Lessons on Personal Branding - Monday, October 08, 2007
Target Setting for Success- Lessons on Personal Branding
A talk by Eric Kimani
> Distinguished guests ladies & gentlemen,
>
> I am delighted to have been invited to come and share some thoughts
> with you.
> Tonight I have chosen to address one of the topics you asked me to
> speak on-target setting or planning for success. This is a wide topic and I
> have chosen to provoke our thoughts on Personal Branding.
>
> To answer the question why brand yourself I will narrate in short a
> chapter by Tom Peters the management guru in one of his books - "The
> Circle of innovation".
>
> He tells the story how in 1980 Percy Bernevik left his job in the US to
> take up the leadership of the giant Swedish engineering firm ASEA.
> There he inherited a 2,000 -person headquarters. He pruned it quickly
> to 200 people!
> In 1987 ASEA merged with Switzerland's Brown Boveri to create the
> world's largest Electrical engineering firm Asea Brown Boveri (ABB)
> inheriting Brown Boveri's 4,000 strong headquarters. Six months later
> the headquarters was down to 200! As of 1998 the headcount had gone
> down to 140 down from 6,000.
> The message is that if it has not happened to you it soon will- 59 out
> of 60 of you and me here tonight are at risk and hence the need to
> brand ourselves!
>
>
> How do we brand ourselves?
>
> 1. Keep time! As a general rule we have little respect for time. You
> give someone an appointment and they come half hour or an hour late.
> You
> call a meeting and half the people turn up late. Until you have a
> reputation for respect for time you will not project yourself as a
> powerful brand. I have chaired a professional committee for over 8
> years and we meet from 7.30 to 8.30 a.m. and occasionally to 9 am. We have
> never started the meeting late or ended it late! I chair many others
> and I will be on time 99% of time. I have a reputation for keeping time. It
> is part of my branding effort. I have little respect for people who do
> not keep time. Ordinarily they are unreliable and weak brands. This is
> an area of life that is easy to improve.
> In some cultures like Germany, it is commonly taken as a personal
> affront to be late and they will cancel important business or social
> appointments on this score alone.
>
> 2. To build a powerful brand of yourself you must be passionate at what
> you do. I once worked for a large tea company and my calling/visiting
> card besides my name had the inscription "Passionate about Tea". And
> those who knew me will tell you I was passionate about it! I have heard
> someone comment that if I worked at Sameer with the same passion heaven
> would be the limit for "Yana". I am intending to print new business
> cards screaming "Yana where the rubber meets the Road"! Like Martin
> Luther said once- if you are a sweeper sweep to the glory of God.
>
> I say if you are a teacher here tonight teach with passion; whatever
> your vocation give it your best. If you cannot account for the day
> don't bother to wake up and burn energy and fuel through the Nairobi traffic.
> If you do not show up on time to passionately deliver a measurable
> product you will not be a powerful brand. I get to work often earlier
> than 6.30 a.m. to keep my brand equity higher than the competition! My
> friend Bill Lay the CEO of General Motors sometimes comes for coffee to
> my office before 7 a.m.! Martin Oduor Otieno the CEO of KCB Group gives
> me a 7 a.m. appointment! This is the branding I am talking about! These
> men are passionate about the work they do!
>
> 3. You must learn how to deliver extra-ordinary service. You must be
> reliable to your customers- and this applies whether you are talking of
> a finance department staff, HR or any enterprise. For 10 year we have
> run a small family business with my wife in a service industry
> dominated by big competitor firms. Our customer base is largely what I would call
> the 5-star institutional market. Our customer retention in that decade
> has been close to 95% - the greatest reason for this is that we are
> reliable in service delivery! Most great managers and leaders are head
> hunted for their extra ordinary service delivery which portrays them as
> powerful brands.
>
>
>
> 4. Understand globalization. I will never forget a picture that
> appeared in the Economist somewhere in the late 90's showing a Maasai herdsman
> looking after his cattle with his legs traditionally crossed and
> talking on a mobile phone- it looked so distant then; it became a reality so soon
> thereafter.
> The world is not a global village anymore but a virtual one! Jobs are
> no longer limited to within borders. The boundaries are no longer in
> existence except in our politicized minds! Our competition for the jobs
> and market share is not local - it is global. Entrepreneurial
> competition is also now global. I am incoming chairman of Help Age
> International the leading global Non-Governmental Organization on
> ageing with headquarters in London. I fly out on a Wednesday night to attend
> board meetings and other functions on Thursday and Friday and I am back
> in Nairobi on Saturday night! I tell people to stop complaining about
> Chinese and get their acts together- China is here to stay! We must be
> prepared to compete with China and anyone else on a global level.
>
> Today Indians are sub-contracting Kenyans on technology for back office
> operations; the government of Kenya has announced that each
> constituency will have a technology village. In the Sameer Export Processing Zones
> we have American Corporations run by Kenyans on Kenyan soil but the call
> centre customer has no clue and does not care who handles the call!
> The world has truly flattened. To appropriately brand yourself, you
> must understand globalization and the flattening of the world. I heard a
> serious joke the other day that not long ago mothers threatened their
> kids in America to think of the starving Indians and eat their food; I
> hear that today they are implored to read or an Indian will take their
> jobs! To project yourself as a powerful brand in the world we must
> understand globalization.
>
> 5. Jobs have been re-engineered and continue to be re-engineered by
> technology. I joined Sameer Africa 2 years ago. Six of us had 6
> secretaries. Today we share 2!It takes weeks or months before anyone
> types a letter for me in the office! Today you can buy your air-ticket
> from the comfort of your office or home; print your boarding pass and
> show up at immigration. Travel agency has been totally re-engineered by
> technology- what next? You must think and brand yourself appropriately!
> 6.To create a brand of yourself you must stop thinking
> employment/employee and begin to see yourself as an independent
> contractor irrespective of whether you are a cleaner, a CEO, a teacher
> or a middle executive. No independent contractor will refuse to show up
> for work or do a shoddy job because the repercussions will be major in
> lost income and bad future references. A couple of years ago a Jewish
> friend who thought I was a good brand stopped me at a roundabout to
> offer to ask whether I would take a job contract with a certain
> company!
> I did and it was one of my most lucrative jobs. Not long ago I
> negotiated a very good job contract in a Java Coffeehouse! I tell
> people that I am not employed by Sameer Africa- I work with Sameer Africa and
> my intentions are to passionately deliver an extra-ordinary performance
> that will raise my brand equity higher!
> Begin to be known as the best Accountant around; the best lawyer; the
> best sales person; the best at whatever you do- it is at the heart of
> the brand you wish to become.
> You are Chairman/CEO/of life; forget that you work for someone. It is
> liberating like you cannot imagine.
> In the same way Coca cola, Yana, Keringet are powerful brands, you need
> to make Kamau, Otieno or Kioko a powerful brand! You must understand
> that it does not work any longer to tell a prospective employer that I
> was Finance Director, or General Manager of XYZ- You must say what it
> is you achieved- A measurable achievement! I know this one man that was
> CEO of a company that then fired him many years ago and for the last 20
> years all he has told anybody who cares to listen is that he used to be
> the CEO of XYZ....! He made a poor brand of himself and no one ever
> employed him again.
>
> 7.To brand yourself, you must pass what one management writer called
> the Painter test. Imagine that your painter did not turn up for work would
> you pay him on a daily rate? Why is it then that a manager who
> habitually misses work and deadlines only gets away with a down grading
> on his/her annual appraisal while a painter would go without pay? Would
> you recommend a painter who misses to show up or does a shoddy job? In
> the same measure a Brand You requires that you pass this test. This
> test is increasingly becoming the measure in an era of performance
> management.
>
> 8. Branding yourself for success demands that you exercise power that
> is far beyond what is vested in your employment, contract or work
> enviroment. I tell those wishing to grow their careers that authority
> is never given; authority must be grabbed.
>
> Most well branded managers know that you take action and then seek
> affirmation- Powerlessness is indeed a state of mind.
> I have done things in the past that even my immediate boss could not
> have the "power" or "authority" to do. I once successfully recommended
> to my boss's boss to relieve him of his job and give it to me. I got it
> without undermining anyone!
>
> 9. Powerful branding demands a high level of moral authority. This is
> the highest form of authority anyone can have- far higher and
> transcendent than any form of formal authority. Moral authority will
> give you access to people and places you have never imagined. It
> increases your brand visibility. This is the kind of authority Mother
> Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King etc had. Moral authority
> gives you access to a very large circle of influence. I am sure Nobel
> Laureate Wangari Maathai will be remember far into the future for the
> moral authority she built than for the fact that she was in parliament!
> Recently I conceived an idea to strengthen the activities of Palmhouse
> Foundation- an educational trust I co-founded with my wife and whose
> mission is to finance the secondary education of bright and deserving
> children.
>
> I invited 13 extremely highly regarded and placed Kenyans to become the
> Advisory and Oversight Board. Some are men and women I would otherwise
> hesitate to ask for any kind of favor because of their high status in
> society. Not one of them turned down the request! And why?
> What authority did I have? I have moral authority. Moral authority
> belongs to those who offer themselves for the well being of others. The
> reward you get is a powerful circle of influence and a very high brand
> visibility!
> Many of you know me for higher positions I have held in society but I
> can guarantee you that none of those positions would beat the Palmhouse
> Foundation and its moral signature on my life.
>
> 10.Personal branding demands higher credibility. Credibility comes from
> trust. I recommend a book by the chairman of one of the leading
> companies in the USA titled "winners never cheat". Those looking to
> establish a truly transcendent brand must be trusted. I have on many
> occasions told the story of a man who years ago offered me a seven
> digit "thank you" for something he perceived I did for him. I was aware that
> I had done nothing out of my work/job and he had won the contract
> transparently and performed it judiciously. I turned down his thank you
> offer. To this day he remains perhaps one of my greatest brand
> testimony to many in his very wide and global circle of influence! Credibility
> and trust are central to protecting your brand equity! Nothing will kill
> your self confidence and self worth as taking a bribe and no matter how
> rich you become through this avenue, you will remain a weak brand in
> the market. I know many seemingly successful and rich people who would pay
> anything to increase their brand presence but their credibility kills
> it!
>
> 11.To increase brand visibility it would help to build yourself a
> website. I have had one since 2003! Some of the most incredible lessons
> I learn today are from some of you who visit and post messages on my
> website.
>
> It is need not be the most state of the art. Very soon a website will
> become as much a necessity as an email address and if you do not have
> one you are "mteja" - you cannot be reached.
> Four months ago I received an email from Australia from a man I do not
> know.
> He was looking for the founder/chairman of Group Four Security a
> gentleman by the name Ed Van Tongeren. He told me in an email that he
> had been looking for him for a long time because he once saved his life
> many years ago but they lost contact. When he went to the World Wide
> Web and searched, the only Ed Van Tongeren was mention in a speech I posted
> on my website. I was able to connect the two gentlemen. I trust you
> understand the power of the website.
>
> 12.Finally learn and upgrade your skills to improve the brand you! Read
> voraciously. I am an accountant, lawyer and motivational public
> speaker!
> To retain my command on these and many areas I have to read widely.
> Only this way can you learn to anticipate the future! People ask me where we
> get the time. I respond by saying to them redeem time! Many people
> spend unnecessary time on TV, and reading newspaper from end to end. Like my
> chairman likes to put it by the time you finish reading the news paper
> your morale is so reduced by the bad news that are the hallmark of our
> newspapers that your output is greatly reduced. I read all my three
> papers in about 10 minutes and if I missed to read them I would not
> notice. I can go without TV for days. I choose to do things like
> reading that enhances my brand.
>
> Having spoken about how to set targets and brand ourselves for success,
> I will conclude by trying to answer the question often posed;
>
> How much success does a man need?
>
> I will attempt to answer this question with a short story told by the
> famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy in his book- "How much land does a
> man need". In this book he narrates the story of a man who was asked to
> walk all the land he needed as long as he had to be at the starting point
> before darkness. The deal then was that he would get all the land as
> far as he walked and back.
> He started at day break and walked and walked and walked. Every time he
> thought it was time to start heading back he would think of a little
> more land to walk ahead.
> The sun started threatening to go down and he started walking back. The
> sun was now threatening to set faster. He began to run. He ran, and ran
> and ran.
> He tried harder and faster. Finally as the darkness was about to fall
> he crossed the finishing line with final leap and fell on the ground with
> blood oozing out of his mouth he died! His servant who had accompanied
> him dug a shallow grave long and deep enough to bury his master's dead
> body. Leo Tolstoy answered his question- how much land does a man need?
> - Only enough to cover him from the head to the toe.
>
> How much success do you need?
>
> Thank you and God bless you.