If you are at mid-life (or at any stage of your career), I can’t imagine that you feel your job is really secure. You may even have a game plan for what to do should a pink slip find you. Well, if your plan includes dusting off the ol' resume and going on the internet, it’s time to rework your playbook around the new model for career management: personal branding.
The idea of personal branding first appeared in the landmark 1997 Fast Company article, “The Brand Called You,” by Tom Peters. Fundamentally, personal branding exists at the intersection of two ongoing trends: the new world of work wherein organizations value innovation, and egonomics which is the craving to be recognized for one’s unique contributions. So, to manage your career today, there are two broad questions to consider: What drives innovation? What value do you contribute?
A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink begins to answer these questions. Pink argues that we are at the start of a Conceptual Age dominated by right-brain thinking. In this new age, work that uses abilities in design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning produces valued outcomes that are high concept or high touch.
Innovation, then, involves outcomes like creating emotional beauty or appeal, detecting patterns, synthesizing seemingly unrelated ideas, developing empathy, and supporting the experience of joy, purpose and meaning. So, if innovation is high concept and high touch, then you need to consider your own abilities in these areas as well as your ability to communicate your value.
Using a personal branding process can help you do this. In fact, personal branding actually relates well to right-brain capabilities that increasingly drive career success with:
- Design: going beyond the utility of your skill set to its significance and emotional appeal;
- Symphony: considering how your combined competencies and attributes contribute to your unique promise of value;
- Story: crafting messages to clearly communicate what you offer;
- Empathy: building a network of mutual benefit with others;
- Joy: identifying work you love where you can be yourself;
- Meaning: making a difference in the lives of the people you serve.
Uncover you personal brand and own your career success!
Contact me if you would like to use a proven personal branding process to manage your career.
Comments