Personal Branding: Creating your Noble Cause

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am master of my fate. Beneath the surface of a successful person is almost always this conviction. They recognize the power they have to create their lives and they take responsibility for ensuring that their values are at the core of every decision they make. Winners are rarely accidental. They believe the glass is at least half full and figure out a way to make it overflow. If you believe in yourself and the power of your future, others will also believe in you.

It’s easy to become distracted by the responsibility you have for the goals of your organization and, in the process, lose touch with your own mission and goals. The result can be a rudderless exercise of floundering between, “Do what I say, not what I do.” No leadership strategy has ever been as effective as role modeling so creating a motivated, innovative, self-directed workforce begins with understanding and motivating yourself.

Libraries are full of “How to” books on leadership, on how to impact the performance of other people and gain recognition through their achievements. Strategies, techniques, manipulation under the guise of the common good, are wrapped up in tidy packages of “Five….or seven…or 10 Steps” anyone can learn and implement almost immediately. You are assured that following the specific rules will produce more, better, quicker, cheaper. It is comforting but rarely realistic. Leadership is about people and people just don’t fit into prescribed rules of behavior.

A brand image is an implied promise. Evaluate your brand image, identify the product and service guarantees people anticipate from their relationship with you. Is your image consistent, predictable, does it reflect who you really are and how you perform when you are at your very best? A successful leader has a clear brand image that epitomizes a personal mission and vision of a positive world.

Tribal Leadership is a terrific book by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright. The five stages of development they identify for great organizations are equally useful for individuals seeking to define and connect with their own personal brands. They identify Level 5, the highest level of achievement as when everyone in the organization is focused on something much greater than themselves, their team, or even the organization’s success. It is founded on a Noble Cause based on core values, and a belief that “life is great.” Your Nobel Cause will encourage you to stretch beyond your perceived limits and capture the imagination of people around you.

Where does your brand fit with the universe? What is your unique place? What do you bring to the table that no one else can claim? What are the values that guide you? What is your Noble Cause?

“It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.”
John Andrew Holmes