Transcription

Personal Branding

Hello everyone. In today's master class, I'm going to talk to you about the strategy and the impact of building and
celebrating the brand called you. So, tell me what is it that comes to your mind when you think of the concept, the
brand you. Are you thinking about the kind of brands you wear, or are you thinking about the way you look or are
you thinking about something a lot deeper, a lot more meaningful? Like perhaps, the value you bring on the table,
your core expertise, that inimitable strength, the genius, the talent that you have that nobody else does.

For me when I talk about the brand called you, I am referring to your core thought leadership, that trait, the
attribute, the vision, the passion, the strength, the core expertise that you bring on the table, unlike any other.

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And in today's master class, I'm going to talk to you about how do you build, manage, and grow and even monetize
your thought leadership, because believe me, your brand, your personal brand is nothing but your thought
leadership.

So, today we're going to be talking about how do you discover what is the core essence, intellectual property of your
personal brand or your thought leadership. We go deep down and do some personal introspection to an old insight
about a personal brand.

Next what we are going to do is, post the introspection is done, once we have clarity and insights about who we are,
what our brand is all about, and why we rock, we are going to do an extrospection to understand why we matter.
How do we stand out and how do we rise above and beyond the lesser mortals around us?

And finally, I'm going to talk to you about how do you carve your thought leadership ecosystem, we are going to
create a brand pyramid for your thought leadership, which is going to be the Genesis for all the content that you
need to be dishing out to build a powerful personal brand. So, that's on the agenda for today.

Just in case you're wondering what thought leadership is really all about and how do I discover mine, we will get
there, do not worry.

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But right now, it's important for you to understand what thought leadership is in general. Your thought leadership is
what you bring on the table unlike any other and why is it important? Because in the seemingly endless, intense
competitive landscape that we operate in, your thought leadership is what makes or breaks your brand.

In case you're wondering, is thought leadership the right leadership strategy for me. Let me put it this way, one in
leadership today is passe. There are leaders at dozen in the industry. But what differentiates a leader from a thought
leader is that extra mile that he's willing to go to not only build his profile, his brand, his impact, but to give back to
the society.

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You know leaders are influencers, but I strongly believe and command the fact that thought leaders are enfluencers,
EN not IN. The difference is that an influencer might try and influence you to get something done, which may or may
not, perhaps in your best interest. But as a thought leader, as an enfluencer, you are always looking at the most
possible ways to add enriching value to your target audience. And that is what differentiates a leader from a thought
leader.

We all have heard of the gentleman called Devdutt Pattanaik who is regarded as a leadership guru who brings in a
beautiful combination of mythology and management to help solve modern business challenges. Now what is
extraordinarily interesting about his case and his brand is that in spite of being a medical doctor, he never stopped
reinventing himself and his brand.

I personally do not know anybody who has had the power or the ability to beautifully blend these two diverse
schools of thought and create an absolutely noble way of approaching something extremely conventional as
leadership coaching. This I believe is true blue disruption in any industry.

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If I have to talk about another example of how somebody has disrupted an industry, I cannot think of any other
gentleman, but a beloved entrepreneur who has millions of following across the world. His name is Gary
Vaynerchuk. If you, like me, have been following Gary V as people lovingly call him for a while, you would also be
aware of how he disrupted the business of wines.

He started as very, very, very popular vlog is what he called him back then on YouTube to talk to consumers about
different kinds of wine and disrupting how wines were appreciated, consumed and celebrated. This was
approximately 15 to 20 years ago because before he became Gary V that he is known as today.

Using that knowledge, that experience and that expertise which he started developing in spite of being from a
traditional, you know, wines business, Gary disrupted the industry of marketing by employing cutting edge practices,
strategies for social media and digital marketing for brands, and today he runs one of the most popular media
agencies in the world called Veynur media.

This again, I strongly believe is how disruption in a conventional industry can give you the tools, tactics, and arsenal
that you need to not only reinvent yourself, but to create perhaps a new value proposition for your industry all
together.

So, without much ado, let us directly deep dive into what is it that helps you discover your core personal brand
intellectual property, or your thought leadership is what I like to call it. Talking about the two examples that I cited to
you right now, what do you think are the common threads in the brand, Devdutt Pattanaik, as well as the brand Gary
Vaynerchuk, take a moment and think about it.

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The common threads that these two examples have are that each of these thought leaders have ensured that they
follow their passion to the T. It did not matter where they came from. What really mattered is the vision that they
created for their own self, their career, and the society or the industry that they are part of to give back to them
something that this world has not seen before.

In Devdutt's case, it was creating a new school of thought or philosophy altogether. In Gary's case, it was about
teaching the world how you can disrupt an industry by building your brand, your visibility, your voice, your
reputation proactively regardless of what industry you hail from.

The second thing that is common in each of these examples is that each of them would equally motivate to do
something unconventional. Each of them constantly asks themselves, how do I grow myself? How do I outgrew
myself and how do I do things that nobody else in my industry thinking or doing?

These are the few common threads that you have to notice when you talk about key studies of thought leaders like
this who've done something radically different in their industry. I want you to go and ask yourself, what are my
deepest passions, what are those things that I love to do that I'm exceptionally good at, those talents, those geniuses
that come naturally to me that I can employ to not only be known for that talent or that key skill or expertise, but I
could probably create an industry out of it.

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Now, if you're wondering, okay, I have done my introspection, I have a lot more clarity about my deepest passions
and my dearest values, my strengths, my USP, my X factor, my motivated skills, how do I bring all of these things
together to create something that will help me stand out, that will help me communicate my brand to the world.

The next step that I want you to do is use these insights and funnel it down to something called your personal brand
story.

Your brand story is a beautiful mosaic of these diverse attributes that you've just discovered in mind about yourself
presented in a compelling, interesting, and an invincible way to your target audience that does justice more
importantly to the journey that you've had till date from the day zero to the date today of your career.

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So, let's talk about the five steps that go into crafting a powerful person brand story.

1. Number one, open the store you are with, your big brand statement. This is where you need to
communicate the core essence or the USP of your personal brand to your target audience, namely
attributes like who you are, what do you do professionally, whom do you add exclusive value to and the
cherry on the cake, why you matter?

2. Number two, once you've wowed them with a powerful personal brand statement, you then talk to
them about the journey that you've had from the day zero of your career till today. Talk about the
different organizations that you work with. Talk about the different role plays that you had over there,
the kind of work that you did, key achievements, accomplishments, and more importantly, what is it that
you learned in each and every stint in your career till date?

3. Number three, you need to now make your brand even more irresistible. Maybe things like testimonials,
credibility boots or features that you've had from media publications relevant in your industry or invents
or platforms that have endorsed you, that have grazed you and hosted you as a speaker or a thought
leader. These are the right platforms to be included over you to make your brand's credibility be
established early on in your story.

4. Number four, connecting with people at a soul level. We human beings are why to fall in love with
people whose stories resonate with ours.

5. And finally, number five, Paint a brandastic picture about your what next. Isn't it the only question
people ask you every time you ace a milestone? So, tell me what next in your life. And in case you're
wondering, it is human psychology to always want to know about what kind of story you are shaping for
the next phase of your life. And this is where you need to communicate to your target audience that
personal brand vision that you've discovered in this course and communicate where you are heading in
your life, and what kind of an impact you aspire to make.

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Today, we are living in cutthroat competitive landscapes. For every promotion, there are thousand applicants. For
every job, there are 10,000 applicants. How do you stand out in that sea of seemingly impossible competition to
conquer? Okay, so are you ready to discover why your brand rocks? What I want you to do is take a piece of paper
and list down the following things.

The first thing that I want you to do is identify three to five people in your community of colleagues, acquaintances,
coworkers who are probably worthy enough to be called your direct competition in your existing organization.

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The purpose of doing this is to understand what level are we operating and playing at. Now remember, it is very,
very important that you choose your immediate circle of competition wisely because you do want to really be
competing with anyone and everyone in your organization, so like I said earlier, be very, very critical about the kind
of people you hand-picked to be called your competition. Because you are going to be establishing a one-up
Manship with this particular subset of competition.

Number two, now I want you to look around outside your organization in probably your direct competitor
organizations and understand what kind of experts or thought leaders are working over there because probably you
are going to model, want to work with one of those organizations.

Same exercise identifies two to three people in your direct competitor organizations and understand what is it they
are bringing on the table that you are not today. Okay?

Number three, repeat the same exercise for other industries that interests you and you could probably want to
move into in your next role. What this would have to do with is be aware and start preparing yourself and your
brand to create your profile strong enough to be accepted in that industry. Because probably you're in an it industry
today and you may want to get into E-commerce industry tomorrow, what is it that you need to do, what is that leap
you need to take to grow yourself personally and professionally to be at the caliber of fellow professionals working
in the E-commerce industry?
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Now, once you've arrived at a list of the so-called competitors that you think are worthy enough to be sailing in the
same boat with you, the next step you have to do is do a competitive analysis. Make a table on one side of the team,
and I need you to write down the similarities, okay, that you have in this same subset. What is it that you bring on
the table and even they bring on the table?

It could be the same alba meters that you hail from other kinds of colleges or the level or the lineage of colleges and
B-schools that you hail from, or it can be the kind of companies that you guys have worked for. It could be the roles
of number of years of experience that you have. Anything that you bring on the table and it's a direct match, that
they also bring on the table will help you qualify that, Yes, you are actually competing in like-minded set of calibers
and potential.

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On the right side of this table, I want you to list down the differences. Now there's a two-pronged approach in doing
this. The first is that list on the differences that you bring on the table, the USP that you have to offer but not the so-
called competitive list. And the second pronged approach is to list out the differences that they bring on the table,
what they have to walk on, but you don't.

And now finally, once you've achieved clarity on the similarities and differences, I want you to look at this list from a
very objective lens and ask yourself, what am I going to do with this amazing information that I have found? What
are those areas which I have to develop myself on and my brand over the next few months and years to outshine the
so-called competition? What are the lack units that I need to build on today in my life and career so that I'm at least
able to evolve and be considered in the same set to build my brand as a worthy competitor to this subset that I have
personally handpicked as my competition?

And finally, ask yourself, what is it that I'm immune to funnel down from these insights and arrive at that one USP,
one X factor, one awesome value proposition that I bring on the table that none of these guys are doing.

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Let me give you an example of a client that I worked with and helped him mind powerful insights from doing a deep
dive competition scan analysis, which actually helped him build his brand in a short span of six months by employing
all the strategies that we found would be impactful in bridging this gap that he had of being the number one expert
in the industry.

So, this was a finance professional that I worked with at the top of his game, and the national head for this
consulting outfit that he was working. His aspiration was not only to evolve within the organization, or to be known
as the people's leader of course, and you know, ultimately aspire for the corner office but in the industry also he
wanted to build his brand and profile as the number one authority for tax, that he was heading forward his company
and be considered as the go to expert for media resource especially.

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So, we did a deep dive in competition scanning and analysis for him internally in the organization as well as
externally about how many are the so-called tax experts out there in the industry who are probably sailing in the
same boat at a national level, brand ambassadors of their respective organizations, so on and so forth.

And the insights that we arrived at from this exercise were that there are a couple of things which were in his favor,
there were a couple of things which were not in his favor, both personally in terms of the behavior that he manifests
in the organization, as well as professionally by the strategies, visibility strategies more importantly, that he adopts
to stand out and outshines so called competition.

These insights not only helped him have actionable inputs put in place from my end, but we within a span of six
months, the whole perception that his internal organization, fellow leader, co-workers had about him of being of
very distant and cold transform because that was the insight that he arrived at that people are perceiving him to be
a very cold, distant and lets just get this job done kind of leader. Whereas he wouldn't believe it.

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So, this was an insight that we arrived at after a deep dive competition analysis about, who is doing what in the
organization, who is not doing what in the organization to manifest these behaviors, and how he needs to reinvent
his person behavior, his thought process of approaching his leadership style to bridge this gap that he has right now.

That happened within a span of three months of starting to do small things here and there about changing his
behavior patterns, approachability, accessibility quotient with his teams, etc., etc. Now the fun and the more
challenging part was building the brand and profile in the industry outside the organization.

So, this is a case study of 2014, right? Now, that was the time when the Modi government had just come into action
and this gentleman, this leader that we're talking about was obviously the tax head of this consulting outfit that he
was working with, and he was often the most, probably not the most visible expert in the industry, but considered to
be in the top 10 most coated featured interviewed experts in the industry, especially pre and post budgets.

So, if you remember, there was a budget that happened in June 2014 immediately after the government came into
action. At that point of time, he was somewhere in the top five experts in the country who was most widely quoted
and featured pre and post the budget. He was quite happy with that. Naturally top five exports in India, it's
something to be very proud of.

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But his aspiration did not end there. He wanted to evolve as the number one trusted coated, most featured expert
and be perceived as the authority on tax in the industry. So, what did we do to make that happen? The competition
analysis helped him understand that there are things that his competitors or fellow tax experts or tax heads in the
other outfit, in the other consulting outfits were not doing, which he should start doing.

Imagine a simple exercise like this could help him understand what is it that who is, what is it that others are doing in
the industry? What is that the others are not doing in industry. Where is the opportunity line for him to bridge that
gap and be recognized as a trusted resource by the media to keep coming back to time, and again?

We did this exercise for him for a period of six months by creating amazing content to be dished out to media as the
expert resource available and called 24 seven. And within the six months, say from June 2014 to February 2015
when the second budget was coming up as the annual budget always does, this gentleman was featured and quoted
in media every single day and sometimes in multiple media outlets. And by the time the pre and the post budget
data analysis was done in terms of who's the most featured tax expert in India, this guy had evolved, this guy had
evolved to be recognized and featured as the number one expert in India in 2014.

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So, the three strategies that this gentleman started adopting and practicing building his brand internally were as
follows:

1. Number one, he started adopting an open door policy where every Friday the lunch hour was open because
any of his coworkers, colleagues or direct or indirect bodies also were welcome to walk in, have lunch with
him, and have a one on one conversation with them, with any personal, professional, any other challenges
that they were facing in their life. This was the new habit that he started practicing on a weekly basis
because earlier he was always, he was always limiting his interactions with his colleagues and co-workers to
pure business and this really worked in his favor.

2. Number two, what he also started doing was interacting and networking with other teams across different
functions, from management advisory to E-commerce or retail or medial functions in the consulting outfit
and started sharing his 2 cents on the latest trends and happenings in the industry. This helped him expand
his internal network and be known as a leader who is truly an inclusive team player.

3. And finally, number three, and I think one of the most important strategies that each one of us should follow
is giving back to the teams and communities that we are a part of. He started a weekly newsletter that he
captured his knowledge, insights and to sentence the whole week that was in his particular industry in the
finance horizon in India and shared that with the entire mailing list that he had not only internally in the
organization for his own tax team, but all other functions based on how these trends impact business as
usual.

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Now, the three things that worked in this gentleman's favor to build his profile externally in the industry and evolved
from being in the top 10 most featured quoted experts, to the number one authority in industry were as follows,
number one, he built a genuine and selfless relationship with the entire media fraternity by ensuring that they all are
aware of the fact that he is available for the court 24-7, unlike a lot of other counterparts in the industry who were
not only a little snobbish, but were definitely not very helpful in terms of sharing their thoughts, perspectives and
expert insights with the media. This guy went out of his way to be, to communicate the fact that he is available as
the expert on call 24-7, and it didn't die by proactively sharing his knowledge, insights across the spectrum, not only
tax industry, but what's happening across diverse industries and whether it's related to finance segment with the
media community that he was a part of and helping them get export inputs and validations for the day to day stories
that they had.

I'm sure you've heard of this famous old edge saying, Be the Jack of all trades, and be master of none. But what if I
told you I have newer improved 21st century version of the same. You have to be the Jack of all trades given, but you
also have to be the King of some. And more importantly, you have to be the emperor of that one value proposition,
one talent strength skill set that you bring on the table unlike any other. And this philosophy is at the heart of your
thought leadership, or your brand pyramid.

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Now the purpose of crafting your brand pyramid is to help you understand what kind of content strategy you need
to create to build your thought leadership, to build your personal brand in the content ecosystem that we live in
today. As you can see, the brand pyramid consists of three tiers.

At the bottom of the pyramid, we have the Jack tier, just on top of that, we have the king tier, and at the apex, we
have the emperor tier. Now, as far as the Jack tier is concerned, think of it as those skill sets that you bring on the
table, which are your survival skills. You need to know these skills. You need to have these trends or talents to just
survive in the industry that you are part of. These are the basic survival mantras you need to know. You have to be
good at this. There is no way out.

For example, if you are in the finance industry, you need to know how to read balance sheets. There's no other way
out. If you are a sales professional, you need to be having that confidence and the skill set to make presentations to
your clients. It's nonnegotiable.

Consider your king skill set now. These are the skill sets that you're very, very, very, very good at and you're
constantly honing your skills. Think of it as a motivation skill that we spoke about earlier. You love doing these things
and you will always take every opportunity presented to you to do more of this and constantly hone your skill set as
well. These are king tiers. These are the skills of your King tier which help you stand out from all other mutual in the
universe as well.
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And finally, your end pro tier is the tier, which is your one deep expertise strength, which nobody can beat you on.
This is the calling card of your personal brand because you're so good at doing this that it actually renders a
competition irrelevant. This is something that you have honed over a period of time, like constantly employing it,
constantly leveraging it and helping it become constantly leveraging it and ensuring that it evolves as a superpower
for your personal brand.

Now I want you to do some exercise. Ask yourself these three questions. What are my Jack skills or strengths that I
have, which are my survival skills in this industry that I have to know to be a part of this industry? It's a
nonnegotiable. Ask ourselves what are the strengths and skills which are very, very good at and if I constantly
employ them and leverage them, day after tomorrow, they could always evolve into my emperor skill set as well and
become the calling card of your brand. And finally ask yourself, what does that one superpower I have to do my key
strength or USP or skill set that I'm so good at that everyone keeps coming back to me for more. That becomes your
emperor skill set and craft a pyramid with your skill sets. This becomes your brand pyramid or your thought
leadership pyramid.

For example, like in my case, my emperor skill set is public speaking. So, I try and create maximum content around
this topic and 50% of the content that regularly dish out is around the topic of public speaking or how to become
better speaker or different aspects of public speaking.
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Now coming down a tier, your King skill sets or strengths, you need to do what at least 30% of your content
weightage to the King's skill set or traits that you bring on the table. Again, taking my own example, in my case, my
King skill sets are personal branding and social media. And I try and create at least 30% of the content that I dish out
there around these two topics and obviously diverse topics as a part of these two bigger umbrellas.

Now in my case, my Jack skills are three pronged, obviously. Number one, strategy. As a brand strategy is extremely
important for me to have a very strategic orientation and bent of mind. Number two, as a public speaker, it's
important for me to have basic language proficiency or exemplary command over the language English. And finally,
number three, my listening skills as a coach and consultant is extremely important for me to have extraordinary
listening skills and perception skills so that I can actually many times even read between the lines to what the person
on the other side of table is trying to tell me without actually putting it all into words.

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For me, these are the basic survival skill sets if I have to operate and flourish in this industry. Ask yourself, what are
your survival skills? Basic skills, which are your Jack skills, which not only help you be a part of the industry, but
tomorrow if you're only focused on each of these skills that they could evolve into your kings or your emperors as
well.

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