Author: Beverly Macy

Beverly is an instructor at the UCLA Business and Management Extension Program. She is one of the few educators who has a class offered by a university on Social Media Marketing. She’s also the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Y&M Partners and before that she spent 14 years at Xerox Corporation in a series of increasingly demanding sales and marketing management positions where she was awarded eight consecutive President’s Club honors. Macy began her career at Wang Laboratories in software development.
Communication & NetworkingLifestyle & Habit BuildingRelationships & Personal Growth

The Importance of Self-Assessment

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates

I am often asked to help professionals develop and maintain their personal brand. I often think that the best answer is “Follow your bliss” and the rest will follow. And that is largely true. However, the workplace has become so competitive that personal branding is critical. So, …

Brand Identity & Self-DiscoveryCommunication & NetworkingRelationships & Personal Growth

Personal Brand Excellence

In the business and marketing world, brand excellence is the cumulative result of real-life actions taken by the company to support what the brand stands for. Brands often compete for  Brand Excellence awards in their industries to firmly establish that they do in fact exemplify the “Gold Standard”.

“If you want to achieve excellence, you …

Relationships & Personal GrowthReputation ManagementSocial MediaSuccess Story

Susan Boyle – Personal Branding Perfect Storm

If you haven’t seen the video of Susan Boyle, contestant on “Britian’s Got Talent”, you’ve been under a rock.  47+ million hits of her audition video have been recorded on YouTube and the numbers keep climbing.  In five days, Susan Boyle has become a global brand. Eat your heart out…she’s accomplished in 5 days what …

Brand Yourself AsCommunication & NetworkingPositioningRelationships & Personal Growth

Up Your Personal Brand Game

I was reading an article today about the two tech giants Google and Microsoft.  The article focused on how Microsoft may be positioning itself to make a play in the highly competitive search marketplace.

Dominance and perseverance

Google was referred to as having market dominance. Microsoft was referred to as having perseverance. Clearly, the article …

Brand Identity & Self-DiscoveryCommunication & NetworkingMarketingRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation Management

LeBron James – The Man with the Billion Dollar Personal Branding Plan

I don’t know if you had the chance to see the 60 Minutes piece on LeBron James last week? I did and I was extremely impressed with what I heard. I love sports and I love business. And while the creation of sports icons is not new, taking on the role of Chief Brand Manager …

Brand Yourself AsCommunication & NetworkingPositioningRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation Management

Should Personal Branding Take a Page from Celebrity Branding?

I live and work in Los Angeles, the capital of “The Star System”. Yes, it’s true – the method of creating and promoting stars in Hollywood used to be known “The Star System”.   It started with the movie studios in the 1920s and 30s.  Studios would select talented actors and create roles for them, complete …

Brand Yourself AsCommunication & NetworkingCorporate BrandingRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation Management

Think Like a Brand: CEOs in Times of Crisis

Tom Peters asked employees of large companies  to “think like a CEO” as they branded themselves within the organization in the late 1990s. The idea was to contribute to the company in a way that helped you stand out, and helped you take control of your own brand and destiny within your career.  The concept …

Brand Yourself AsJob SearchLifestyle & Habit BuildingRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation Management

Mid-Career Personal Branding is Critical!

 

I recently spoke to a group of mid-career executives about personal branding….and they looked at me with puzzlement – personal branding – at this stage of my career? What they’re thinking is “I’ve never used personal branding, and I’ve gotten this far without it…” They nodded their heads during my talk, but I think …

eBrandMarketingRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation ManagementSocial Media

Using Twitter for Personal and Business Branding

Everyone’s trying to figure out personal branding and Twitter. Twitter is everywhere in the news right now – just yesterday the Wall Street Journal published How To Twitter:

“But I have to admit I didn’t understand the appeal of Twitter when I joined, at the prodding of friends, in November. One answer that explains its …