From Meet the Experts Sessions: Your Personal Brand: Manage a Distinctive Career
Creation of a personal brand is a hot topic among professionals seeking to enhance their careers. The topic was discussed by Kimberley Goode, vice president of communications and corporate affairs for Northwestern Mutual; Amy Dubois Barnett, former editor-in-chief of Ebony Magazine; Paula Williams Madison, vice president of the board of police commissioners for the Los Angeles Police Department and owner of Madison Media Management; Sheldon Cuffie, vice president of information risk management for Northwestern Mutual; and Benjamin F. Wilson, managing principal of Beveridge and Diamond. Each illustrated personal branding by describing their brand and what it means to them during the Meet the Experts Session, "Your Personal Brand: Manage a Distinctive Career," presented Thursday by Northwestern Mutual. Goode began the session by identifying the three keys to successful personal brand creation: • Clarity of purpose – Know who you are and what you want to accomplish; • Credibility – Make sure you deliver on your promises and are skilled at your job; • Consistency – Be true to your brand wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Madison describes herself as someone who always maintains her integrity and is an expert at fixing broken operations or systems. She admits to not consciously developing a formal brand or career plan, but because she has always known what matters to her, she was able to describe herself no matter what job or what industry she found herself. As a young man, Wilson remembers meeting Martin Luther King, Jr., expecting a tall, powerful man but admits he was shocked to see that he was short of stature. "I learned that power in not measured by stature but by purpose of life," he explains. As an attorney, he describes his purpose, or personal brand, as winning for his clients and caring about them, their concerns and their families. Because consistency is the mark of an effective personal brand, the values that make up a brand will carry you through changes in your career – planned and unplanned. "I was happy with my career which led me to the position of editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar but an offer from another company was attractive, so I left Harper’s Bazaar after negotiating a contract with the other firm," says Barnett. Unfortunately, she arrived at the new company to discover that they had received dismal financial news and could not afford her – leaving her with no job at the very beginning of the 2008 recession. "It took me a year and a half to find a job because no publishing companies were hiring," she says. Because she values not being pigeonholed, she sought opportunities outside women’s publications, eventually accepting the position at Ebony. She points out that knowing what you value and what you represent can get you through tough transitions. Sometimes the ability to define yourself doesn’t happen right away, points out Cuffie. "My father always directed me to the field of technology with math courses and summer programs, but it wasn’t until I had dropped out of college, married and started a family that I was ready to define myself and career." While working full-time and raising a family, Cuffie finished his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and continued to accept increasing responsibilities – in spite of fears that he wasn’t ready. It’s a family thing, he says. Throughout history Cuffies have been black business and community leaders, and had rivers and cities named after them, so whenever Cuffie expressed anxiety or fear of failing, his father said, "You’re a Cuffie. You can’t fail." |
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