Fame - what's it all about?

Fame, the remake of Alan Parker’s 1980 multi-Oscar-winner hits out screens this week and I will leave the critical stuff to the critics. Thirty years on the world has changed considerably. Fame seemed like an intangible whisper of a dream to all who cultishly fell in love with the original all those years ago – and we now have a generation who believe that it really could happen to each of us. 

TV reality shows – the legal human ‘guinea pig’ studies of the most base of human behaviours can be blamed for much of this. Willingly subject yourself to being imprisoned with a bunch of strangers in a house, island, or jungle outpost and if you can hack it, you can achieve fame.

And before the reality shows, various chat shows including perhaps the most excruciating to watch, Jerry Springer invited us to air our dirty laundry in front of the nation. Worse still, they positively encouraged us to rip each other to shreds, often physically. And so we coined the term ‘fifteen minutes of fame’.

The talent shows - XFactor, Britains Got Talent et al are more focused on finding real talent, although one should not forget that TV executives control them and the ultimate goal is ratings and entertaining viewers.

And today, well we are all self-published - youtube, facebook, flickr and blogging allow us mere mortals our now ‘one minute of fame’ with sensible warnings from the sidelines about creating our digital footprint. What goes online stays online.

So what does fame mean? Our celebrity-obsessed culture seems to suggest that fame is the most desirable goal to attain. Aren’t we forgetting that success is synonymous with hard work, ambition, dedication and real talent? And to make that sustainable, one needs a raw, driven, relentless passion to follow our dreams.

Socialnomics

Some eye opening stats from Socialnomics - I was lucky enough to listen to Facebook's Trevor Johnson over a lunch hosted by Promise recently and I think that few of us realise how huge social media is.  He said that in the early days, i.e. only four years ago... advertisers created applications for users that really didn't do very well.  They soon realised the best way to reach people was to track what they are trying to achieve and then build applications to fulfill needs.  

So, if you are interested in travel, and you have searched Facebook for the best places to party in Shanghai, you will find adverts for Shanghai nightclubs on your page.  Have you noticed or does it just feel relevant?  

If you follow 'personal branding' on twitter, you will have noticed that many equate our personal brands with social and digital media.  And yet, it smacks of the cart before the horse - or the label on the tin.  

Talking of tins, think of a can of baked beans.  If you are anything like me, the only beans that you can think of are Heinz baked beans.  Heinz is beans - or so they say.  And yet, we are somehow forgetting what matters here - the contents of the tin.  Consistently get the beans right, and then we will trust the label. To translate... work on the personal brand and the all important impact will follow.

Personal Impact?

Who is your target market or audience and are you reaching them?

Yes, we all have a target market or audience.  This is the group of people who have an effect on our success.  And they extend way beyond how we evaluate 360˚.

 
    •    Ex-colleagues who may endorse you
    •    Recruiters who may headhunt you
    •    Professional associations who may recommend you
    •    The media who may promote you
    •    Those you work with and your stakeholders
    •    Your current and potential clients 

Collectively, they represent the group of people who affect your ability to be successful now, and in the future.

Are you reaching them?

I should ask too, are you making the right impact when you do?

We are all aware of the rare few who seem to get this right most of the time - those who seem to shine even through adversity.  For many others, its all a little hit or miss.  You think you are creating the right impact, but are not entirely sure.  For some, you know that something is not quite right but can't quite put your finger on the problem.

What's the answer?

Understanding, developing and effectively communicating your personal brand allows you to create the impact that you desire.

And the world is really paying attention to 'impact' right now.  We hear the phrases 'personal impact', professional impact' and 'client impact' all the time.  These are the soft skills that are at the heart of our success.  Without them, all of our personal and professional development has little chance of getting us there.  

Virgin Atlantic: 25 Years, Still Red Hot

Whilst the world is consumed with the recession and transparency, Virgin does the smart thing and sells sex with more than a dollop of humour to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Fabulous, super duper smart, inspired - I absolutely love it. It made me laugh, and that’s always a very good thing.

Another fantastic reinforcement of the Virgin brand - the brand that turned the modern day experience of flying on its head. Built firmly on Richard Branson’s personal brand – risk taker, maverick, lateral thinker, marketeer extraordinaire, original, great timing and fun – oh, and he knows how to make money.

And funnier still, the cries of sexism from the balefully humourless, determinedly beige brigade. And it seems that Virgin are not the only ones playing with the politically correct, Alpen have done it too. 

Their latest advert featuring five beautiful girls working out declares that it’s sexist, and then shows five gorgeous men doing the same thing. All I can say is thank you, thank you clever advertising people. We need a touch of humour in these dark days of doom and gloom.

The birth of PIPBA - Louise Mowbray, Founder

Four years ago I came across the term 'personal branding' and my senses went on high alert.  I wasn't sure about the label, it smacked of style over substance.  All a little too deeply dunked in blatant self-promotion for my taste.  Fine if you are an 'A list' actor, politician et al. 


And yet, it grabbed me and wouldn't let go.  I sensed that there was something simply, ridiculously, logical about it all.  I started reading all I could get my hands on, beginning with the man who is now attributed with getting the industry on the map.  Tom Peters, the Management author, speaker wrote an article for Fast Company Magazine in 1997 "The Brand Called You" where he argued we should manage ourselves as "CEO of Me Inc”.  According to a recent article in The Economists' Intelligent Life "The Big Sell" (worth a read) Tom added that he could see it was a different world coming.


And yes, the world is different - facebook was only founded four years ago and now has 180m users worldwide according to Treveor Johnson, Head of Market Development, who I recently listened to over a lunch.  But is the idea of learning or emulating what comes naturally to the most successful people, different?  I think not.  How many business books, leadership roadmaps, success formulas are there out there? 


In an earlier chapter in my career, I was an executive search consultant.  Organisations retained me to find the ideal candidates for various senior management roles.  I would always present a shortlist of three to five candidates.  And in and amongst the group there would often be a 'wild card'.  Someone who didn't necessarily tick all the boxes in terms of the brief, but just had that something special.  The WOW factor.  And these 'wild cards' would win the role as often as their perfectly qualified, experienced competitors.

 

I had always put this down to the right combination of EQ/IQ, and in those days, consumed all that I could get my hands on regarding the illusive qualities of emotional intelligence and leadership (we now add PI, or political intelligence and SI, social intelligence to the mix).  All well and good if you want to recognise success and leadership, but not a great deal of help if you want to help others to get there.


I have realised that applying the principles of building a personal brand, which result in us having the impact we need to be successful - is a little like doping athletes.  Except its legal.  An extraordinary, accelerated, leap-frogging occurs.  Take the right combination of raw materials - education, experience, skills, experience, knowledge - and add a dose of self-awareness and self-management.  It’s all down to cause and effect.  People buy people on an emotional level and when we understand what others find compelling about us, we tend to deliver more of this and less of the stuff that others don't value.

And so the media debate continues over the value of personal branding.  And behind the scenes, young people have already got it.  Have a page on facebook?  Then your brand is out there and you know that compromising photos of a wild night out, or your opinions of your boss shared with friends may well rule you out of a job or promotion.  And if you search twitter, you will find many attributing personal branding to your social and digital media footprint.  For me, all of this is the label on the tin - vital, however, if the contents are not the authentic real deal then it will be impossible to keep up the promise offered by smart marketing and PR - on any platform.


Four years in and I hear the words 'impact' and 'personal branding' constantly bandied about - and yet still too few are delivering real value to the organisations they work for or the clients they serve.  I have long been frustrated by the lack of resources, learning, and quality associated with delivery of services.  And so, with the support and encouragement of industry colleagues and clients alike, the birth of PIPBA.


PIPBA is for everyone.  Well, everyone who has an interest in developing a powerful personal brand and creating the impact they desire.  We founded PIPBA to offer the public a trusted source of certified people to deliver coaching, training and speaker services.  So you can use us as a reference point to find a certified practitioner, tap into the knowledge, tips and insider info available on our site, attend one of our open events, or even join us as an Affiliate to get a bunch of benefits delivered to you.


And if you are in the personal and professional development fields, you will find all that you need to accelerate your own professional development and to augment the services that you deliver.  More importantly, I look forward to all of our continuous professional development as this rapidly growing industry comes of age around the world.

Ayesha Vardag talks to PIPBA about women in the legal profession

Ayesha Vardag, founder of Ayesha Vardag Solicitors recently won Lawyer of the Week following her landmark win in the Court of Appeal acting for a German heiress in the prenup case Tatler headlined as “The divorce of the century”.   Ayesha is also on PIPBA's Advisory Board and I talked to her about women in the legal profession and her personal brand - this is what she had to say:

 

What issues are women in the legal profession facing today?

“The legal sector is heavily populated by women. Yet they are not proportionately represented in the top jobs.  I believe this is partly to do with working patterns and norms, which have been established over years by men who are single, or have wives who look after their homes and children.  Hence the culture of long hours physically in the office.  This is outdated.  In my experience women, including women with children, work just as hard as men, just as effectively, but are adept at organising their time around multiple commitments and locations.

Technology enables this to work for everyone.  I have in my firm a senior top grade matrimonial lawyer who runs major multi-million High Court cases in constant contact with her clients, and she does so while spending alternate weeks in Berlin where her children go to school. She is so integrated via technology to our communication and document systems that being in Berlin is just like being in the office upstairs.  Because we, as, presently, an all women firm, had the vision and flexibility to support this way of working things out, we got one of the best lawyers in the market to join our team.  Firms are losing out on the best lawyers, who are often women who have had children, through lacking this vision and flexibility.”

How has your personal brand/personal impact had an effect on your career?

“My style is very informal and practical, and I’m quite opinionated. Apparently I can be rather fierce.  But I laugh with my clients, I visibly care about their cases and I tell it like it is.  Clients seem to find that refreshing, and to find it easier to go through the traumas of family litigation with someone who behaves to them like a human being fighting for them.  I think the essence of what you call a personal brand is learning that you’re most successful being yourself.  But first you have to find out what that is!”

How do you think women in the legal profession are perceived by their colleagues and the public?

“At the Bar and in the City I found there was a lot of the kind of prejudice whereby if you were grey and plain and a bit dull you were likely to be taken more seriously than if you were attractive or fun.  Sometimes women play to that and make themselves duller so that they look more competent.  As Madonna once sang in What it Feels Like as a Girl, “When you’re trying hard to be your best, can you be a little less?”  I think the trick is to get results, then trends and attitudes adapt.  I think strong, successful, colourful women can be seen as rather scary.  But in my business, which is both a very human business and highly intellectual at the cutting edge, both men and women still want them on their side.”

How do you prepare your clients in terms of their image and personal impact?

“For court, always the same, men or women:  look as nice as you can, in a very classic, dignified, demure way.  You don’t have to be bland, but you have to show respect.”

Your five top tips for women in the legal profession?

“Just do it.  Start your own firm, push for that promotion, get back in the game if you’ve got out of it, and work at doing what you’re best at, in the way you’re best at it.  If you think about it too much, you start to feel the fear.  Just work out what you like, jump in, and don’t let anyone stop you.  Some women enjoy working as jet-set City lawyers, some want to save the rainforest, and some want to sort out people’s personal dramas.  Every time you do something you’re afraid of, and you succeed, you become that much more courageous.”