I have been interviewing at all the IIMs and top business
schools in India for the last 3 months - first for summer interns and then for
regular placement and I must admit that I am inclined to prefer those
candidates who can tell their life's journey and the purpose of that journey
consistently.
In my upcoming book "Rules
of the Game", I take a good look at how and you should be liking
yourself and continuously changing yourself till you accept yourself. What is
your Raison d'être? What defines your core essence? This is your ‘inner brand’.
After you have discovered or invented this, the consistent public presentation
of the product is creation of ‘outer brand’ ‘you’. A strong brand ‘you’
requires weaving a strong personal narrative about yourself. This is a rule of
the game that few have mastered since it has to be real, relevant and
repeatable.
Few things that you have to look out for:
- How to recognize that you are unique and distinguished from all others, and discover your authentic core essence?
- How to internalize personal branding into your personality? How to build the product ‘you’, keep it relevant all the time, and present it well to make it build-to-last?
- How important is personal credibility for your brand? How to build and maintain your credibility and character?
- What is the importance of networking in finding, creating, maintaining, and propagating your brand? How contributing to the network finds you returns in the long run?
At the end of the day, this is also a game. You
will win some and you will lose some opportunities but if you are consciously
going about thinking about yourself as a company that has a product (you) and a
brand (you), you will go about managing the product and the public perception
of this brand continuously. As any marketer will tell you, "a
Brand never sleeps".
