Today, I spoke with John Eckberg, who has spoken with many successful entrepreneurs and celebrities, wrapping up his interviews in a book and sharing a few today for this blog. The two we will discuss are Donald Trump and P Diddy, who, in my opinion, truly represent the epitome of personal branding. Donald Trump understood early in his career that personal branding would give him an edge, while P Diddy figured out that being around people who were smarter than him would help accelerate his business success.
What can Donald Trump teach us about building a powerful brand (personal/product/corporate)?
Donald Trump is one of the few Americans who has turned his success in the fairly stodgy field of real estate in world-renown brand and persona in the milieu of entertainment, retailing and recreation. And while I am no Trump-a-phile, that is, I have not studied his books nor have I pored over the minutia of his career, I do know this much about him: the guy returns phone calls. Maybe it’s because I work at a newspaper and hold a megaphone that reaches hundreds of thousands of people (though I suspect he’d return phone calls to folks who run newsletters) but this mogul is somebody who tends to his telephone messages.
Why is that important in building brand and what does that teach us about creating a brand? Trump (who, by the way, is Mr. Trump to me since he never played centerfield or was a jockey, according to that Ring Lardner newspaperman’s rule of who gets called by their first name in any conversation) understood early on in his career that people with personal brands have an edge when it comes to negotiations, co-ventures, real estate deals and just about everything else in our society. He must have learned this from his father, a man who cut mega-deals with other real estate moguls in the rarified and cut-throat world of Manhattan real estate.
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Trump knows that when somebody with a brand walks into a room or picks up the phone, they carry with them subtle but strong personal packaging.
“Trump has embraced the element of human nature, the tendency to elevate others, into a clear advantage.”
He is never off stage, never out of the limelight, either, and knows that subordinates, peers and colleagues are always watching. In fact, they never stop watching.
And here’s something else. We usually think that somebody with baggage means that they have a hurdle to overcome. But that is not the case when you think of a brand as baggage. In that case baggage has a positive impact on a person’s patina – or brand. Trump has Gucci baggage.
The first and only time I met Donald Trump face-to-face (although we have spoken several times since then) was in the early 1990s at a Super Bowl when the Bengals narrowly lost to the San Francisco 49ers. My job was to chase quotes from locals from the Cincinnati area, who were at the game, and after one interview, I looked to my left and there was Trump. His hair, I might add, was magnificent. As I slid over to chat with him, there on the 10 yard line (what’s he doing on the 10-yard line, I thought but didn’t ask) my heart was in my throat. I mean, this guy is Donald Trump. But within moments the nervousness went away and my natural interview assurance kicked in. Part of it, I realized later, was the Trump charm. This guy puts other people at ease. That’s the part of the Trump brand that does not resonate in Macy’s commercials for his suits, in his show The Apprentice nor in the magazine covers. He has a calm confidence, yes, but it’s also a confidence that is infectious. He makes others feel at ease.
How does he achieve this? Eye-to-eye and a benign and wry smile work wonders. Practice yours in a mirror. It’s the first step toward a personal brand. Exude confidence and that will instill the same in others. That may not make you a billionaire but it is, assuredly, the first step down that path and may be the most important quality you can develop as you move through your job, career and life. The ability to put others at ease will bring you much in return.
What can P Diddy teach us about constructing an empire from the start to the finish?
“Surround yourself with smart people, listen and weigh what they have to say and then take a risk.”
During my interview with Mr. Combs, I wanted to establish early on that I knew a little about his core competency, which at the time was not Making a Band or discovering singers or writing songs, although
he was plenty good enough at all that. I was a business reporter who covered what was then Federated Departments Stores (now Macy’s), and what I needed to know was simply this: how much were the annual sales of Sean Jean apparel. So I threw out a number, something I had independently generated – $450 million annually. It was dead on, he confirmed.
And that meant, roughly, that this entertainment icon was netting probably $90 million annually (give or take 300 percent) from the notion that a generation of Americans wanted to dress like Diddy – have style like Diddy. I pushed it one step further and found out something that I still carry with me today. Smart people keep lots of other smart people around at all times. I jokingly suggested to him that he didn’t need to give me any “points” for an idea I had, that he should brand a car, that is, create a co-venture with a major auto manufacturer and come out with a Sean Jean SUV. “We’re in negotiations with…..” Diddy calmly replied as he noted that his next step in life was to continue to build the empire.
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One question I did not ask was this: why does a guy who has $450 million in annual sales from just one initiative – hundreds of millions more likely come in from his branded TV entertainment efforts – why would that guy, who has no formal theatrical training, risk the wrath of the most vicious scribes on the globe and walk out onto a Broadway stage to offer his portrayal of Raisin in the Sun. I mean, he’s already wealthy beyond imagination. Why take a chance on becoming a laughing stock of the Great White Way. I didn’t ask the question and now regret it but I’m pretty sure we all know the answer. Great things stem from great risk. Personalities who do not seek risk are not likely to build much of a brand and certainly will not build an empire. Mr. Combs was a risk-taker but one who was accustomed to success. Nothing will ever change about that, either. With great risk comes great success. But first you have to embrace risk.
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John Eckberg is the author of The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America’s Business Trailblazers. He is a career journalist with 25 years of experience in the challenging field of daily newspaper reporting. A graduate of Ohio University, he has been a business columnist and business reporter at The Cincinnati Enquirer for more than a decade, where he has covered numerous beats including federal courts, investigative reporter, feature writing, neighborhood columns and urban development. Widely published, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today and many other American print and Web publications. He is the co-author of Road Dog, a true-crime thriller about serial killer Glen Rogers of Hamilton, Ohio.
