Archive for May, 2008

I have tried my best to refrain from starting a discussion here on the Democratic primary since my views are not fair and balanced. For upfront and full disclosure I campaigned for Barack Obama in New Hampshire and am still trying to get my hands on an Obamaca for temple. However, recent events have illuminated a pertinent consideration for our personal brands. What role does politics play in the shaping of our identity? Put aside voting patterns for a second and think about whether demographics have a strong influence on our behavior.

Based on the social networking and technology trends of the last decade I do not believe we can any longer effectively measure behavior by slicing and dicing groups into red states and blue states, into white, black, Latino, and Asian, and into rural and urban. The one exception that has slipped through to the “era of the individual” is age. A recent New York Times article, ” “, suggested the only reliable voting blocs in this election have been age groups. All other groups including class, race, sex and region have defied significant patterns. I will take this as a “I told you so moment.” My post last week on the Age of Age explained how age is the most significant signal of behavior and values.

Remember two years ago when Time Magazine named “You” as the Person of the Year. This was the beginning of a wide recognition that Generation Y and the Millenials want to be viewed as individuals and not put into categories of people. While we want to be part of communities, we don’t want to be defined by them. So keep up the good work adding pictures to Facebook, letting us know where you are on Twitter, and developing your thoughts on Wordpress or Blogspot. And continue buying clothes that are fashionable in your world, listening to music that says something about you, and of course trying to change to the world in a way only you can.

Politics is recognition of an ideology, not an identity.

As a reminder it is Mother’s Day on Sunday. So order your flowers and purchase your Hallmark cards now.  If one person remembers to call their mother because of this post, I will be happy. This is also a good time to reflect on how others perceive us. Would dear old mother be proud of the reputation we have created and perpetuated?

I, for one, am taking some time to think about how my reputation matches up with the values and beliefs my parents instilled in me. Some of those values and beliefs I have strongly followed and embedded into my everyday behavior. Some of my personal values are modified versions of the ones my parents taught me. While the apple usually does not fall far from the tree, the apple generally does not fall directly on the root either - if you get my drift. I definitely drifted a little bit (both from the tree and in this rant). And finally there are some values I try to stand by, but don’t articulate very well to others.

If you would like to get a better sense of your “current personal brand” I have a couple of suggestions:

• Myers-Briggs Personality Test - There are a number of websites that allow you to take versions of this breakthrough personality assessment. I highly suggest using a 15 minute smoke break at work to run through the questions at Human Metrics. From this test you should glean some insights into personality traits you were not aware you had.
• Find the Themes In Your Successes and Failures - Make a list of all the major achievements in your life and the goals you have yet to reach. Each to next item try to concisely pinpoint what was critical to your success or what were the main hurdles to success.
• Ask Others - Why is it such a taboo to ask your friends, family and confidants what comes to mind when they think of you? The process by which we discern our current personal brand is a lot like a Rorschach test. Flash your name in front of others and the first associations make up your personal brand. All the time I ask people, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear my name?

I know my mother needs a new crock pot, but I think a better gift involves me telling her how glad I am that she instilled me with such a strong value system. At least my personal brand is no longer synonymous with Fruit of the Loom; my mom no longer writes my name on my underwear.