Some moons ago I was sent to Indianapolis by my employer to attend the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar. This event is described as “an annual professional development event providing effective leadership, educational and transitional programming for more than 200 current graduate assistants and interns from NCAA membership institutions, conference offices and affiliate organizations.” For me, it was a free trip to a new city with an expense account.
Thankfully the employer (and our sister office across the highway) saw it fit to send Friends of the Lodge Thomas and Emil (names changed (sort of)), who were my only two friends in Texas at the time. This was important, because my idea of a work trip was (and somewhat still is) to carouse, carry on, and generally sample the delights of a new city, while keeping the “work” aspect to a bare minimum. These things are more fun with friends. AND, there wasn’t any actual work to do. We just had to sit through some seminars and listen to speakers for a few days. Score.
70% of the trip was spent patronizing piano bars and sleeping off hangovers, and the other 30 involved the actual activities of the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar. This was a satisfactory ratio. And while I learned far more from conversing over whiskey at Howl at the Moon Dueling Piano Bar than I ever would from a lecture in an auditorium, there were some redeeming elements to the actual event.
The first evening, we were treated to two different speakers who were starkly contrasted in both style and content. The first was a guy – no idea on his name – who was billed as a “branding expert.” His talk was titled, “Building Your Own Personal Brand,” and basically revolved around the idea that your personal image should be a carefully calculated fabrication of what you think people want to see. The brand is what matters, he said. In your personal and professional life, you must create your own brand. He spoke loudly and enunciated well. There were graphs and charts.
The second speaker was a reserved, roundish gentleman. He had no script or podium, and rambled through a partial recollection of his career before taking questions for most of his time allotment. His answers were thoughtful and sincere, and he had two basic messages for the Emerging Leaders of NCAA nation: do what you love, and work harder than everyone else.
It wasn’t until Thomas brought it up later that I realized these two speakers were polar opposites. On one end: The Brand. Mold yourself, market yourself, make yourself what they want. Position yourself as an attractive candidate. Wear a tie. Whatever.
On the other end: work hard. Keep your head down, and don’t worry about the other shit. Be yourself and follow whatever it is that makes you get up in the morning.
I have no idea who the first guy was, other than an empty suit with a binder full of corporate speak. But I do remember the second guy. It was Greg Shaheen, who at the time was a senior VP of the NCAA, and is basically the architect of the modern day NCAA tournament (i.e. the best event in sports, period). I think he’s on ESPN now from time to time. Google him if you want. The guy gets it done.
The point? Shaheen was right. You get where you want by working harder than the next guy, not by “branding” yourself better. And that’s why I despise the idea of branding – yourself, a product, anything. Because what is branding, even? To me, it’s basically creating a false image of something in order to get money for that thing (e.g. sell a product, get a job, whatever). It’s pretending things are something other than what they actually are. Because if they WERE really the thing you’re pretending they are, you wouldn’t have to “brand” them that way. They would just be that thing.
Let’s take people, for example. Let’s talk about branding yourself. Who would you rather interact with? A real person, with quirks and flaws and a personality? Or a cardboard cutout who can “understand where you’re coming from,” and thinks “both sides definitely make some good points?” Who would you rather hire? Someone with opinions, or someone who says what they think they’re supposed to say? An individual or a brand?
Me, I’ll take the human being. Every damn time. So what if you have a misstep once in a while, or go too far, or fart in public? That’s what people do. You’re a person. Be a person. Don’t be a brand.