Creating Your Personal Brand is Garbage Advice - What You Should do Instead
The concept of creating your own personal brand has been around for years, but it is garbage advice. In this episode Pat Kothe shares how product and company branding differs from personal branding, the origins of branding, how a brand manager creates and manages a company or product brand, why fake-it-till-you-make-it is garbage advice, why focusing on reputation is the right strategy, and some tips for understanding and enhancing your reputation.
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Episode Transcript
This transcript was generated using an automated transcription service and is minimally edited. Please forgive the mistakes contained within it.
Patrick Kothe 00:31
Welcome. Today we're going to talk about personal branding, and why personal branding is garbage. Developing a personal brand has been something that's been hot for several years, and a lot of people are talking about it, a lot of people are doing it. And I've noticed a few things recently that have really stood out, and not in a good way. So that's why I want to have this discussion with you today. You know, we've all seen it, we've seen someone who's never been active on LinkedIn, or Twitter or even Facebook, but suddenly they're offering you know, hot takes on everything under the sun, you know, they're the expert on everything. Or they've got a ton of vanity pictures of themselves all of a sudden, that are popping up on all their social media channels. Or they're linking to some thought provoking comment, or they're making some thought thought provoking comment, or they're posting articles from Harvard Business Review, or something else, with their opinion on a subject, obviously, to make themselves look very intelligent, or are often they're commenting on someone else's post every day, it's like they've got they've got a schedule, I need to do this X amount of times a day X amount of times per week. And you're just just kind of noticing that they've got a clock work schedule going on like that. It's something that they're they're working on. So the problem with this is is not, you know, if they're offering some good content, or some really how to do it type of advice, advice, you know, that's always welcome. The problem that I see is with the intent, if if your gut tells you the intent is, hey, listen to me, I'm an expert, you may probably figure out that that person has decided that they want to create their own personal brand. And as I said, I believe that this is just garbage, creating your own personal brand. So making yourself visible is a good thing. I think that that's a, that's a great thing to do, making sure that people realize where your strengths and weaknesses are making sure that they recognize who you are. That's great from a career standpoint, but it has to be done properly, or you risk coming across as selfish in genuis, or as a liar. None of those things are obviously good. What I'd like to do today is to refocus the terminology, instead of personal brand. Let's get rid of that, and call it reputation. And we'll get into this pretty much in depth here. But why that semantics is so important in how you are working on yourself. And we're all constantly working on ourselves, but how you're working on yourself. In the future, you may ask, you know, why am I taking a stance like this? Well, I've had the opportunity manage several companies and many product brands in my career. So managing the company brand or managing product brands. And please notice that I said I've managed them I've created products managed different companies and and product brands. And there's a big difference between creating and managing something and being someone so let's take a quick look into branding quick intro into branding. So what what's a brand? Well, the origins of branding actually, it goes back to the days of cattle and it's basically Hey, I own this you know, this is what I own. But it also gave people an opportunity to differentiate their their ownership or their, their cattle, their brand from other people's. So what you're trying to do is to be able to say hey, you know, this is mine, but my cat is better than yours. So I've got a reputation here that my candle, my candle is better than yours. And because of that I can either capture a higher price, or be able to have a reputation out there says that this is what my brand stands for. So what does that brand do for you? Well, a brand is a way that a product or a company is perceived by those who experience it. That's what branding is all about. It's not the logo. It's, it's it's not, you know, the colors. It's how you feel when you think about a company, or a product. So I'm going to say a couple couple of companies and products here. And you'll know what I mean by that. When I say the word Tesla. Well, how does that make you feel? Or apple? Some people positive, some people negative, but you have a feeling on what it is IBM? Is it new old, experienced past their prime? What exactly is does that brand mean to you? And Ron, there's a there's a good one for you. What is Enron? What's the perception that you have there? J and J. Now as we move into into our our field and medical device, what is J and J mean to you? What does Medtronic mean to you? What does Theranos mean to you? There's an interesting one for you. Well, and then kind of getting into some product categories. What a metal on metal hip implants mean to you. And the companies who marketed metal on metal hip implants. What about the St. Jude Medical sills own heart valve? Some of you may may remember that one. What does that mean about that product. So it's interesting to in that companies and product, many brands may work together or against each other, you'll some of the products I just mentioned, they're metal and metal hips, sills on heartfelt. Those are prop products that had problems. But they've got the halo of a company reputation or a company brand that lays on top of that. So even though you may have a product, that the brand is recognized negatively, if you've got a brand established for a company that may enhance or detract from the brand of an individual product. So those two things, you know, kind of work in concert, and there is going to be bleed over positive or negative from one to the other. So I mentioned that I had experience in managing brands. So let me just give you a quick insight into what people do when they manage brands. A lot of times you're creating a brand and you're creating a brand because you're creating a new product. So what what you what you're doing there is you're trying to understand from a product standpoint, what are the needs, what are the opportunities, what does competition do, and then how you want that product perceived when you hit the market to be able to hit those specific areas of opportunity that you've got with a with a particular product. So what a brand manager or product manager is managing a brand, what some of the things that they'll do is they'll conduct market research into what company companies think. And this is either before a product is created, or once you have a product out there go out and do is what we refer to as a brand audit, where you're really identifying where you stand with your current product in the customers mind. And you're also going to identify key drivers in the market so you can understand why customers make decisions and how your product overlays into that. That decision matrix that your customer has, you're also going to need to understand the spaces competitors own so if someone is owning the highest quality product, and you try and go on top of there and say I'm the highest quality product, it's probably not going to happen for you unless you're spending a whole lot of resource and have a whole lot of time to be able to to display somebody there may be another opportunity with another claim or another brand element that you can bring in that would be more impactful in building your the success success of your product. So understanding where competitors are is an important thing. And then and then what you need to do once you kind of understand all this this is you need to under you need to select a clear brand concept What exactly are you going to do? What is your what is your strategy that you're going to employ with, with with your new new product that's coming into your existing product. And then you design and implement brand marketing programs and it could be educational symposia could be, you know, the look and feel of your packaging, it could be publication, there's a lot of things that go into the marketing programs that support what the brand what the brand is, or if you're a company, same thing, the marketing programs that are going to support your company, not necessarily your product. And then once you kind of do that, and implement those programs, then you go back and measure and you interpret it interpret what the brand performance is. So you're gonna look at a different key metrics that say this is, you know, this is what we tried to do. This is what, what we did. And these are the results over time of our efforts to do that. And that's really interesting, because sometimes what you've tried to do is not necessarily what's perceived by the marketplace. And it really doesn't matter what you think you're trying to do, the only thing that matters is what's perceived by the customer. So you kind of go through that. And then you just you continue to grow and sustain that brand equity and make make modifications as you're monitoring this and seeing what you what you need to work on. So those are some of the things that somebody somebody inside a company does with managing the company brand or managing the product brand. So the reason why I bring that bring that up is there is a key difference here, there's a key difference between when you're managing a product or company's brand. And this whole concept of personal branding. And the real differences, a product can be created based on what you want it to be. So you want to say that, again, a product can be created based on what you want it to be. But a personal brand, reflects who you are, not who you want to be, but who you are, that is your brand. So so and we'll kind of get rid of that word brand and say that is your reputation. So again, product creation, is based on that customer discovery process where you're developing an understanding and and really trying to develop your product and your brand to support that. But the personal side, and this personal reputation, you don't have the ability to create something you are who you are, that is the big difference here. You can aspire to be something else, we should all be trying to improve. But that's not who you are today. And that's my problem with this whole issue of creating a brand of yourself. It is not about creating a new you, because that's different. Improvement is great. Creating something that you're not is a problem. If you're trying to create something that you're not, it's kind of like on a dating website, if you throw up a picture of someone who's not you, but it's really attractive. Well, eventually, it's going to get to be known, you know, you may get get some interest. But you know, there's there comes a time when you have to pay the piper, you know, you're going to be you're going to be seen and somebody can say wait a minute, you know, that's not that's not what I was promised. You're a little bit less than that than what I've seen it and it breaks the trust, it breaks the the relationship that you would have with that potential person. And it kind of leads me into something I've mentioned before that is I think is is a horrible piece of advice that people are putting out there and that's fake it till you make it this whole philosophy of hey, you know, fake it till you make it. Well, I believe that that's also garbage. And here's the reason why. Because what when you're saying fake it till you make it what you're saying is I'm going to manipulate my perception. I'm going to manipulate the perception of me or my product or my company. And manipulation is a horrible word. When it comes to establishing relationship relationships with people long term, and when you are faking it till you make it you're actually actually speak louder than your words. So for example, I mentioned before the company Thera knows. And for those who don't know, Theranos been in the news quite a bit last several years, they developed blood test. And they said that these blood tests required smaller amounts of blood that could be performed rapidly. And they told a story out there in a marketplace about really having a great technology that can be utilized by a lot of people change an industry. And then they ended up lying to people they lied to the public, they lied to investors, some people say they misled things, let's just call a spade a spade, they lied to people, this fake it till you make it thing is basically lying to people. So they lied to their investors, some people in a public Some people believe that and they created up a great groundswell of of initial interest, valuation accompany went flying up, there's a lot of fear of missing out. So people came in and did things, they wanted to be part of the next big thing. But when the truth came out, and that they found out that they were faking it, while they were trying to make it, it created a tremendous amount of problem for the company, and tremendous amount of problem for the individuals who are doing this. And finally, you know, it's time to pay the piper. And that's where you saw lawsuits and people ended up ended up going to go into jail. That's kind of the big picture when you're looking at it from a company standpoint. But at the same same thing holds true for individuals. And, and you know, these people, you've, you've experienced this, you know, when when somebody is saying something, but they're not living it, or they're, that's not who they are. We've seen them all. So we've, we've seen the interviewee who walks in, and they are saying broad things, you know, I can do this, I could do this, I can do this. But then when you dig down into it, there's no depth there, there's no experience there, there's no true learning that they had, in order to back up these grandiose statements of what they what they do, comes back to, you know, walking the walk and talking to talk, you know, well, who are you? And what, you know, what are you actually doing? And are you just talking about it? Or can you actually do it, I experienced to with vendors and vendors who say, you know, hey, we're a big company, we can do this, we can do this, we got a call all this and that. And then when you find out that they only have a few customers, and they haven't been as broad as what their what they've said, their credibility goes down to zip, it. Same thing happens when you're a medical device rep. And, and you're in DLR, and you don't know your stuff. And you are, you know, you're there, and you got a big smile and a shoe shine. And everything's going well until somebody asks you a specific question about your product, and you don't know it. And you've been putting yourself off as an expert with your company's product, you're done. You're toast, if you if you are coming off as an expert, and you actually aren't, you're gonna pay the price. You know, the same thing is, you know, as a manager, if you got a new manager comes in, and it's new managers comes in with a big reputation. And they come in talking, you know, a big a big game there. But you find out they're a moron. And they really don't know, all of the things that they talked about, or they don't know it to the depth that they need to know it. It is a tremendous problem. So we all know these people, we all know that this is not a good thing to do. But when I hear about personal branding, and creating your own personal brand, these are the things that I think about. And this fake it till you make it thing is a bad thing. And this creating your own brand is a bad thing. So that's let's you know, that's that's the reason why we're having this conversation. But what do you do? So what should it be? What should we be talking about? Well, what we should be talking about is reputation. That's what we need to be focused on what is our own personal reputation? And reputation? Is you know, how do you build it? It's it's the byproduct of your work, and how you do your work. So your reputation is your work and how you do it. Who you how you treat people when you're doing it. So do you do great work? Is the work of high quality on time, can you be relied on? And do you treat people? Well, while you're doing this? Are you a team player? Are you treating people with respect? That's your reputation doing a great work treating people? Well, you may notice at the end of my podcast, the way that you know I ended is I say, you know, work hard, be kind. That's kind of the reason why I'm doing that is because we have to continue to provide great work. But we have to be kind to those around us as well. Because that's your reputation. That is who you are. That is what people remember about you. That is why they want to or don't want to interact with you. So what can you do? You know, how do we deal with this, this reputation? Well, the first thing that we can do is we can understand what our reputation really is not what you think it is, but what it is. So the first thing to do is sit down and just reflect on yourself and say, yeah, if you haven't haven't done this in a while, please do. And to reflect and write down what you think you stand for. What do you think people think about you and what your reputation is, write it down. Once you're done with that, then what you need to do is you need to understand what other people think of you. And that sometimes comes in the form of a 360 evaluation, a formal evaluation, so many companies do this. Some are large enough to do it, some companies are not. But in that 360 evaluation, what's done is you have your your managers, your peers, your direct reports, and people that work in your chain of command, that give you feedback on who you are as a leader, what they like about you what they don't like about you, what areas improvement, how you can improve, what are your areas of strength, how they like working with you, all of these things to give you feedback, to make you a better leader, if you don't have that, I'm asking it to do something else. And that would be just to talk to your colleagues, your manager, your direct reports, people within your within your organization, as well as friends to kind of give a broader picture of you. In order to get this feedback, though, you're going to have to be vulnerable, you have to be honest with them and with yourself. And you need to be humble, you need to approach this from a standpoint, I need some help, I'm trying to better myself, I'm trying to understand how I can be a better contributor within this organization. And I'm really looking for you to be completely honest with me to give me a little bit of feedback, because I can't learn just by people saying, you know, hey, what a great guy, Pat is, I can only learn if people are willing to say, hey, Pat, you know, you need to work on this, because it's not coming off very well. You need to get to that level with people in order for them to share with you. And if you are able to do that, that's how you can identify this is how I thought I was and this is how I'm being perceived. What do I need to do to change? So simple questions, to get this feedback? And I'm talking about a 15 minute conversation with people not don't spend hours with them, just say, hey, I need a little bit of help, can you help me out? And the questions kind of go to? How am I perceived by other people within the organization? You know, to be honest with you, you know, how am I perceived? And the second question is, what's the one thing that I could do or should do more of that could affect my success and the perception that other people have of me? And then the next question after that is, the same question is, what's the one thing I could or should do? less of that could affect my success and how I'm perceived. So these are just simple questions to elicit some feedback, and you're not going to get openness unless you're vulnerable. Unless you say I really need this. Can you help me out? I need you to be honest with me. I can take it I want to take it I can't get better. Unless I get honest feedback, please help me, help me with the with this. If they're good friends and they feel safe with you, they will provide you this this feedback if they don't, if you're getting nothing back, well, I take a look at myself again and say, am I am I putting them in a safe position, or maybe they don't trust me enough to give me this feedback. And that's something that you're going to need to need to dig into further. Because if no one is giving you any feedback, if they're just giving you platitudes, there's a trust issue there. And that's something else that you need need to dig in, dig into much, much more deeply. If you're getting that type of feedback. So once once you get that you can identify the gaps, you know, there's two ways of doing things. Generally, you can build on your strengths, or you can attack your weaknesses, I think you do need to do a little bit of both. And it all depends on how strong your strengths are and how weak your weaknesses are and how critical those those two things are. So identifying the feedback, if it becomes the, you know, there's a constant theme to say there's a trust issue, or you're not being clear in your community communication, or we've got too many useless meetings. You don't you don't value my time. Yeah, whatever, whatever the subject, like comes back, if it's common themes, you know, that it's, it's really accurate. If there's a one thing here, one thing there, you may want to want to verify with other people as well. But you need once you identify these gaps, you can put together your plan of action on how you're going to improve those things. And, and some of the some of the areas of improvement that we look at, as we're developing his plan as well, the first thing you need to do is you need to be open to change, you need to demonstrate that, that you're open, open to change with other people as well as probably more importantly with yourself. Transparency is a big thing, being more transparent within your organization, within your direct reports, within your, your supervisor, your managers, very important, very important thing to keep an eye out. Do you deliver on what you promise? You know, going back to what we said it's quality work. So do you deliver on what you promise? And when you promise it, it's not only what you do, but are you doing it on time? Is it a regular occurrence? Are you consistent? Do you over promise and under deliver? Or do you under sell? And over deliver? Do you constantly exhibit ethical behavior? Not some of the time? Not most of the time? But all of the time? Are you an ethical person? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Something else to to really work on? When somebody comes in? And there's a problem? Or there's some issue with your product? Are you looking for ways to solve it? Or are you complaining about it? Are you are you really going down into the pity party? mindset? Nobody likes a pessimist. Everybody likes an optimist? Are you the type of person that is accepting answering yes, all the time? Or are you Dr. Know, somebody brings something up? And you're the first one to say now I can't do that we haven't done that before? Or are you saying Jesus? That's interesting? I'd be willing to look into that with you together? Will you accept challenges? Or are you the type of person who's going to be sitting silent or negative in a meeting? Or are you going to be again that that positive person to say I can be part of the solution here? I want to look into it further. I will volunteer for this people like those type of people they don't like the negative nancies? And finally, are you taking responsibility for your own actions? Are you are you the type of person that looks to blame? Or are it when it's when it truly is your your issue? Do you take full responsibility for that? So these are just some of the things that I wanted to talk with you about today and and and to really get to get you to think about reputation as opposed to branding, creating versus working on. Because if we are looking at enhancing ourselves We can grow, we can learn, we can become better people, as opposed to, I'm going to fake it, I'm going to put something out there and try and try and fake people into believing that I'm something else. You always will pay the price when reality hits against this perception. So I started this, this episode off with a bit of a rant on on people's use of social media as a way of of doing this creating this personal brand. And I want to make sure you know, I'm not saying you should stay off of social media, or that useful content creation is a bad thing. Just the opposite. Yeah, I'm a content content creator. And, and I'm on social media as well. So you're gonna see me and see the content that I'm putting out there. And I like learning new things. And I think that being a content content creator is a good thing to help other people come along on on their own journeys. But what I'm saying is that keep in mind that you are not a brand. You are a person with a reputation. That reputation is built with everything that you do, for as long as you are here. So people will know you by your actions, not by what you're trying to create as something that you think that they want. Be yourself, understand what it's going to be, that's going to drive your success, why you are who you are. And just make sure that you're consistent over time and build your reputation the way you want your reputation to be built. Thank you for listening. Make sure you get episodes downloaded to your device automatically by liking or subscribing to the mastering medical device podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. Also, please spread the word and tell a friend or two to listen to the mastering medical device podcast as interviews like today's can help you become a more effective medical device leader. Work hard. Be kind
