In 1997 management expert Tom Peters introduced the concept of "Brand You":
We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc... Our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You... Ask yourself the same question the brand managers at Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop ask themselves: What is it that my product or service does that makes it different? Give yourself the traditional 15-words-or-less contest challenge...
If your answer wouldn't light up the eyes of a prospective client or command a vote of confidence from a satisfied past client, or--worst of all--if it doesn't grab you, then you've got a big problem. It's time to give some serious thought and even more serious effort to imagining and developing yourself as a brand.
Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors--or your colleagues. What have you done lately--this week--to make yourself stand out? What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your most noteworthy (as in, worthy of note) personal trait?...
Your next step is to cast aside all the usual descriptors that employees and workers depend on to locate themselves in the company structure. Forget your job title. Ask yourself: What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value? Forget your job description. Ask yourself: What do I do that I am most proud of? Most of all, forget about the standard rungs of progression you've climbed in your career up to now. Burn that damnable "ladder" and ask yourself: What have I accomplished that I can unabashedly brag about? If you're going to be a brand, you've got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value, that you're proud of, and most important, that you can shamelessly take credit for.
When you've done that, sit down and ask yourself one more question to define your brand: What do I want to be famous for? That's right--famous for! [1]
Peters concluded by noting four key skills essential to the success of Brand You:
No matter what you're doing today, there are four things you've got to measure yourself against. First, you've got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague. Second, you've got to be an exceptional expert at something that has real value. Third, you've got to be a broad-gauged visionary--a leader, a teacher, a farsighted "imagineer." Fourth, you've got to be a businessperson -- you've got to be obsessed with pragmatic outcomes.
Author and entrepreneur Chris Anderson recently built on Peters' last question--"What do you want to be famous for?"--and added a fifth key skill:
The key talent of the 21st century is self-promotion and creating celebrity...[and] the goal is to create celebrity, or reputation...and convert that into something that pays the rent. [2]
One of the most skilled practitioners of this process is famous-for-being-famous Paris Hilton, cited by Anderson as "the perfect 21st century business model." He wasn't holding her up as a role model--he was simply noting her success at defining a personal brand through self-promotion and using that reputation to pay the rent, so to speak.
And obviously I'm trading on that reputation here by assuming that Ms. Hilton's presence alongside Messrs. Peters and Anderson above will capture some additional attention. I'm not suggesting that Hilton's a role model, either, but she's a logical (if occasionally regrettable) result of the dynamics that Peters and Anderson describe so well.
So what are you doing to take advantage of those same dynamics? The technical and social transformations of the recent past have given all of us the ability to independently present our ideas, our talents, our passions to the world at large (or at least to that segment of the world that matters to us.) We're now our own brand managers in a very tactical, tangible way.
Peters challenged us to identify the essential qualities that define our brand, and exhorted us to adopt four specific skills to enhance that brand. Anderson is challenging us to use the new media environment at our disposal to build our brand equity. He's saying that it's not enough to have all these terrific qualities described by Peters if no one knows about them--and it's never been easier to get that message out.
That's not always an entirely good thing, of course--see Hilton's success. And Anderson is quick to admit that the business of converting celebrity into something that pays the rent "can be just as dirty as it sounds." [3] It's possible to interpret Hilton's prominence as a dismaying indicator of the rise of bad taste and the coarsening of popular culture. But we should also view her as the product of a system that every one of us can take advantage of in one way or another.
No traditional cultural gatekeepers saw Hilton as an untapped talent waiting to be promoted. She followed Anderson's formula to the letter--she promoted herself, created a celebrity identity, and converted that reputation into an ability to pay the rent. Is the world a better place as a result? No, but we can't fault Hilton for that. She saw a market need and filled it.
No matter what we think of the "acting," "singing" and public misbehavior that made Hilton famous, she's worthy of attention as a "perfect 21st century business model" and as an example of the power of a personal brand. I'm not suggesting that we should follow her lead in any specific way, but if she can take advantage of these dynamics to create and maintain a business based solely on that brand, they're clearly accessible to all of us in our own communities and markets, using our own talents and abilities.
Footnotes
[1] The Brand Called You (Tom Peters, Fast Company, 1997)
[2] Chris Anderson on "Free" at Global Business Network
[3] Ibid.
Photos: Tom Peters by Uncredited. Chris Anderson by Joi. Paris Hilton by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
