A personal brand called ‘YOU

We can’t become what we need to be, by remaining what we are. – Oprah Winfrey

This powerful statement coming from the lady who is the most appropriate and successful example of positive personal branding, puts at rest all arguments against self-marketing and self-improvisation without any debate. An interlude full of energy, wisdom and humility with some of the most successful CXO’s of our times, have left me amazed at the fact that these people who have seen and experienced success are still more than willing to learn and excel through every opportunity that comes there way. And yes, they believe in the power of ‘personal branding’ and ‘powerful professional appearance’.

In life, as in business, branding is more effective, powerful, and sustainable than marketing and sales and an effective way to eliminate your competitors. It’s about influencing others, by creating a brand identity that associates certain perceptions and feelings with that identity. A person’s brand identity is there ‘image’ – their physical appearance which reflects their inner perceptions, their social eminence and their values. Rich Image believes that a person’s individual image is like a ‘business card’ on display twenty four hours. It communicates even when we are totally unaware of its existence. It is observed, perceived and judged at all times. We are all CEO’s of the brand called Me Inc. and as per the marketing gurus – visibility is the key to success. It is up to us how we wish to be seen and perceived.

Authenticity is the secret mantra for successful personal branding. The image you desire for yourself and the rich image that may be designed for you, has to be in sync with the ‘real’ you. To create that immaculate authentic personal brand for yourself, you have to begin by knowing precisely ‘who you are’ and be in love with that person. Abraham Maslow said: “We can only respect others when we respect ourselves. We can only give, when we give to ourselves. We can only love, when we love ourselves”. Without knowing your true flavour, it’s very difficult to love yourself and others. You need to make a positive emotional connection with yourself and find yourself interesting first, if you wish to be noticed and acknowledged by others.

With an authentic Personal Brand, your strongest characteristics, attributes, and values can separate you from the crowd. Without this, you look just like everyone else. Your image needs to have the three essential qualities to bring you the success and recognition you strive to achieve – consistency, uniqueness and sophistication. When we talk of ‘consistency’ in image and style, it comes as a surprise to our audience; if we do not appear to be consistent in our image, we may confuse the people we are meeting and this confusion may lead them to doubt our reliability. A person’s physical image may play strange games with the viewer’s mind.

Image – if attended to with care and wisdom maybe our weapon to success, and if ignored maybe our surety to disappointment. One morning you may wake up and realize that you are not the person people think you are…and you will wonder what went wrong. That morning you will realize that you did not create an authentic personal brand and have been communicating all the wrong messages to the people around you. And so as Oprah says, we cannot become what we want to be, by remaining what we are; take charge of your image and create an authentic personal brand that reflects the true person you are to the world.

Get Out of the Shadows !

You connect to a corporate honcho, share your elaborate highly structured resume and send them the invites to your impressive social media profile – and when this person finds you, they discover that you are just another ‘blue egg’ or a ‘grey faceless silhouette” among a crowd of similar eggs or shadows. Do you think they will wait to hire you or do business with you until you are ‘hatched’. No pun intended, but the simple truth is that social media networks are not to solve mysteries or do any guessing games. They are there to get rid of these – people visit your social media profile to make a decision and yes ! a good profile picture matters.

Linkedin is the most sought after and trusted social platform for the corporate world and the professionals today. I agree that you have completed your profile with high profile tenures, a remarkable skill set and you have recommendations from a considerable group of trusted names – but a profile without a face is like a company without a logo…and I do not wish to start here on the importance of a company logo. Now lets sit back and think of the reasons behind your still your faceless profile –

1. you do not feel there is a need for a profile picture.
2. you do not feel safe putting your photograph online.
3. you do not have a good photograph for yourself.
4. you do not think your profile is impressive enough to be added to your profile.
5. you do not know how to zoom in your face from the only decent picture you have for yourself on your laptop.

I think I have said enough about the first reason to be checked off right away from the above list. The fact remains – the first thing a visitor notices on your profile is your ‘profile pic‘. Coming to the second obstacle…think about it, you are mature enough to have a Linkedin profile, you are not the only one on social media with an interesting face, there are enough celebrities out their for people with nothing to do to mess up with. If you are still not comfortable then try this – put a watermark of your company’s name across your photograph. So lets move forward…start looking for a good photograph that is worthy of being a profile picture.

Most of the time, the reason for a missing profile picture comes from 3,4 or 5. The fact outsmarts me when professionals with golden laurels have faceless profiles for the same reasons and they still fail to realize the value of visual communication. A missing profile picture and lack of one readily available, should bring forward these questions in your mind – am I not clicked often ? am I not dressed according to my position ? am I not projecting the right image ? am I communicating what I wish to communicate through my appearance ? am I in need of a visual makeover ?

 

WHAT MAKES A RICH PROFILE PIC :

When choosing or posing for a profile picture, the first thing to remember is that its not a passport size picture needed for an official document. Your online profile picture should bring out your personal style, your professional passion and your individuality in its true sense. Have fun with your background, be sensible with your attire, bring out your creativity and make it interesting enough to capture attention and invoke trust and respect. In the world of global marketing where you have to promote your talents and skills in the most influential manner, your profile picture should be the personalized logo for the brand that’s ‘you’. As the cliche goes: you do not get a second chance to make a first impression…let your uniqueness pop out from your first look. A picture speaks a thousand words…

 

 

Attention! Job Seekers

Times of India, Ascent: 26th Sep 2012 – Published a list of ‘job interview faux pas‘ highlighted by Ajai Mehrotra, AVP-HR, InfoPro Learning Inc.

The second top goof up that he talks about is ‘under-dressing’ for the interview.

Amazingly this mistake is not only made by the fresh graduates or amateurs, but the highly skilled professionals who have seen and experienced much of the corporate world commit this blunder much more frequently and unabashedly. During my years in the HR industry, I have witnessed awkwardly dressed young first-timers and haughtily under-dressed experienced professionals walk into the interview room much to the disappointment of the management team.

In today’s global corporate world, dressing appropriately and presenting an impressive rich image has become a necessity. The companies have understood that their people represent their brand – and every company is investing millions to build their brand image. Surprisingly, the population in search of jobs or ‘better jobs’ have not realized the value of investment that they need to make in their personal image. Corporate interview rooms have observed decisions made within seconds, within the first few minutes – and that surmises the impact of visual image that you present (*no. two on the list), the unspoken messages conveyed by your body language (*no. five and eight on the list) and your communication skills (*no. one, four and six on the list).

Freshers need to understand that buying expensive branded clothes does not ensure a rich image, unless the techniques of image are pursued. Experienced professionals should acknowledge their need of training and learning to improvise a polished image that communicates their skills and expertise.

A rich image should be on top of your interview preparation to-do list. And the work for it begins now…with Rich Image.

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Appreciating Rich Communication & Etiquette

Dinner meeting last night with a far-away related couple has left me (and surely the others involved), exhausted and sapped. With the risk of sounding offensive, I would say that some people have an inexplicable ability to drain out even the last drop of energy from your body and mind.

Today morning, I am a better person who appreciates the art of cultured communication like never before.

The loud voices, the interminable fight of the couple to overtake each other’s conversation, the untiring efforts at the new language that sounded like English, the constant pats on my back n arms by the ready-to-fall-on-you wife, relentless rants about the perfections of the noisy boisterous kids, inexorable attempts to show-off the affluence n status, the constant calls to the waiting staff demanding favors – I am sure this is a long enough list to make you run for your etiquette pocketbook to make sure you have your acts in order.

Though the skills of communication and the essentials of etiquette cannot be summarized in one small piece of writing, I will still try to give you a critical list of communication and etiquette related ‘image-breakers’ here so that you do not leave the same poor impression that last night has left on my tired brain –

• Never ever try to merge a business meeting with a family get together, it is almost impossible to carry on a business discussion along with constant bursts of childhood stories and screaming kids.
• Always remember, ‘conversation’ involves two different people or group of people who exchange ideas, thoughts and experiences; and the two different people can be just you and your spouse when you are alone, not when you are meeting someone else…that ‘someone else’ also deserves a chance to communicate.
• A constant pat, back-slaps, poking and falling over the other person in your excitement is ‘not welcome’.
• Children have the right to mischief and fun; but a little learning of etiquettes and proper behavior will go very far with them and they will appreciate you for it when they grow up to face the real life.

A lesson learnt in early years is a habit formed for life.

• Personal questions about values, income, religion and married life will never help in your attempt to get close to a person in your first meeting. These are the sure ways of driving someone away!
• You are not the only one who is going to eat the entire order – please give an option of choice to others sitting at the dinner table before monopolizing the ordering process.
• Acting as if you own the restaurant and the staff won’t add to your profile. Remember there are other people to be served as well. Be polite to the waiting staff – it will speak volumes about your nurturing and personality.
• Absolutely never humiliate or criticize anyone’s child, this is one act that absolutely none can appreciate.
• Save your obscene personal jokes for your private moments, do not honor others with them.
• Don’t invite yourself – give the other person an opportunity to know you better and extend the invitation when and if they wish to do so.
• Let your image convey your style and status, your string of self-proclaimed affluence will not impress anyone.

Rich impressions are not only conveyed by the way you dress, but your behavior and communication are a vital part of it as well. At an occasion like the one above you will probably not get the chance to flaunt your degrees and promotions, but your body language, etiquettes and communication style will work its magic!

Enroll today with Rich Image, for a concise ‘Communication & Dining Etiquette’ session today to leave lasting rich impressions on every occasion. Your image is your ticket for the place where relationships bloom and career soars.

Did Anyone said BORING ?

Corporate culture stands for everything GREY. And grey (for most people) stands for BORING. Talking and teaching freshers and undergrads, I have experienced that this is there one biggest fear of entering the career world.

Till your first interview, specially in India, everything is about fashion, Facebook, friends, food and fun.

So justifiably, the young minds are scared of getting into the world that has always been portrayed in grey and dark silhouettes. They do not want to lose their yet unidentified personalities in the grey haze of confusion and boredom. The words that follow – are for everyone who is scared of the boring blues, or stuck in the corporate greys, or have simply given up on making an effort to bring some life and color to the everyday mundane.

Work is Passion…

You don’t have to be boring to be professional ! We are not living in the world of thick bound ledgers and lifeless bureaucratic cubicles. The corporate world has reached beyond the global boundaries, creative out-of-box approach is appreciated and companies are striving to bring energy and enthusiasm in their workforce.

Going to work does not mean grey pinstriped trousers and boring dull oxford shirts (look at my previous post and you might even find the grey trousers alluring), you can bring out your personality by experimenting with colors and patterns. If the do’s and don’ts of the work wardrobe are in place – then a little fun with colors, textures and accessories can totally transform your Monday…and you will begin your week on a more happy and competent note, much to the delight of your boss.

If you are not very comfortable or sure about the bright colors or trends in the beginning, you can safely add some freshness and an element of style through simple accessories like a beautiful silk scarf or a statement handbag. Men can experiment with classy cravats, a stylish leather portfolio case or a pair of cuff-links.

Rich Image has designed the corporate culture modules with the passion to combine energy and efficiency with your personal style – bringing out your own ‘signature style‘.

Don’t hold yourself back behind the pinstripes and grey clouds – don’t let the humdrum effect your creativity and self-motivation. Dress like a professional, with a sharp & innovative mind and you will feel and act like one. Let there be freshness and shades of passion in your work-wear and enjoy every day of your career growth and corporate success.

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