How to build a Personal Brand
One of the impacts of social media, and the influencer generation upon Western culture has been the growth of the “personal brand.” A simple Google search — I’ve done it for you below — will show that over the past 13 years, the term has been searched nearly 4 times more than in 2008.
It is surely no surprise, in fact most likely a cultural shift riding on the back of social media which has transformed the celebrity to global phenomenon. Sports, music, film and social media ‘stars’ have a direct route to people’s attention and with it, the personal brand has well and truly become a thing.
My personal take on a personal brand is told best through a story:
A number of years ago, I was fortunate enough after joining Cricket Ireland, to coach the Irish Men’s A team (or second team) for a few sessions alongside ‘Adi’ (Adrian) Birrell. Adi is now the assistant coach of South African men’s cricket team, but is famed for dramatically transforming Cricket Ireland on the field and arguably inspiring an entire organisation. From also rans, amateurs and infamous ‘minnows’, Cricket Ireland became a poster child for any sporting organisation to go from amateur to professional.
Quite the story.
One cold, dark Sunday morning in the middle of a Dublin winter, I made sure to turn up early for training so I could find out what Adi had planned for the squad out in North County, in Balbriggan. As I arrived at 8.30am, an hour early, and turned into the car park I was surprised to see Adi talking to a player who had driven up from Cork that morning and left home at 5am to make sure he was on time. As we went in and discussed the session ahead, it was clear how impressed he was by the players commitment and desire.
As the session finished Adi brought the group in to reflect and pick out the key takeaways. Just before everyone disappeared, he said something that made such a big impact on me, I’m writing about it eight years later:
“Life is all about references” — he explained that every time we meet someone, we give them a reference of who we are, what we are about and what we stand for. Every single day we have several opportunities to leave impressions and references with other people about who we are, and it is our responsibility to give as many people as possible a positive reference of ourselves.
Positive References
Why?
Well for two reasons: one, because on the surface — people talk. As an athlete, you are talked about by other athletes, coaches, supporters, selectors — and if you happen to be in a conversation that is 50/50 between you and someone else, who do you think they are going to select? The person who has given them several good impressions and references over time, or someone who has been inconsistent, unreliable, or late?
The second, and more importantly, because doing the right thing is the right thing.
If we always aim to conduct ourselves in the right way, which is congruent with our values and beliefs — then we don’t have to worry about what anyone else says about us, we can be confident that we have made the right choices, consistent with who we are. We can’t control what others say about us, but we can behave the way we choose to.
My short time with Adi made a big impression on me. Others were fortunate to spend much longer with him, and over the years I have spoken to several people: supporters, friends, players, coaches, selectors, staff and many others that came into contact with him in Ireland, and I can honestly say I have not heard anyone say a bad thing about him. That is quite incredible when you think about it.
What a personal brand Adrian Birrell has.
Self-Awareness
A conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives and desires.
A significant number of people I have met in sport and out, even those at various levels of high-performance, have appeared to me to lack basic levels of self-awareness.
What this means, is that they lack control over how they behave, and how they are perceived by others (or they don’t care). If you don’t understand this about yourself, then you have little chance of building a successful personal brand. By successful — I mean how you define it. If that is by money, by fame, by trophies — fine. For me, I am motivated by making a positive impact on others and society, by my family, by competitively pushing myself and seeing what I am capable of.
I know that sometimes, I come across brash, urgent, demanding, even uncaring — but occasionally it is required to make a point. If someone is not listening to feedback or is not being true to themselves, then I’m ok with being direct and maybe in the other persons eyes — forceful or what could even be seen as aggressive. I’m comfortable with that, because I understand my motivation: to help. And sometimes to help, you need to be brutally honest. People who don’t want brutal honesty, probably won’t like what I have to say sometimes — and I’m cool with it.
Self-awareness isn’t being perfect all the time. It’s understanding who you are, and who you’re not. It’s connecting with and accepting your purpose or your ‘why’, your identity, your values and your beliefs. How much time have you taken to understand these elements of yourself? It’s not easy, because often we are not encouraged to by our environments. I’m scratching my head thinking back to my education and I cannot honestly say at any point I was ever asked the question “who are you?” with any sincerity.
Imagine bringing it up at the dinner table, in a pub, at a barbecue, or at work. I have, and for a while people rolled their eyes and found another conversation to be in. But often, the same person who walked away first would find me and ask me to have a coffee (or cup of tea!) and talk about themselves. Having a deep conversation is unfortunately frowned upon, when it’s so much easier to scroll through Instagram.
So What?
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. It takes work. And effort. You need to spend time to reflect, and look retrospectively at your journey, your family, your friends and most importantly, your behaviour. When you have acted ‘out’ or at your most extreme — ask yourself why? And keep asking why to everything — it’ll give you the answers. Talk to people close to you, become more conscious of your behaviour (not just your appearance). Ask people how they perceive you, your strengths and your weaknesses.
Reflect some more. It’s not an easy practice for some people, and perhaps if you’re not familiar with it, but like most things — more practice means you’ll find it easier. And if you don’t have time, make time.
The Stages of Learning would indicate that there is a process to go through. If you are “consciously incompetent” or in this case “consciously lacking self-awareness” at least your are on the journey. Start to weigh things up like, ‘what do I stand for?’, ‘what is important to me,’ ‘what do I believe in?’ Eventually, once you become acutely aware of these things, you will accept who you are and accept your faults — which you may already have, but also accept your strengths, which is even more important.
When you reach the point of “unconscious competence” or even better “flow or mastery” your Personal Brand will be well established, and it will be one you are truly comfortable with.
The beauty? You can pick your own.
You can be who you want to be.
Impossible is Nothing.
If you want some help to kick off you journey, I am offering five 45–60 minute coaching sessions for free to help you figure out or develop your personal brand. How you can identify it, develop it and own it. All you have to do, is send me an email (stephen@triggermovement.com) and we’ll set up a time. What have you got to lose?
Thanks for your attention,
Stephen
