Consider This …

Quinn MacDonald, an exquisite blogging thinker, wrote recently about the noise with which we’re surrounded all the time.  Many have become so used to it that silence is downright frightening to them.  As MacDonald says so poignantly,

“We hate the sound of our own minds and hearts.”

It’s true, isn’t it?  Very few are comfortable with quiet introspection.  If no other distractions are available, we must blast the radio or television to keep the white noise at sufficient volume to keep inner thought from surfacing.

Problem is, the evolving world of commerce is dependent on your individual creativity.  Much more than your fabulous looks, your soaring intelligence, your knack for selling, or your workaholism, it’s the depths of your creative self that will lead you to success in business as the global economy develops.  Finding your true brand, the skillset you offer that is unique in the world, is how you’ll prosper in coming years.

And it is not possible to discover your uniqueness without intimate knowledge of your own mind and heart.  If we’re always layering on the noise and distractions, this static interference simply drowns out the soul’s whispers. 

Is all this anathema to you?  Can you abide the very thought of silence, or does it frighten you beyond contemplation?  If the latter is true, you’re likely to discount this post as all very well, but impossible, and immediately forget it.  But if you have the courage to try, go ahead and test the advice of so many leaders, consultants, writers and thinkers all over the ‘net, who say one of the keys to successful living is to spend at least 10 minutes in absolute, undisturbed silence every day.

Get to know your self, your simple existence as it expresses through your breathing.  Don’t expect instant miracles, but allow the slow and certain awareness of your utterly unique self to penetrate.  Silence, which may appear scary or boring or threatening, is in truth our most powerful connection to personal power.

All this talk about passion, and fascination, and personal branding. The wonderful folks at Creative Something recently quoted Ze Frank as saying creativity is “…having the energy to stay interested and the energy to spark interest in things.” What energy? What interest? Where do these things come from if they don’t seem to be on hand? You understand the logic of all the talk about finding your passion, but there’s just one small problem: while you believe that energy, interest, passion, and creativity are all useful, you have no idea where to find those things.

It’s like when you’re feeling bad and someone says “Get over it.” That doesn’t help, because if you could get over it you wouldn’t be feeling bad. Somebody saying “Be creative,” or “Find your passion,” or “Articulate your brand” is just as unhelpful.

We’re simply out of practice. Most of us work, and then decompress with the tv, sleep, and then start all over again. On the weekends, we do chores or spectator sports. There’s no time for self-scrutiny.

Until recently, there were no obvious rewards in a personal vision quest: the industrial world needs workers, not seekers. But the complexities we currently face require a new kind of self-responsibility, since individuals can easily perceive their connections to all of humanity. If my world unfolds within the confines of the local geographic area only, I am aware of and bear responsibility towards far fewer people than if my consciousness ranges the entire globe.

This broadened awareness brings with it a new requirement for survival, and that is sustainability, in all its multiple levels and meanings. And, ladies and gentlemen, sustainability is not achieved without passion.

So we have to re-learn how to be interested, where to find fascination; we have to discover energy from somewhere, like magic; we have to allow the possibility of creativity, and send little love notes to our passion. It is there, waiting for us.

I’m working on a writing job currently that has lots of rules, including a long list of words one is forbidden to use. Why? It’s a rule, that’s all. Rules are rules. We stop there.

Rules seem to be necessary in society. Wherever three or more are gathered, there the rules shall be. It’s the basis of civilization, the only way we know to approach peaceable life together.

Rules are usually established by wise leaders, who set down these maxims for good reason. But the hoi polli who must live by them soon forget their reason for being, and simply accept them as rules and therefore indisputable. The human propensity for fear keeps us in the thrall of rules and dictums from on high. For the most part, we let these forces do our thinking for us.

At some point, though, you can step back from the rules. You can consider what your own judgment is, apart from givens you’ve been force fed. You can make the conscious decision to adopt or reject the rules. In a way, that’s what branding is all about: communicating to others your own well-considered set of rules and regs. It’s certainly at the core of innovation, where not being bound by rules is the first practice.

Had an interesting comment on yesterday’s blog, which took exception to my suggestion that branding is a form of communication.  The commenter seemed to be saying that your brand is simply who you are, what impression your very appearance gives; and inferred that while you work on promoting your brand, you cannot modify it.

Of course, my rebuttal is about how recognizing and articulating - more than modifying - your own brand is the issue.  It takes a long time and serious focus to get a handle on how you are impacting others, and what your actual reputation is.  Like your rear end, you carry your brand everywhere with you, but seldom get a good peek at it yourself. 

By defining your personal brand, you become capable of consciously projecting it, and winning support and success through it.  How to clearly communicate your business brand is the number one issue for sales; projecting, enjoying, and cultivating your personal brand is the road to fulfillment in the individual’s life because it’s the full appreciation of natural gifts.

Once you become more aware regarding the brand you habitually manifest, you can emphasize its positive aspects, carefully study the negative sides, and intentionally project (i.e., communicate) this recognized strength of character.  Until you spend committed time and much thought on this aspect of your existence, you stay a slave to the brands of others.

“When you treat people with respect, acknowledgment, and genuine positive reinforcement, you significantly increase the odds of creativity — and by extension, innovation — flourishing in your organization.”  So said Mitch Ditkoff a few days ago on his Heart of Innovation blog.

Branding of any kind is about sharing with others; it’s a function of communication.  It is not, however, about bragging or sharing yourself in the sense of shoving your personality down other people’s throats.  It’s really about sharing your capacity to be compassionate.  It’s the reputation you’ve earned for the level at which you’re able to help others.

As accomplished and marvelous as I may be, the only thing of real interest to anyone else is how well I can share the benefits of my prowess.  My achievements that can be duplicated by others or that serve to aid and comfort others are the ones that really count.

Ditkoff’s point goes even a little futher, however, in saying that it is possible to bring the sources of inspiration closer, to make innovation part of your everyday business, by establishing a culture of mutual “respect, acknowledgement and … positive reinforcement.”  I suggest that likewise, a worker wanting to strengthen personal branding does well to start with a strong dedication to supporting others.  Even if this doesn’t come naturally to you, as you practice compassion you’ll become infinitely more aware of what makes you tick.

So, despite all tangents, I’m considering the concepts and practices of branding, in these writings over the past couple weeks.  It seems to me that when you align your brand perfectly with your passion you have achieved success. 

When the way you are perceived is the same as the way you think of yourself, you are a happy person.

Until you find that sweet equilibrium between your natural urges and the outside world, you are constantly in turmoil.  You know you’re special, but your image is average.  You have a passion for painting, but you spend all your time at work.  You are an expert bicyclist, but everyone knows you as the insurance guy.  It can configure in the other direction, as well:  you’re well respected and powerful, but you harbor an inner self hatred; you have a great job that brings valuable benefits, but an insistent whisper suggests you hit the road.

Most of us live most our lives walking this tightrope.  Few actually figure out the balance.  But all of us could work harder at it.  We know that the happier we are, the happier others are around us.  It’s the compassionate thing to work at finding your particular balance in life.

Young people and older workers who have given up ambition don’t pay much attention to branding; it’s us middle-agers, struggling to get past Seth Godin’s infamous Dip who concern ourselves with such ultimate challenges.  It’s desperation tactics by a generation that has tried everything else.  It’s the best way we can invent to find our place on this globe.

But I’d surely love to convince a few young people or hopeless workers to start considering what their brand might be.  By getting an early start, greater balance may perhaps be achieved; and, on the other hand, it is certainly better late than never.  If everyone is working on developing their brand, I believe we can build a stronger society, a culture characterized by self-knowledge and sharing. 

One thing that bloggers often write about is blogging.  Whether or not their site is generally dedicated to the theme, sooner or later most authors will address the existential meaning of what they’re doing by posting on a regular basis.  A good many of them are hoping for income, and continue blogging as long as the site performs for them monetarily.  But the angst associated with faithfully posting while you know very few people actually read your words is often discussed.  The solution is always to find ways to increase your readership, and the blogger’s next logical step is to produce a list of methods to do this.

I’ve been talking about branding here, with the focus lately on worker branding.  So much is written about business branding, but little guidance is offered for the employee.  And what is a brand, anyway?  I think of it as reputation, the way other people think of you.  You reference your friend Joe when talking with someone, and you describe him as “My friend Joe, the accountant” or “Joe, my buddy from school” or “Joe, the corporate guy.”  Very often, your job steals your brand. 

In the theater, we used to say that an artistically built character is one we don’t notice until we see the person out-of-character.  This is related to the church signboards that advertise, “Your true character emerges in difficult times.”  Who you are down deep may not bear any relation at all to your brand, and this is a situation that will cause discomfort until you correct it.

I want to talk more about worker branding, but for now, let me tie this matter to my opening paragraph here.  Blogging, for me, is a way of exploring in depth my personal brand.  It’s my current attempt at synthesizing my native character with my reputation.  It’s also writing from my own resources daily, which is a demanding and hopefully skill-improving practice. 

My point is that while I have a teensy-weensy readership, I still buttheadedly continue to blog because, guess what?  It’s all about me and my brand.  Because I know that even if your true brand doesn’t bring you riches, it will bring you peace.

This picture represents our economy. Notice that there are a few bigger rocks, many smaller.  Big rocks are lifted up higher by smaller ones sometimes.  All rocks are bathed indiscriminately by the water; some rocks get more sun than others.   All are shifted by larger forces; some glide with the flow and others resist it, bumping along uncomfortably.  Notice that absolutely every rock has its own unique character.  No two rocks are exactly alike.  They fit together randomly, with each wave challenging their position.  They seem unperturbed by the water or one another:  they seem to be absorbed in worship of the sky.

The idea of business branding is pervasive these days, perhaps mostly because of the blanketing of society by a few big corporate names.  The worldwide familiarity of Coke and McDonald’s have become our standards of business success.  Of course, duplicating the renown of these giants is not easy; and most corporations will admit that they work very hard on establishing consistency of character throughout their organization.

What does this mean for the individual?  Your employer requests conformity to the corporate character, and that’s fine if your personal goals are indeed aligned with those of those boss.  But given the stresses of life in a capitalist system, and the fact that you work because you need to pull your own weight economically, it’s very often the case that as a worker, you do not necessarily share your employer’s ambitions.  You have an entirely separate set of dreams; your personal brand has much more to do with raising your children or playing golf or Friday night salsa or whatever else feeds your soul if not your pocketbook.

The big time capitalist emphasis on branding could eventually turn around to bite the moguls in the eye.  Because if corporate branding is so important, and if the personal branding of leaders is even more important, then the lowly workers as well begin to see that by developing strength of character and reputation similar to that of their bosses, they can fulfill their highest dreams.  And if everyone is intent on establishing such personal power, corporate structures which depend on obedience will crumble.

Despite the risk of initiating such a mega-change, every individual in the free world has the resources to build personal branding; and every worker would do well to learn as much as possible about his/her natural gifts and how to express them usefully.  Every individual can benefit from the self-knowledge and compassionate thought that is required in order to project a recognizable brand. 

We’re so far down the dusty industrialist road that many workers are far removed from their core individual natures, and have no idea how to research and express an authentic personal brand.  Which is great for the bosses, but truly not supportable as we progress deeper into the century.  The challenges of our global society cannot be dealt with by automatons.

If you’re a worker, one of those heroic millions in service to a corporate brand, please keep checking this blog, and let’s together explore the riches we were born with and the ways we can grow them creatively.

Back when I used to teach acting, I would advise my students never to think about developing a ‘personal style’ as an artist, because style surfaces of its own accord as you continue to practice.  As much as we are all individuals, each with our share of inborn gifts, we can’t help but manifest native styling in all aspects of our lives.  As we progress, we may become more aware of the details of our own personal style, and at that point take steps to modify it according to the dictates of superego. 

This collection of salient characteristics, this automatic communication of personality, might be called our personal brand.  Everybody has one.  Being familiar and comfortable with your brand can help a great deal in locating the work and living situations that will be nurturing for you.

As introspection is a little-admired quality in America, a huge portion of our workforce has never turned their attention to their personal branding.  For most of us, attention is focused on the brands of others, while we remain witless consumers.  For decades, I ignored my personal brand while working for ‘the man,’ or the organization or business, which bore all the responsibility for branding.  I even subliminally assumed my personal brand was defined by the business.

While young, you may not wish to make any self-definitions; brands are developed with maturity, it’s true.  Still, even a small amount of focus on the image you project to others can go a long way towards avoiding situations where you don’t fit, and attracting those situations that nurture your growth.

Having been one, my undying loyalty is much more for the workers of America than for the bosses. The incredible act of heroism involved in simply arising each morning to go and fulfill the wishes of another cannot be denied.  The dreadful lack of decent leadership in business makes this courage even more astounding.  Tomorrow, I’ll look at ways the worker’s branding interacts with that of the employer.