In my book, The New Brand You, I talk about ten personal branding strategies. Arguably the most powerful is number 10, “Own a Cause,” because it’s not about you and how wonderful you are, but about your quest to make the world better in some way Celebrity chef Jose Andreas is a case in point. The occupation of chef once tended to be rather mundane. Chefs were closer to working stiffs than sought after celebrities. That is, until some chefs hopped on the branding wagon and the celebrity chef was born. Think of Julie Child, Doug Ramsey, Ina Garten, James Beard, Wolfgang Puck and “Naked Chef” Jam ..read more

The trigger for Biden this week was the special counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Biden’s retention of classified documents While the good news was that Biden was exonerated, that’s not what everyone is thinking about. It’s about whether Biden is too old to be president. Hur’s report branded the president as “an elderly man with a poor memory.” It’s a sticky catch phrase that everyone knows now, and it’s burying the fact that Biden is not getting charged for retention of classified documents. Rather than let the age question die out in the next news cycle, Biden went ballistic and hasti ..read more

    Why should how you look make a difference in getting the job? As superficial as it may seem, looking the part does matter according to a new study by the Harvard Business School. The HBS study analyzed 63,000 job openings and 160,000 freelance job seekers applying for those jobs. Certain accessories and physical features gave freelancers an edge, more than gender, age and ethnic background. Here are 3 tips for job seekers looking for an edge: 1. Pay attention to the details: For your profile shot, forget the snaps with your dog or kids and chose a neutral background. 2. Choose ..read more

Humans still outperform in sales studies. For Now. Sales has always been about more than what you say in a pitch. It’s how you say it. Right now AI is not as good as a real person in utilizing a voice’s rhythms, inflections and cadence (the mixing up of vocal expression). All of these things sway us to listen carefully and be persuaded. The power of a real voice is not surprising. Everyone’s voice is unique as I point out in my new book, “The New Brand You.” For centuries, there was no written language. People listened to one another’s voices. So if you’re in sales and in other client-faci ..read more

https://www.asbn.com/small-business-shows/atlanta-small-business-show/three-tips-for-building-a-robust-personal-brand-cathrine-kaputa/ To compete in today’s new world of work with hybrid, remote and in-person working, and AI beckoning, it pays to learn about personal branding. Branding is all about being recognized as someone who adds value to a business or career situation.Here are 3 tips: 1. Have a focused brand identity. Remember the Law of Singularity in branding. Being a Jack or Jill of all trades is no where’s ville in branding. If you can’t articulate your value in 10 words or less, go ..read more

Many successful people have traits in common as Barbra Streisand points out in her new memoir, “My Name is Barbra.” Weighing in at 1000 pages, it’s full of tips and hefty enough to be part of your exercise program. Here are 3 take-aways from the book: • See yourself as a superstar from the beginning Streisand’s success wasn’t just due to her talent and she’s got plenty of that and the awards to prove it. Yet we all know talented people who don’t realize their potential. She always aimed high. “I have never looked for jobs in the chorus,” she says in the book. “Frankly, I don’t think it even ..read more

 a   Strong visual identities are a quick read. And clothes are one of the quickest ways to communicate a message about who you are. Clothes often offer more insight than your words. Stylish clothes are a personal branding tool not lost on celebrities, but move over Kardashians, now there’s Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. According to the Wall Street Journal’s “On Trend “column this week, “Before his cleats touch grass on a game day, before he laces them up, Kelce said he takes at least three hours to pick out an outfit for walking into the locker room.” At last year’s S ..read more

Things are not so happy on the job front these days. After reaching its highest levels in 2020, employee engagement declined for the second year in a row according to a new Gallup study. Engagement, a key measure of job enthusiasm and involvement, is important because low engagement often results in quiet quiting that fosters employee unhappiness that often leads to job hunting. Not surprisingly, Gallup’s survey of 60,000 people reported that 57% thought that it is a good time to look for a job. Better than being a lethargic employee, better to do something about it. Analyze your grievance ..read more

The lines between what is office appropriate and what isn’t have blurred since the pandemic. But how far can you go when you’re pulled back into the hybrid office? You need to ask yourself, when people see you, what ideas pop up into their heads? Will they take you seriously if you’re wearing a cap with your favorite team’s logo on the front? You couldn’t have done it pre-pandemic in corporate America. But what about now? Well it depends on the cap. What about the baseball style cap worn by Logan Roy in the hit show, Succession. Roy’s hat appears ordinary. It doesn’t even appear to have a ..read more

What animal signifies Brand You? Often in doing a brand assessment, asking focus group participants to identify what animal or car they associate with a brand is more enlightening than traditional analytical methods and questions. Symbolic associations can be powerful branding. We all know the symbol of the United States, the bald eagle – it conveys power. But the bald eagle was not the only animals our founders considered. Other animal imagery debated was a cow with horns, a goose, a bear and a white-tailed deer. (See Stuart Halpern’s interesting article about the search for a symbol of th ..read more