Pre-Ramble:  If you want to be a player in this age of long-tail specialization you’ve got to have a “focus” … “content area expertise” … an “identity” … You’ve got to be a “brand.” (And, if you’re Russell Brand, you get to be a Brand brand … ). 

These days, a unique, focused and snappy “presence” is what it takes to gain traction around your agenda. Brand-identity expert Alina Wheeler discusses the evolution of “the brand” in terms of competition for recognition on an individual level … 

“In the competition for recognition, … the battle for physical territory has evolved into the competition for share of mind, … every business [is concerned with] the brand imperative, and even individuals are challenged … to become walking brands.”

Face it, in today’s “velocity of life,” if you don’t have your “elevator speech” polished, practiced and poised, you can pretty much forget about being hired for work, or, at the very least, being memorable in any meaningful way. (Could there be anything more tragic than unrealized memorability?)

Luckily, there are lots of books and businesses out there to help you define yourself personally, professionally, visually, narratively, digitally, virtually …  Writer and business management guru Tom Peters leaves no exclamation point unused in his pointed, free-style, motivational   tome, “Brand You: Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an Employee into a Brand that Shouts Distinction, Commitment and Passion!”  Brace yourself for a barrage of pithy (if slightly dated) thought-bites on the new Brand You, like …

• Getting started now: Perform a Personal Brand Equity Evaluation. … And, create a Yellow Pages ad for … you. ( … a what?)
• We need a snapshot: What does Brand You “look” like? “Feel” like?
• The Brand You currency: WOW Projects!
• Commit yourself fully to The Project Life.
• “Inc.” yourself. Mindset: I AM A COMPANY.
• You ARE your Rolodex! … ( … your what?)

K.I. S. S. … Keep It Simple Stupid … Less is more … Others, like the brothers Heath, Chip and Dan, authors of “Made to Stick,” (2007) discuss the properties of memorable, marketable ideas that ”capture people’s attention … and hold it.”  Chip ’n’ Dan claim that the more simple and pared down a concept or idea, the easier it is to understand and remember. Their advice — pick ONE THING, and go with it!

Hmmm … Mother Nature bears this out – most critters have a designated skill-set. Take the honey bee for example, … There are distinctive yellow and black stripes and that whole buzzing thing, … but in terms of primary products and services, they’re all about nectar procurement and processing, with pollination as a by-product. That’s it. You don’t see honey bees diversifying into air travel, insurance, or the cornbread business.

But what about individuals with more than one strong skill-set?  How do multi-faceted folks pare down to their essence in order to generate buzz?  Take Leonardo Da Vinci for example …. Painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, scientist, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, writer … Here is a guy who is widely considered to be one of the most “diversely talented persons ever to have lived.”  Italian historian Giorgio Vasari gushes … 

 ”In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill. Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied he solved with ease.”

How does a transcendent “archetype of the Renaissance man” pick ONE THING, and go with it?

The Take-Away:  I think there’s value in crafting a simple, resonant brand-identity in today’s marketplace. I just hope that people like Leonardo break out every now and then to show us what else they’ve got.  

Post-Note:  I got to wondering about what Leonardo would do to promote his brand in the 21st Century?  … Go on Stephen Colbert to talk about hydrodynamics? … Chat with Piers Morgan on the scandal surrounding his uncompleted “Adoration of the Magi“? … Dish on Oprah about his BFF Machiavelli?  Surely he’d be a featured speaker at TED, … Would the “Mona Lisa” have a fan page?

Pre-Ramble: There is a lot of buzz and quite a few books out there that promote the value of “branding” yourself as a way to attract recognition and business. I just don’t know about that. As a dedicated “intuitive thinker” who delights in the pursuit of random stuff, the idea of nailing myself down to a single focus is more than a little scary.

Well, so, by ”branding,” of course, I don’t mean scorching your backside with a hot metal “K.” I mean representing yourself to others — who you are, what you do and what you are about in a specific and consistent way.  Beyond a title or symbol, a brand is a holistic summation of the character of a person or entity — its personality or reputation.

Brands of businesses are all around us … the bold FedEx letter forms, the Nike swoosh, the little blue Twitter bird, the Target … target, the Apple … apple … They all have a distinct look and feel … they all have a unique differentiated point of view.  Alina Wheeler discusses the many dimensions of “brand”  in Designing Brand Identity (2003) …

There is substantial evidence that companies whose employees understand and embrace the brand are more successful. What began as “corporate culture” under the auspices of human resources is fast becoming branding, and the marketing department runs the show; … each touchpoint is an opportunity to strengthen a brand and to communicate about its essence; … brand identity increases awareness and builds business.” 

I get it. I can see the value there. The more people recognize you/your brand for what you “do,” the more likely they are to seek you out when they need someone to do that for them (… or with them … to them … whatever).  I am so all over this in the business world. I believe that businesses who are able to articulate a clear consistent message about who they are and what they do are ideally positioned to attract meaningful (and prosperous) business opportunities. So, I guess it is no small stretch to apply this same principle to the individual.  At any given time, in any given place, you as an individual may be called upon to perform as the brand that you are.

I guess what that means is, that at any given moment ”you” are a potential business … or a potential business opportunity.  By establishing a consistent set of attributes, skill sets, a look and a feel for yourself, … you are constantly marketing yourself in the world marketplace. I guess that’s the big hairy deal about the “new social media” venues – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. In launching a Home Page, or a Profile, or even a blog (!), you are, for better or for worse, putting yourself out there as a brand. Yikes – no pressure there.

The dilemma I have is, if in order to successfully be “a brand,” you have to forsake the enticing array of random very-cool-stuff that lurks around so many corners, it that worth it?  Creativity and its kissin’ cousin, innovation, are made from the very stuff of random collisions/conjunctions of things and ideas. So, does a guy have to sacrifice the capacity to think big, out-there thoughts for the privilege of having a successful business or personal brand?  (How do the folks whose brand is that they Think Big Out-There Thoughts make that work?)

The Take-Away: Doomed.  If I need to be together enough to align my appearance, environment, family members, pets, possessions, activities, attitudes, disposition and every confounded twittering thought in my head with my designated “brand,” …

… JUST SHOOT ME NOW.