June 2016 Issue 27
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The document provides an overview and review of the book "Think Like a Brand: A 7-Step Strategy to Increase Your Career Satisfaction and Success" by Pamela J. Green. The book lays out a simple, step-by-step approach to help readers reinvent themselves and their careers. It encourages readers to identify and leverage their skills to develop a personal brand and gain a competitive edge. Green uses celebrities in case studies to illustrate each of the 7 steps, which include writing a brand strategy, identifying organizational needs, researching future talent demands, creating a brand template, growing visibility, identifying related opportunities, and scaling the brand. The review praises Green's approach and accessibility, noting it is applicable for career development in any
June 2016 Issue 27
- 1. AN OVERVIEW The concept of branding is nothing new. Companies brand as well as rebrand themselves or their image all the time. Honestly, they are smart to do that. Even the most recognized global organiza- tions must reimage their identity, strategy, needs, priorities, culture, structure, or even their logo from time to time. And while some do it gradually, enlisting the support of stakeholders during the process, others may rely upon consumer loyalty to carry the company through what may be a painful metamorphosis. The end result, however, is the same. The company has once again strategi- cally transformed itself in front of our eyes. Personal branding, on the other hand, is a relatively new paradigm and this month’s review will present exactly what personal branding should look like, and perhaps more importantly, how it should be done. Pamela J. Green’s Think Like A Brand puts you in charge of how you can quickly and effectively change how others perceive you and quite possibly how you perceive yourself. Within this short, informative guide of 126 pages, our author lays out a simple, step-by-step approach that anyone can use to literally and figuratively reinvent themselves. She does so with common sense, wit, and a welcome candor. Any reader will quickly come to realize that Green has been there, done that, lived to tell about it, and now wants to share her secrets with us. And very much like a well-defined business plan the required components are there. Take for example how an organization’s vision and mission statement tries to convey its values and culture. Or, how it intends to market to its consumers, explain its strengths and weaknesses, and how its resources will be used. You get the idea. Think Like A Brand accomplishes the same objective but on a personal level and as the author states, “You’re about to learn a unique approach to identify, develop and leverage your skills into marketable talent- an approach that provides you with a competitive edge over other candidates and multiple career choices when you’re ready to make a change.” In other words, Green teaches us “how to be the caretaker of our own careers.” And like any business plan, Green encourages us that we first must get it out of our heads and down on paper. WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT? Each of us at one time or another, finds ourselves at a crossroads in our career and unsure of the next move. It could be as simple as completing a college degree and wondering what the future will hold in store for you. Or, as emotionally draining as being part of a forced downsize or even as uncertain as leaving your employer for opportunities elsewhere. Regardless of the situation, the need to be ready is certainly ahead of us. But are we ready? Think Like A Brand is not about how to write a better resume or maximizing our strengths; but rather, about “teaming all of our strengths so there is a balance and a collective value.” Green explains how to navigate through those unique, definable moments in our careers and how to learn from it for the future. She causes us to ask the right questions of ourselves so that we begin to think about skillsets we have already developed and how we can relate them in terms of branding. More significantly, Green speaks of our unique ability to innovate when she states, “You’re about to learn a unique approach to identify, develop and leverage your skills into marketable talent- an approach that provides you with a competitive edge over other candidates and multiple career choices when you’re ready to make a change.” STRUCTURE, LAYOUT, AND READABILITY Readers will appreciate several effective approaches Think Like A Brand takes with creating one’s personal brand or simply enhancing the one they have. Throughout the author shares with us those “brand” defining moments for her that forever shaped who she has become and in doing so you sense a friendly famil- iarity to what she describes. You simply like what she is saying and how she is saying it. Next, she creatively utilizes celebrities within case studies as a means to support each of the seven steps. For example, in “Step One: Write Your Brand Strategy,” retired U.S. football defensive end, football hall of famer, football analyst, television co-host, producer, Michael Strahan shares his memories of when he chose to identify and embrace his brand-defining moments and his advice for how we can accomplish much the same results. Additionally, our author provides strategic questions to consider as well as sharing her secrets about the step. And lastly, she summarizes what each has attempted to teach us. Each step is worthy of focus here but brevity limits my doing so. Suffice it to say, each builds upon the one before it. As just mentioned, Green uses a well-known celebrity to support each step and this strategy is smart. And, each one has applied the step in their career. These recognized names are: STEP ONE: Write Your Brand Strategy / Michael Strahan STEP TWO: Identify Your Organization’s Brand, Needs and Priorities / Jeff Bezos STEP THREE: Research the Future Demand for Your Talent / Misty Copeland STEP FOUR: Create Your Brand Template / Taylor Swift STEP FIVE: Grow Strategic Brand Visability / Beyonce’ STEP SIX: Identify Your Brand Adjacencies / Steve Harvey STEP SEVEN: Scale Your Brand / Sara Blakley To be totally honest, Think Like A Brand surprised me and in a very good way. My initial impression was that it would attempt to influence others to leave their current employer so they could strike out on their own. Boy was I wrong! Again, that was my first impression! And, yes, the author does provide insight and clarity to those specific impulses; but, what this book is really about is how to become the best we can be no matter where we are. Think Like A Brand applies to each of us. Think Like a BRAND: A 7-Step Strategy to Increase Your Career Satisfaction and Success BY PAMELA J. GREEN BY WILLIAM CARMICHAEL William Carmichael, Ed.D Strayer University william.carmichael@strayer.edu www.strayer.edu 27www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com