<p><br><strong>Tanvi Bhatt</strong><br><br>Take a moment to absorb this brand leadership epiphany: A hundred days are a lifetime in the life of a newly elected leader or the president; but a blink and a miss in the lifetime of branding!<br><br>Some of the most iconic world leaders have achieved in the first 100 days of their presidency what some presidents have not-in their entire term. History celebrates the achievements and the impact thereof, of the Roosevelt presidency, the Reagen presidency and of course the Obama presidency with poetic accolades; the changes they brought into the system within the first 100 days of their presidency are not only remarkable but outright inspirational. That brings us to the second part of this newfound insight-the ephemeral relativity of 100 days in branding: how does one build a brand in 100 days-especially when it takes years or even decades in the world of branding to build a brand that is celebrated for its value, consistency and commitment towards building credibility, reputation and legacy. The most iconic brands of the world right from Coca-cola, GE, IBM, Toyota are atleast a few decades old-if not a century; and the same is true with an obvious variation in the timescale for people brands too! Icons like Jobs, Branson, Musk, Dr Kalam, Tata and Teresa, have become such beloved people brands today because of the three common traits that all iconic brands share: Value, Consistency and Commitment to serve, to change the world-which they personify in every act of reason.<br><br>Let's converge these 2 seemingly contradictory ideologies to build a new line of thought: I believe that it is possible to build brand leadership for people brands in the first 100 days of their induction into this new way of life. It is possible to inspire, influence and impact a change when people embark upon their journey of brand leadership. It is possible to be Iconic as a leader as well as a thought leader once you commit yourself to change. All you then need is the blue-print to accomplish that! This column aims to serve as the very blue-print you require in the journey of your brand leadership: to evolve your personal brand from being a mere leader to a thought leader and from being a thought leader to an Icon.<br><br>For the next 10 weeks, we will explore a new dimension of your personal brand. Every week I will offer you 10 steps/tips/insights to start building the brand YOU.<br><br><strong>Week 1: "Brand Your Authenticity"</strong><br>Authenticity is NOT a buzz word; it is the TRUST word. People will continue to believe and trust in you and your brand promise only when you deliver your value-time and again. And only Authentic brands are equipped to build lasting legacies, because they have nothing to hide-ever. Then there is also the icing of happiness: When you are true to YOU, you evolve into a happier soul. Only when you are able to live a life doing what you really love to do, and manifest the values you hold dear to your heart, your Soul realizes its true destiny. Here are the 10 steps to discover your personal brand's authentic soul;<br><br>How to use this 'Be Iconic Blueprint': Go ahead and accomplish one step every single day for the next 100 days religiously; when you complete these 100 steps in the next 100 days-you will be surprise at the clarity you have about your life, your happiness, your brand and more importantly how to leverage the true potential of the Brand YOU and #BeIconic!<br><br><strong>1. Discover/ Re-Discover Your Passions</strong><br>You are ONLY able to give your 200% when you love your job/work. Ask yourself the following questions to check if you REALLY do love what you do or discover what you would REALLY love to do:<br><br>- What would you do for the rest of your life if you win 500 million dollars?<br>- What would you love to do 'forever' if you were blessed with immortality?<br>- What would you like to write a book on-what is your subject matter expertise?<br>- What super-powers/super-skills do you posses that nobody else does?<br>- What Legacy/Change/Impact you like to build/accomplish/create that fills you with happiness and pride?<br>Answer these questions with naked honesty; these answers will help you understand what you really love to do in your life.<br><br><strong>2. Fall in Love with your Job OR Fall out of Love</strong><br>Not all of us are blessed to be in the jobs we love; however, there are two options: either we think hard about what aspects of our jobs-'Our Work Passions'- we love to do, and focus on doing more of those OR we balance our life with 'Our Play Passions'-which are non-work related hobbies, activities, adventures that make us happy and religiously indulge in them to de-stress ourselves. Infact, if you do have any other hobbies/skills, expertise which makes you happier than your day job-seriously consider honing them to such an extent that you can simultaneously build a second lucrative career around those. The Indian author Amish, is a classic example of turning your passion (for him, the passion of writing) into a highly profitable career--forsaking a successful existing career in banking!<br><br><strong>3. Lessons from your Passions</strong><br>Passions are often your greatest Teachers, well, only because you are being a happy attentive student! Many of our passions can teach us more than a thing or two which we can incorporate into our work life or even life! For e.g.: If you love playing chess, it can teach you to adopt a more strategic mindset and moves while building your business. If you love playing cricket, it teaches you the impact of strategic teamwork in achieving targets. If you love hiking/trekking, it teaches you the importance of perseverance in building your business; ditching your comfort zone to achieve excellence; working with people you can implicitly trust with your business and life, etc. If you haven't indulged into 'passion inspired lessons of life' till date, now will be a good time to think laterally about your existing passions and what you learn from them. The reason for seeking these lessons is when we realize that our passionate pursuits have a deeper impact on our life beyond making us happy-the thrill of indulging in those passions becomes amplified.<br><br><strong>4. Convert your Passions into Your Strengths</strong><br>This one is not a day long adventure folks; you have to commit yourself to a disciplined routine to hone your passions. You can monetize your passions, skills, hobbies, expertise only when you have achieved a certain degree of mastery in them. Devote yourself to your passionate capitalization for 30-60 minutes on a daily basis to witness your passion transform into deep expertise in the subject matter over months. One great way is to break your time commitment into two 30 minute long capsules in a day if dedicating 60 minutes at a stretch is a challenge. Like Malcolm Gladwell advises, Practise your Passion for 10,000 hours to ace your expertise quotient in that subject. Have you started counting your hours yet?<br><br><strong>5. Flaunt/Celebrate Your Passions</strong><br>If you want to do more of something-talk more about it! Simple ain't it? The more you celebrate your love for all things that make you happy you are attracting more opportunities to do more of the same. Especially, if what you do has the potential to help others and adds value in their lives- flaunting what you are good at, via offering self-less value addition to your community is a sure shot way to be recognized as an expert-in-progress in your industry. And when all of it is driven with a goal of happiness and contentment, it doesn't feel like bragging, but definitively feels like branding!<br><br><strong>6. Know Your Core Values</strong><br>Your values are the beliefs, ethics, and morals that you live your life by; they are the calling card of your brand as well as your leadership. Having cognizance of what you will and will NOT do in your life, helps you maneuver through life's crests and troughs. List down all the values you strongly believe in; Ask a friend what he/she believes your values to be and do a quick fact check--are these two lists in sync? Do people know and admire your values? Have you been able to manifest your values effectively? If there is too much disparity, try exploring 'why' with a close group of well wishers and work towards re-aligning your behaviors with your core values. If there isn't much disparity in these 2 lists, then narrow it down to your TOP 3 Values which you will never compromise on-even on gunpoint!<br><br><strong>7. Grow Your Values</strong><br>Our Values evolve with our life; things we valued in childhood may have been replaced or appended with the things we begin to value in the professional world. It's important to keep growing your value system to enrich your brand; it doesn't have to be in your TOP 3 but having a rich set of top 10 values never hurt no one! Everyone aspires for something-at any given point in their life-ask yourself, what brands/people brands inspire me? What do I respect/love about these brands? The answers to these questions constitute your VIP Set- Values-In-Progress Set. Grow your brand with rich values every few years to build a richer Brand YOU legacy for the world.<br><br><strong>8. Manifest Your Values </strong> <br>Be proud of your values, and live them every single day. Values aren't valued much unless you live them and swear by them. Bring a little of your values and beliefs to work every day. In meetings, interviews, projects, targets, celebrations, speeches, writings- at every possible opportunity you get-ensure that you are delivering the best of you underlined with your dearest values for the world to witness, value and applaud! Again, this isn't a one day show-you must build it into your leadership life-style, slow and steady.<br><br><strong>9. Craft your Brand's Soul Statement</strong><br>Your Values and Passions come together to form the soul of your brand, of you! Select your deepest passion (work/play passion matters naught) and 2 to 3 of your dearest values and craft a YOUnique statement which celebrates the spirit of being YOU: the things that you love to do and things that you value. Use it wisely when they ask you next to 'tell me something about yourself!'<br><br><strong>10. Be Iconic</strong><br>What is life without Love, without Values and without a Dream? Remember, some of the most iconic people in the world have dreamt, dared and did whatever it took to lead their passions and live their values as they led the world towards a more meaningful, happier and beautiful tomorrow. Dream of a change, and then be the change: Be Yourself, Be Iconic!<br><br><em>The author is founder of Thought Leadership Labs</em></p>
