Personal Branding? At My Age?

Whenever I talk about personal branding with mid-career people, I often notice a look that suggests just a bit of skepticism, even if they seem to be agreeing. I can almost hear them thinking, “Personal branding? At my age?”

You may remember that the idea of personal branding was first promoted by Tom Peters in his landmark, 1997 article in Fast Company. You may have read it and applied it to your career. Or maybe not. If you haven't and you are at mid life, you may feel you’ve gotten this far without it, so it’s pretty easy to dismiss personal branding. Yet, in my roles as both a personal branding strategist and as a retirement coach, I assure you that personal branding has a lot to do with the quality of your career -- and the quality of your life!

For now, let’s just stay with the idea of personal branding as a career management tool. Okay fifty-plusers, pay attention.

My friend Wendy, over at Gen Plus, in her post “‘Same-store’ in job search for Boomers and 50 plussers?,” notes the importance of establishing a personal brand that conveys the fresh approach that you bring to work. You need to offer a promise of value that will convince a prospective employer you can add to the growth of the company. She notes that your contribution “…needs to be apparent in your resume, your cover letter, your "look", your approach, your conversation -- essentially, your personal brand.”

So, who needs personal branding? You do.

Want to get help on uncovering your personal brand and using it for career success? Contact me.

Cross posted at A Brand You World

Comments

[Vikram Rajan]

My clients are lawyers, accountants, financial planners, real estate, and health experts... often between 40 - 50 years young.

My generation (I am 29) is already used to controlling our life. I've found older generations believe in different values.

Independence and self-promotion are sought-after American values. Every generation needs to learn how to brag about our achievements, with dignity. Especially those who have the most experience!

~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com

[Wendy]

Terrific post Walter. You hit the nail right on the head -- it is skepticism and fear that holds the 50-plusser back from really looking at their personal brand. And thanks for the mention, too!

[Dan Schawbel]

Personal Branding has high impact when first starting out but the reinforcement later in your career is critical to a successful brand. The idea behind personal branding is that you discover who you are as early as possible so that you can focus on that career objective and have the time to pull it off.

[Walter Akana]

Hi Vik! Hi Wendy! Hi Dan!

Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting on this post.

Vik, I think you’re right that differing values, and of course life experiences, have established for Gen X and Gen Y people a higher degree of comfort in promoting their personal brands and exercising control of their careers and lives. And yes, every generation does need to learn how to brag about their achievements, with dignity and confidence!

Wendy, I think you nail a couple of critical barriers: skepticism and fear. Despite knowing the importance of promoting ourselves, most of us Boomers have organizational experiences that typically haven’t rewarded standing out! Fortunately, the world is changing to support a branded approach to career management for all! As well, establishing and expressing one’s personal brand are skills that can be learned on one’s own or by working with a personal branding strategist.

Dan, you’re correct that it’s critical to discover who you are as early as possible in order to focus on a career objective and have the time to pull it off! So, this is a rich tool for students and others just launching their careers. Of course, I also subscribe to the idea that “it’s only too late if you don’t start now” – so, I believe there’s still tremendous value for mid- to late-career folks to work on brand discovery. It can even help them make critical choices that will affect other parts of their lives!

I enjoy the terrific perspectives you each provide in your own blogs!