Who are you?
You might state your profession to answer this.
I argue, to answer this, consider yourself as a brand.
Why branding yourself is important?
Brand value is the top priority for an organization. They are very sensitive about it. It is important because it creates trust. No one will transact with a company on which they don’t trust.
But It isn’t limited to organizations only.
You too are trustworthy because of your brand.
You don’t care to think, but, your actions are getting monitored by everyone you interact with. You do it too, hence as humans, they also create an image of yourself based on your behavior in each situation.
They associate your name with few bullet point about yourself in their mind.
This all may look like I’m telling you to be a people pleaser, right?
No, You should never do that!
How to become a brand without being a people pleaser?
You need to have ethics before you start creating a brand. You cannot sail to the right destination without having the correct map.
You are result of your ethics and your honesty towards them.
When you have ethics, you dictate what people think about yourself. Again, it’s less about others’ perception and more about taking control.
It is natural to occasionally falter in upholding your ethics, but it is crucial to learn from these instances and make necessary adjustments. It’s not because what others will think about you, but you cannot let down the most important person on earth – yourself.
I can let down thousands of people and I don’t care. But letting down the “I” is my biggest nightmare.
How to create ethics?
Imagine you are on a stage, going to give a presentation about a product. The product is something you have been working for the last two and a half decades or your life. This is the most important presentation of your life because the product is you.
Your ethics should drive the presentation for you.
We have found many ways to deliver great products. But we have hardly found many ways to deliver a great self.
It will look like this for me:
Ladies and gentleman, today I’m launching [MY NAME]:
- I am very competitive. I don’t believe in mediocrity. Specially in things I am passionate about.
- I follow “If you love something, become immersed in it” kind of mentality.
- As a passionate techy, I can deliver almost all the step in a software creation flow. From the development to operation with full hands on experience.
- I believe simplicity, quality, and faster iteration matter the most in software.
- I believe discipline is the most important skill.
- Even in my late twenties am delighted to tell you, I’m the most fit version of myself. Being healthy matters to me.
- I prefer to live a minimalist life.
– My ethics
In future posts, I will delve deeper into my personal ethics. In the meantime, I encourage you to develop a similar list of guiding principles. Go ahead, create your ethics and share with the world today. If you commit in public, maybe that will force you to follow your ethics.
Conclusion
If you follow your ethics with true honesty, you will become an impactful brand. Keep your ethics list at the top of your mind. If anything you do doesn’t align with your ethics, actively reject it.
The most inspiring individuals are the one who have great ethics and adhere to it until they become a brand.