Zen Meditation and Healthy Social Media Habits
In my past post I shared how being cut off from all forms of social media while on a business trip in China reminded me why personal branding is more about the ‘person’ and less about the ‘tools’ we use. Yet the fact remains that social media is, and always will be, an integral part …
Personal Branding is About the Person
Can you imagine going a week without access to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or YouTube accounts? Some of us actually make a conscious choice to take some time away from posting on a wall, tweeting, joining a new circle, or uploading a new video clip. We need that time away from our online networks to …
‘Cultural Fit’ and Your Personal Brand
So what is ‘cultural fit’ and how does it relate to personal branding? A recent article in Forbes, Employers Hire Potential Drinking Buddies Ahead of Top Candidates, got me thinking about this question. After all, your qualifications and credentials are the table stakes that will get your foot in the door, but your character is …
Your Brand and the Power of “We”
How many times have we heard the expression, “There is no I in team!”
But seriously, how can you have a team without the diversity of each person, of each ‘I’? In their book The Start-up of You, LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha say that ‘I’ versus ‘We’ is a false choice. It’s …
The International Crisis of Lance Armstrong’s Brand
In my post last week I shared 4 personal brand attributes that transcend cultures with examples of globally famous people who in my opinion epitomize these attributes. This week I want to focus on one personal brand in particular, Lance Armstrong, and why I feel his recent confession to years of lying actually did far …
4 Personal Brand Attributes that Transcend Cultures
Why is it that some personal brands are universally admired while others are despised? What can we learn from high-profile figures who are able to transcend cultures and garner brand loyalty from New York to Timbuktu?
So I took a moment to think about the traits of a personal brand that in my mind are …
An ‘Ambitious Entrepreneur’ in Japan
Do you find yourself in a market where fitting in is the norm making it difficult for you to stand out? Then this podcast is a must-listen.
I was honored to be asked by Annemarie Cross to join The Ambitious Entrepreneur podcast this month to share some insight in how to break away from the …
5 Ways to Avoid an ‘Average’ Personal Brand
Why is it that we find it more natural to focus on what we suck at rather than what we are awesome at? I used to think this was cultural and that some cultures are simply more prone to talking about their weaknesses. In Japan, for example, people almost go into a state of denial …
Personal Brands are Like a Sweet ‘Onion’
Have you ever heard the expression “Culture is like an onion”?
Geert Hofstede, a social psychologist created this explanation of culture. In his view culture is a system that can be peeled, layer by layer, in order to reveal the inner, true content. Imagine the whole onion as ‘culture’ and as you peel on, you …
Branding Yourself as an Intrapreneur in a “Belonging” Culture
In the January 2011 issue of Entrepreneur, Richard Branson shares an interesting story about being a “belonger” where he resides in the British Virgin Isles. The airport signs for the immigration lines read “Belongers” and “Non-Belongers,” rather than “Residents” and “Nonresidents.” He goes on to say that when a nation embraces its own as “belonging …