Top Takeaways From Melania Trump’s “Plagiarism”

The controversy surrounding the Melania Trump keynote address at the 2016 Republican National Convention (viewed by an estimated 35 million people) is most certainly a boon for Mrs. Trump’s personal brand. The sensationalism of the story reflects a modern lesson: Everyone needs to take the time to create a personal brand.

Today, every person — or creature — ranging from beauty pageant tots to divine dogs are creating personal brands.

Right now, Mrs. Trump’s choice of words are making quite a buzz because it just happened. But, as the dust settles, we should consider a few positive lessons from Mrs. Trump’s keynote address:

Stay inspired by the success of other achievers and leaders.
While Mrs. Trump may be momentarily under scrutiny for her choice of words, don’t forget imitation is the biggest form of flattery and First Lady Obama is a successful powerhouse in her own right. There are many reasons you should study and mimic key behaviors of other successful achievers (just be sure to attribute when possible.) In the music industry, the act of “sampling” is often successfully used by artists by taking a portion of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or sound recording in a different song or piece — this form of inspiration is sometimes controversial but, in the long run, most cases have served all parties well.

Invest in the development and thought behind your personal brand.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, college grad, interview candidate, business owner, sales person or public figure, we could all benefit from taking time to develop and clearly articulate your uniqueness. Sometimes this can be difficult to formulate so, take the time to seek clarity about how you want to present yourself.

Create a set of signature semantics.
Be sure you have a distinct elevator pitch at the ready. Your elevator pitch is a conversation starter when you have 30 seconds or less to make a memorable first impression. It should be concise, well-practiced, easy to understand and distinguish you from others. This uniquely tailored statement should have a hook so you stand out from the crowd!

NOTE: Mrs. Trump’s situation is a case in point when a standardized stump speech may not be appropriate. Instead, you may need to take your core set of semantics you’ve rehearsed and adjust according to your audience.