What is your Story and how does that relate to Your Personal Brand?
This week Story seems to be a recurring theme. Knowing your Story was important in a seminar I attended entitled “Different Has Arrived, A Different Way to Interview” for job seekers. Also, I attended a workshop yesterday designed to help leaders connect volunteers with service opportunities that are a good fit. There was a powerful connection to Story in how volunteers are connected to meaningful service.
Knowing and mining your story is an important part of identifying and developing Your Personal Brand. When you mine your story, you learn a great deal about who you are. You learn which life experiences stand out most for you; through that, you more easily see your priorities and your direction for the future. Your values and passions also show up in your story. Who you are at your core is revealed in an honest reflection on your story.
This morning, I received this blog post from Seth Godin:
The facts
A statement of fact is insufficient and often not even necessary to persuade someone of your point of view.
“I was going to end the post just like that, but then I realized that I was merely telling you a fact, one that might not resonate. Here's the riff:
Politicians, non-profits and most of all, amateur marketers believe that all they need to do to win the day is to recite a fact. You're playing Monopoly and you say, “I'll trade you Illinois for Connecticut.” The other person refuses, which is absurd. I mean, Illinois costs WAY more than Connecticut. It's a fact. There's no room for discussion here. You are right and they are wrong.
But they still have the property you want, and you lose. Because all you had was a fact.
On the other hand, the story wins the day every time. When the youngest son, losing the game, offers to trade his mom Baltic for Boardwalk, she says yes in a heartbeat. Because it feels right, not because it is right.
Your position on just about everything, including, yes, your salary, your stock options, your credit card debt and your mortgage are almost certainly based on the story you tell yourself, not some universal fact from the universal fact database.
Not just you, everyone.
Work with that.”
So, work with that I will. Your Personal Brand isn’t really about facts that can be measured against some arbitrary norm out there. Your Personal Brand is about the authentic You.
Out of this, I ask the question, “Which are you focusing on, facts or your Story? Want to discover and develop Your Personal Brand?
Join us for a workshop series to mine your Story and build Your Personal Brand.
