in
“Along the way, sprinkle in personality so people see the person behind the personal brand.” Doesn’t this feel like there are 2 different things here? You And your “personal brand”. Which will mean that your personal brand is something artificial. That’s why it needs a “sprinkle in personality”. If you need to sprinkle personality to it, it is something flat, shallow, interchangeable. Unnoticeable. Ignorable. And shallow can’t be authentic. Which means you cannot be a brand. Because you’re…
A punch in the face.
“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the face.” Mike Tyson However, if you have an approach… You can receive a quite decent amount of punches and still get ahead. You prep to get more punches, learn how to dodge some, how to receive others, how to see them coming (so that you adapt). That’s an approach. On the other hand, a plan is static. If something changes, it’s now a different plan. An approach lets *you* change and tune in your plans (or dismiss them). An approach is…
Vortex
Broad in interests and inputs, specific and specialized in the application. To stand out in a world of sameness, you need to feed yourself of a broad range of what’s going on around you and beyond. Creativity is the ability to see (opportunity). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi And originality is a reflection of it (you can see more of this on The Originality Arc here, here and here). The more information and knowledge you have access to, the more chances to imagine and see different realities. Once…
Let’s not screw up
In the avoidance of mistakes, where everyone fears screwing things up, there’s always the outlier who stands out. Rory Sutherland in his conversation with Blair Enns and Leah Power has this insight: “The more things you test, the more you discover.” Kinda obvious, but unseen. Most people choose to play safe. To fit in, to blend in. However… To stand out, you need to be bold. That outlier. The choice, is yours to make: To see everything as a threat and look for perfection. Or ship, in order…
How to see different
Ads are pretty much the same —most of the times, at most of the places. Be it Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, US, Germany, Netherlands, India or Sri Lanka. Different brands, different markets and ads look the same. They share the same perspective, the same sales pitch, quite similar concepts, same stories… heck, even same colors. How can they stand out if it all looks and feels the same? How can YOU stand out in a world of sameness? Being a vortex.
You won’t be the best in the world
Well, not for everyone. You can be your best version of yourself —and do the best you can, while trying to be better than the day before. Being the best is something subjective and arbitrary, when applied to life or business, as they’re infinite games and have no set up rules. Who’s to define who the best is? Here’s the thing “Great work” is not what makes the difference. Your clients can’t really tell what’s great work and really good work. They don’t know the nuances. They’re not trained to…
The dysfunction of personal brands
A brand is the gut feeling a person has about an organization, product or service. Not about a person. Here’s why Because from a functional perspective, an organization, product or service adapts to the market, even when that means they need to change the core of themselves.A rebrand. The way they adapt is by either adding, changing or eliminating features and characteristics. It can make them take radical pivots to their core, even to change or disappear completely while keeping its…
