Transcription Doc

Personal Brand Vision

Note: This transcription document is a text version of the upGrad videos present in this session. It
is not meant to be read independently, but can be used to complement your video watching
experience.

Video 1

Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

Welcome to this module on building a personal brand. The term brand often evokes a sentiment
towards a particular organization or a particular product or even a logo. It creates a recall based
on the value that the particular product or firm is delivering.

The moment you hear Dettol, it evokes the thought of cleanliness. If you hear Ambuja cement,
you think about concrete and unbreakable structures.

However, with the advent of digital platforms, branding is no longer limited to a particular
organization or a product. In fact, branding extends to individuals as well.

As individuals, we often post our pictures on social media platforms, write our thoughts, share our
opinions, like and share content that we feel and care about. In a sense we portray who we are,
we share our personality and in fact we share our brand.

To illustrate this, let me take the example of Amanjot. Amanjot is the cofounder of a tech firm
called Actiwate, which deals in manufacturing tech products.

Speaker: Amanjot Malhotra

I was initially part of an eCommerce start-up in the gifting domain. But after spending eight
months there, I realized that the business model is not viable.

This is when I decided to start a new venture called Partiko, an event discovery application for
Indian metropolitans for discovering and booking curated events around you. I was looking
around for a cofounder and even spoke to quite a few people about my venture, but then I
realized although they liked the business idea, they weren't really sure about me.

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They didn't have enough confidence in me and my skills. People thought and perceived me as just
another wannabe entrepreneur. He will start and shut it down post a couple of months.

It was here that the concept of personal branding got seeded in my mind. I knew I had to
personally brand myself so that I would be perceived as someone who is worth working with,
someone who is smart enough, knows the industry and is capable of running a business.

So, initially my objective of personal brand development was to find and attract a good co-founder
for my venture. I eventually did find one and today we continue to be partners. We have worked
together for the past three years.

Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

What did Aman do here? He was basically branding himself as a business leader, a leader skilled
in leading firms. And through his branding, he was able to find a cofounder for his firm.

Personal branding is not limited to writing articles or blogs about your product or industry, but
involves a lot more activities which you will learn about in this module.

To begin with, you'll first be introduced to the concept of personal branding and it's important to
professionals like you in today's world.

This session will help you realize that personal branding is no longer a choice, but a necessity in
today's work environment.

In this session, you'll also learn the steps to create a personal brand. These steps will also help
you create a vision statement for yourself.

Once you've created your personal brand vision statement, you need to communicate it and that
too to the right kind of audience.

In the next session, you'll learn about communicating your personal brand vision statement to
your target audience. This will help you understand how to define your target audience and what
online and offline assets you need to build, which will be necessary for communicating your
personal brand.

Finally, you will get an in depth understanding about monitoring your online and offline
communication platforms. This lesson will show you how to monitor and respond effectively to
comments and ensure that you are able to achieve your personal branding goals.

So, let's start building your personal brand.

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 Video 2

Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

Hello and welcome to the first session of building a personal brand. The term brand is
synonymous with a product or firm and tends to evoke emotions that are related to the values
associated with these institutions.

Now imagine that you see the Swoosh sign on Nike. What comes to your mind? Sports, running,
the ability to excel in athletics.

Or let's say you see the three-pointed star logo of Mercedes. What comes to your mind? Luxury,
performance, and even speed. So, why do you think these words come to your mind when you
hear of these brands or see these logos?

You might have never driven a Mercedes or you might have never bought anything from Nike, yet
you perceive them in the way you do.

This is because the values that these firms stand for are deeply entrenched in you. You may have
other options to choose from, but we will purchase or want to purchase their products because
their values are something that you seek and want to associate with.

Imagine if your name also starts being recognized or associated with qualities such as
hardworking, diligent, or creative.

To begin with, we'll first introduce the concept of personal branding and explain why it is
imperative for you to build one for yourself.

Speaker: Dr. Bhavna Bhalla

Personal branding is similar to branding of products except here the product is you. It is about
your values, your ethics, what you stand for, what you aim for and how you portray and
communicate these aspects to the outside world.

Just as products are perceived with the values they stand for and what they deliver, you will also
be perceived with the values you stand for and portray to the outside world.

For example, Baba Ramdev, he stands for the values of yoga, spirituality, Vedic culture and
nationalism. And therefore, he is perceived accordingly. In fact, his personal brand has percolated
down to his firm's products as well wherein they are perceived as natural and organic.

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You could also look at the example of Rujuta Diwekar whose personal brand stands for fitness
through a healthy diet.

Earlier, the concept of personal branding was very limited because there were no platforms to
communicate your personal brand.

Products use the medium of television, radio, newspapers, and magazines to get out there and
communicate their values to the outside world. Individuals could not do that as it was out of
bounds to advertise or communicate about themselves.

Now with the advent of digital platforms, communicating on an individual level has become easy.
In fact, we communicate about our lives, our thoughts and our opinions on a regular basis. We
share our pictures on Facebook and Instagram. We like certain articles and some of us even pen
down our thoughts as blog posts on various platforms.

So, in a way we are portraying who we are to the outside world. We are portraying our values. In
other words, we are portraying our brand.

Let's consider an individual named Rajiv. Rajiv writes a lot of blogs on how technology is changing
lives and he constantly shares posts that value the principles of honesty, both at the workplace
and in personal life.

What does that say about Rajiv? It says that he is a technology geek and values honesty. In a
way, he has branded himself and others will perceive him accordingly.

So, how does personal branding help you as a professional? Well, it all depends on your goals,
which can include increasing sales in your current job, landing a better job at your dream firm,
increasing your influence and network with peers in your industry, or developing yourself as a
thought leader.

In a hyper-connected and crowded digital environment in today's times, you need to distinguish
yourself from the crowd to achieve these goals and this is where personal branding comes to your
rescue.

Let's again go back to the example of Rajiv. Rajiv applied for a job at a firm that is working on
cutting edge technology to solve issues related to pollution.

Along with Rajiv, there are 50 other candidates who have applied for the same job in sales and
alliances. They have the same qualifications in terms of education and work experience.

Apart from considering resumes and conducting interviews, the HR and other managers also go
through Rajiv's presence on digital platforms. He comes across as one who is extremely
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passionate about technology making a difference in the lives of ordinary people. He also shows
honesty and integrity.

So, despite there being other candidates for the position, they choose Rajiv as they can relate to
his values. Rajiv's brand appeals to them. His values are something that they associate with.

Personal branding not only helped Rajiv in landing a coveted job, but also helped him achieve
sales targets in the new firm, gain recognition in the industry and build up his professional
network.

How did that happen? The firm Rajiv has joined is working on solving the problem of pollution by
building a technology that makes structures on roads to suck out the pollutants.

Following the earlier tradition of writing blogs on how technology is changing lives, Rajiv starts
blogging about his work here and the ways his firm is employing to solve the particular problem.

People in the industry start responding to his blogs, seeking more clarity and providing their own
opinions. Rajiv also starts responding accordingly. This helps him to build his network in the
industry and he's soon recognized as a thought leader with proper knowledge about his product.

Soon he starts getting offers to pitch to clients who reach out to him themselves after going
through his blogs and activities on these platforms. He's perceived and branded as an expert in
his particular industry, and is therefore sought after by potential clients as well.

Video 3

Speaker: Dr. Bhavna Bhalla

The effects of personal branding often percolate into the firm as well. Be it the firm you are
working in or your own firm.

Large firms often have senior individuals at CXO levels who have a strong personal brand in their
particular industry.

They are therefore sent to speak on behalf of the company at press conferences, networking
events and so on. In order to enhance the value of the company. Their personal brand percolates
into the firm as well, where people start perceiving the firm in the same light as that of an
individual.

To take some more examples, we will take a look at both positive and negative cases. Through
these examples, we will also see how the effects of personal branding often seeps into your firm.
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I'm sure you have heard of Elon Musk. What comes to your mind when you hear his name? Tesla,
solar power, autonomous cars, Mars, space, crazy ideas to save the planet, colonization of space,
etc.

Well now you know that the reason why these things come to your mind is because of his
personal branding efforts.

He always speaks and communicates about these things on available platforms. And therefore,
you and the world perceive him accordingly.

He often gives interviews, holds press conferences, writes blogs or tweets wherein he speaks
about his vision and goal of sustainable transport through mass electric cars and uplift of
humanity by exploring space.

To think of it, he was also the cofounder of PayPal, a famous online payment system. But hardly
anyone associates him with that. He never spoke or communicated about his relationship with
PayPal. Also, the effects of his personal brand are reflected in the performance of his firm as well.

Without Musk, Tesla would just be another company in the renewable energy auto space. Now it
is associated with the same elevated and high standards as brand Elon Musk.

We can also look at Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group. He too has established himself
as a personal branding expert, and is often seen speaking about his brands through his
interviews, articles, social media, and any such platform where he gets an opportunity.

Despite his success, he still continues to build his personal brand by actively writing blogs on
LinkedIn and sharing his thoughts through his books as well.

He realizes the fact that people associate more with people rather than with companies, and
therefore it is his personal brand that catapults the Virgin group of companies, else they are just
another conglomerate with multiple business lines.

Let's take a look at a negative example now. You must have heard of Nirav Modi, the man who is
embroiled in the financial scandal with Punjab national bank.

He created an aura around his name wherein his products were bought by the top 1% of the
world's rich. He was portrayed as a jeweller to the rich and famous of the world.

However, post the revelation of the scam, the negativity has percolated into the firm as well. Now
potential clients are turning away from the brand due to the negative personal branding of the
owner.
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Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

However, you need to ensure that you do not take this exercise as a self-promotion tool. You
should rather treat it as a leadership imperative wherein you are portraying to the world how you
want to be seen and perceived as.

In the process, you also learn about yourself and set goals that are in harmony with your passions
and values.

Also, this entire exercise of personal branding should not be taken lightly, since personal banding
gone wrong can have its own pitfalls. You need to ensure that you are showcasing genuine talent
and not being ludicrous.

For example, if you make any funny comment on Twitter which otherwise hurts the sentiments of
people, it will have a negative effect on your brand. People will perceive you in relation to that
particular comment irrespective of the fact that you may not really believe in it or stand by it.

Now, let's hear from our subject matter expert on how they visualize their objectives when they
set out to personally brand themselves.

Speaker: Amanjot Malhotra

Initially, my goal was to find a cofounder for my firm, which I did successfully and we are still
together, but now my objectives have changed.

And now you will also realize that your goals will keep on changing as you progress in your career.
In fact, some of your goals will have a timeline of three to six months. Once they are achieved,
you will move on to the next one.

Now, my objective is to increase sales by acquiring new clients and hiring the best talent out there
for my new venture.

Once prospective employees see me out there as an expert with my firm performing well, they will
want to join the ship. They will start believing in my firm because of the perception of me and my
brand.

Also, in the larger picture, my vision as well as objective is to be successful in the start-up
ecosystem.

I want to use my skills of product management, designing and marketing to bring about a
difference to the people in the ecosystem.
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 Video 4

Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

Hi and welcome back. In the previous segment, you learned about personal branding and why it is
important to brand oneself in today's work environment.

You saw Elon Musk branding himself as a visionary personality, which evokes visions of space,
disruptions and autonomous cars.

In fact, it was because of his personal branding as a visionary and disruptive leader that Tesla
received 325,000 pre-orders for their Model 3 car within a week of its announcement. It has been
the biggest one-week journey for any car after its launch.

In this segment, you'll begin learning about the process of personal branding for yourself.

Speaker: Dr. Bhavna Bhalla

Recall Rajiv from the previous segment. You saw how he leveraged the concept of personal
branding to land a better job, network with industry professionals and increase sales as well.

So, how exactly does one go about building his or her personal brand? Let's take a deeper look.

Branding of a particular product requires communication of what the product stands for, what
benefits and value it provides to the customer, and how it is better as compared to its
competitors.

Similarly, the first step in personal branding is to understand yourself, your own motives and aims,
which can all be put together in a vision statement.

The vision statement should reflect the objective of creating your personal brand, which basically
means the way in which we want people to perceive us, which includes both our personality traits
and where we want to be in our career.

Personal branding therefore begins with drafting a personal vision statement for oneself. Since the
product to be branded here is you, your values, passions, strengths, weaknesses, and aims that
you bring to the table are what will count.

Let's begin with the steps to create a vision statement.

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First, you need to list down your values. Values are what drive you as an individual. They are
extremely important to you and help you make decisions. Examples are family, work, integrity,
faith, community.

After you have created a list, prioritize them on the basis of how strongly you feel about each one
of them. This is because there will always be times where you will have to prioritize one value
over the other.

For example, you have a new job offer and the role is exactly what you were looking for, but the
location is far away from your family. You will now be able to see them only once a year. The
decision here will depend on which value of yours you place more importance on at that stage of
your life, family or work.

Second, you need to list down your passions. Passions are something that inspire you and take up
a lot of your time. If you are passionate about something, you follow it diligently. For example,
technology, football, travel, health and fitness, writing content.

Third, you need to list down your strengths that you bring to the work table. These are the key
qualities that you have and are well known for your expertise in. For example, trustworthy,
honest, receptive to new ideas, hardworking, creative, ingenious.

Fourth, you need to list your goals for the future. They should be as specific as possible and you
should also include timelines to make them as objective as possible.

For example, become the marketing head of a global conglomerate within five years. Start a
healthcare firm within the next two years. Get a job in a data analytics firm within the next six
months. Get a promotion and a 20% salary hike in the current company within the next one year.

In this scenario, let's assume that when it comes to values, you stand for family followed by work.
Your passions include technology and health. Your strengths are honesty, being receptive to new
ideas and creativity. And your goal is to open a healthcare firm in the next two years.

Your vision statement hence, will look something like this. My vision is to start a healthcare firm
with a focus on health and fitness and use technology to come up with ingenious solutions in the
healthcare sector. I want to grow the firm through hard and honest work, creativity and by being
receptive to new and innovative ideas.

So, the structure for creating a personal vision statement is something on these lines. My vision is
to, write down your goals here; using my, mention your passions or key strengths here. I want to
achieve my goals using my, mention your one or multiple values or key strengths.

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 Video 5

Speaker: Dr. Bhavna Bhalla

Let's consider the example of a person named Rahul who's a graduate from IMT Ghaziabad with
specialization in marketing and sales. He landed a campus placement offer with Maruti Suzuki as a
sales professional and was responsible for sales in his hometown of Ghaziabad.

Over the past couple of years, he has progressed in his job and is currently responsible for sales in
the territories of Delhi NCR and Ghaziabad.

In a leadership seminar organized at his office, Rahul came across the concept of personal brand
vision, and now wants to create one for himself.

First, he lists down the values in a decreasing order of priority. Family, work, community. Then he
lists down his passions, high end sports cars, travel, outdoors, cricket.

Taking a cue from his values, it is clear that he puts his family ahead of work and is extremely
passionate about high end cars. So, his decision to join a firm in his hometown and in an
environment related to cars seems highly justified.

Then Rahul lists down his strengths in his job. Hardworking, ethical, endearing, empathy. Then he
lists down his goals where he wants to be at the end of his career. He wants to head the
marketing and sales division of a high-end car. It can be Mercedes, BMW, or Audi and help people
realize their aspiration of owning and traveling in one of their high-end cars.

So, if Rahul was to pen down his personal brand vision statement using the structure discussed
earlier, it would be, Rahul's vision is to head the marketing function for Mercedes in India by
working hard and being ethical in his approach towards work. He wants to help people achieve
their dream of owning the best vehicles, through his endearing personality and ability to
empathize with them.

Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

In this segment, you went through the process of creating a personal brand vision statement. You
must have realized that it is a very introspective process and requires giving a lot of thought to
where one stands today and where one wants to be in the future.

To make this entire concept clearer to you, let's take a look at a real-life example from one of our
subject matter experts.

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Speaker: Amanjot Malhotra

To be honest, I didn't take a very professional approach towards forming my brand vision
statement in the initial days as the concept was very new to me. And like I had mentioned before,
the reason why I had started out was to find a cofounder.

It was during that initiative that I became more aware of its nuts and bolts. And for future
purposes, I structured everything in my vision statement, which included my values, passion,
strength, and goals.

The thought process behind this was to be precise in communication with my target audience.

As the first step, I listed down my values in a descending order of importance. First was family,
second was work, third was integrity and fourth was friends.

The order of values, however, has been changing depending on where I am in my life at a
particular moment.

Then I listed on my passions. First, here was sports, second was technology, third was meeting
new people. I could do them all day tirelessly without getting paid for them.

Then I listed down my key strengths. First was hard work, second was honesty, third was
determination, and fourth was execution.

Finally, I listed down my goals and this was after I had reached my goal of finding a cofounder.
First was to increase sales by 200% this year. Second was to attract the best talent to help me
achieve my goal. And third was to become financially independent on any assignment in the next
two years.

What I mean by financial independence is that I have a regular source of income for basic
expenses without working on any project. This frees up your mind and you can make better
decisions for long-term benefits.

My long-term vision is to become a thought leader in the start-up ecosystem by the age of 30
using my expertise in product management, designing and marketing of activity.

I want to grow the business through hard work, honesty, creativity, and ingenuity while
inculcating the same feelings among the whole team.

Video 6

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Speaker: Dhaval Doshi

In this session, you discovered how personal branding is similar to product branding, the only
difference being that the product here is you.

Personal branding largely depends on what your values, your passions and your key strengths are.

While manufacturers use expensive mass media platforms such as televisions, newspapers, and
radio to plan their products, individuals use digital platforms to establish and promote their brand.

Individuals are already branding themselves on digital platforms either purposely or not. They
share content, like and comment on posts, and inadvertently their intents are pursued by
organizations on the basis on what they were doing on these platforms and how they were
engaging with others.

If you may share a lot of articles supporting one political viewpoint, you will be pursued as
someone who believes in that ideology.

Going forward, you learned how personal branding has become imperative in today's digital
environment and how it helps individuals achieve their goals, be it increasing sales, landing better
jobs, or becoming thought leaders in their respective industries.

How you brand yourself will lead to how and what people perceive you as. You also saw how
personal branding percolates down to an individual’s firm as well, especially in the case of well-
established business leaders.

You saw how Richard Branson's personal brand percolated down to his Virgin group, which
otherwise was just a conglomerate.

In the second segment, you explored how a personal branding exercise begins by creating a
personal brand vision statement. This statement reflects your goals, both professional and
personal, and it also reflects how you want to be pursued by others.

Then you also learned the steps to create a vision statement for yourself and you saw how the
size would guide you in your communications for creating your personal brand.

The first step was to list down your values in descending order of priority, such as family and then
work. The next step was to identify your passion, such as technology, football, and traveling.

The third step was to write down your strengths that you can bring to the table at work such as
trustworthiness, honesty, and being receptive to new ideas.

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Finally, you have to list your goals, which needed to be as specific and as objective as possible,
such as starting a healthcare firm within the next two years.

You could then use the values, passions, strengths, and goals to craft your vision statement.

Now that you've created your personal brand vision statement, you need to communicate it to
your select audience.

In the next session, you learned about how to disseminate your message to predefined audience
to ensure that it has the desired effect. You'll also learn about both offline and online assets,
which you will need to build and maintain in order to communicate your personal branding
message.

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