Personal Patriotism – Waving Your Own Flag

As the political season gains momentum and we casually watch the presidential belligerents duke it out, we are preoccupied by the ability of the candidates to promote them selves by advertising their credentials and intangibles all the while attempting to diminish their opponent. The winner will need to convince voters to carry their flag into the voting booth. The willingness of the masses to show up to pull the lever for a candidate will come from a strong feeling of support for one, or too many overcast doubts about the other. McCain has to overcome concerns about his age and ties to the present administration and Obama will have to defeat an aura of inexperience and the baggage of left of center extremism. When all is said and done, image and perception will rule the outcome.

When it comes to our own personal brand, image and perception also rule. The good news is that our success is not governed by the voting booth, instead by the perceptions that become a ballot of the critical few individuals in our life.  Thus, we must become secure in knowing what we want our brand to be and consistently perform in harmony with that vision. When vision becomes reality, the positive shadow of our brand will motivate others to become our ally in promoting our personal brand. Let’s admit that a personal brand is a reputation that precedes itself, which means that its sustainability is an intentional series of actions.  

According to Steve Pavlina, and expert on the subject, “…Personal Branding is unavoidable. As others interact with you, they’ll automatically form mental associations that connect you with certain labels, often within the first few seconds. You can’t avoid being labeled, and other people can’t avoid labeling you. It happens automatically because our brains are wired to recognize patterns and form associations. The labels people attach to you become part of your personal brand.”

Just hearing the name Tiger Woods evokes sound bites that reflect the brand that he has created. The same is true with Oprah and Trump. Their names have become a brand and bring to mind strong images of success, among other adjectives. The names McCain and Barack Obama evoke sound bites also but they are ‘brands in evolution’. How would you complete the sentence, “I am ____________________? Do the values or words that fill the space match the words that others assign to you? Even more importantly, how would others in your sphere of influence fill in the space?  This is a simple way to assess how you display and how others react to your values-on-display. The brand becomes a ‘reputation that precedes itself’.  That is your personal brand. Because how you fill that blank will reflect how you view yourself and drive how others see you.

 

So it becomes important to consistently reflect our values and showcase our best self. Waving our own flag can seem pretentious and egotistical.  Yet, as we compete for the space that we structure our life around, we need to make the assumption that no one will wave our flag with as much individual patriotism as we will for our self.

 

Charles Fellingham is founder of QAlias, a personal branding tool that provides prominent personal placement optimization on the web. He is also a corporate trainer for the Forum Corporation and a Regional Sales Manager for a Fortune 200 company.