Building & Communicating your Personal Brand

Karen Blackett OBEWPP UK Country ManagerChairwoman, MediaCom UK

@Blackett_kt

Today has 4 Objectives

1. To leave you with a full appreciation of personal branding

2. To leave you with your own brand identified

3. To give you tools to sense check how others see your brand

4. To have a plan for communicating your personal brand

The importance of having a personal brand

1

Who am I?

Ancient Wisdom

20th Century Psychology

21st Century Neuroscience

It works!

Exercise 1:

Who are you?

• How would you introduce yourself?

5 mins

The 16 richest people in advertising, ranked by income

Know your own brand

A personal brand is a short hand or signifier of all your qualities, so that people who may have no contact with you know what to expect and what you are capable of.

By having a personal brand you create credibility, trust and consistency for your work. You create a reputation for yourself and how you work.

Understanding what makes a great brand will help you define your own brand

2

What is a Brand?

There are 6 facets that make a brand

1. Brand Promise2. Brand Values3. Brand Personality4. Brand Behaviours

5. Brand Expectations6. Brand Perceptions

What, How?

At the centre of any brand is it’s Why?

Purpose, cause or belief

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”

How?

What?

Why?

Source: Simon Sinek

Every Brand needs a Purpose

Exercise 2: Your Brand ValuesDefine Your Core Brand Values – Worksheet

1. Discover Your True ValuesThink of a negative experience that you’ve had at work or personally, and fill it into column one. What sort of feeling did that experience leave you with that you’d like to avoid? What the opposite value you’d like to project to your audience?

Negative Situation What You’d Like to Avoid Opposite Value to Project

2. What Do You Stand For?Use the box below to elaborate your thoughts on why your core values are important and what they mean to you.

If you had to say it all in just one sentence, how would you phrase it? In other words, what does your brand stand for?

Handout - 20 mins

“We often discover

what will do, by finding out

what will not do”

Samuel Smiles

Think of a negative situation you have experienced at work.

What was it about the situation that angered or upset you?

What is the opposite of that?(This is one of your values)

ONE

TWO

THREE

20 mins

Now….lets think about your brand behaviours and personality?

Curious about people, fantastic communicator

Dame Carolyn McCall – CEO ITV

“We”…not “Me”Dave Lewis – Group CEO Tesco

Passionate and inspiring orator, straight talking game changer Najoh Tita-Reid– CMO, The Hero Group (Swiss Food Company)

Knows everything and everyone

Sir Martin Sorrell – Former CEO, WPP, Executive Chairman S4 Capital

Created Focus

Steve Jobs – Co-Founder of Apple

NAME PERSONALITY BEHAVIOURCarolyn McCall Curious Works with the flight

crewDave Lewis “we, not me” Turnaround bonus for

allNajoh Tita-Reid Straight-talking Communicates clearly

so that “I always know what she’s thinking”

Martin Sorrell ConnectedKnows everyone

Connects people from different fields

Steve Jobs Focused Drastically reducedproduct ranges

Exercise 3:

Describe your personality and behaviours

20 mins

What words would you use to describe yourself?(This is your personality)

What do you actually do at work that illustrates who you are?(These are your behaviours)

ONE

TWO

20 mins

NAME PERSONALITY BEHAVIOUR

Carolyn McCall Curious Works with the flight crew

Dave Lewis “we, not me” Initiates a turnaround bonus for all

Najoh Tita-Reid Straight-talking

Always makes her thoughts and feelings clear

Martin Sorrell Knowseveryone

Connects people from different fields

Steve Jobs Focus Drastically reduced product ranges

What words would you use to describe yourself.(This is your personality)

What do you actually do at work that illustrates who you are.(These are your behaviours)

ONE

TWO

20 mins

Personal Statement

1. This is what I am good at 2. This is how I work.3. These are my values.4. This is the contribution I plan to concentrate

on, and the results I should be expected to deliver

Create your own Personal Statement

Where I came from

Celebrate my differences

Competitive

Curious

T-shaped

Can flex my communication style

Champion diversity

Keep it real

1. This is what I am good at. Finding the whispers in the noise. Connecting people from all walks of life to make magic happen. Creating and leading large, diverse winning teams. Staying ahead of the competition;

2. This is how I work. Passionately, with a smile on my face and a laser focus. Incredibly organised – I will blend my work with my family

3. These are my values.Be respectful, celebrate differences, keep it real, be kind, cheerlead others, work hard, have fun

4. This is the contribution I plan to concentrate on, and the results I should be expected to deliver.I will make the organisation I work in a more diverse, dynamic and happier place to work –fostering a winning culture.I will ensure the organisation is a beacon for talent and investment on the world stage.I will create a company that wins.

HEAD PERFORMANCE COACH

1. This is what I am good at. 2. This is how I work.3. These are my values.4. This is the contribution I plan to concentrate

on, and the results I should be expected to deliver

Exercise 4: Create your own Personal Statement

1.This is what I am good at.

Exercise 4: Create your own Personal Statement

10 mins

3Your personal brand has to be authentic. Sense check how others view you.

What brand do others see?

£17,000 £26,000

Open Blind

Hidden Unknown

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Known to Others

Unknown to Others

Johari window

Open Blind

Hidden Unknown

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Known to Others

Unknown to Others

Johari window

ask

tell

feedback

shared discoveryself

disclosure

self discovery

Known to Self

Open Blind

Hidden Unknown

Unknown to Self

Known to Others

Unknown to Others

Exercise 5: Mind the gap – Complete the Johari windowChoose up to 2 people from each of the following:• Direct report• Peer• Stakeholder

Homework

How to communicate your brand

4

Systems thinking – everything is connected

Exercise 6: How can you communicate your personal brand?

Think of every touchpoint your brand has with your stakeholders, and those that might not directly see or know your output

Your homework

Fine tune your personal statement

Work out your communication plan and put it into action

Now turn it into a tagline - practise saying it out loud

Perform your gap analysis of your brand –Johari Window exercise