LEADING YOU
Brand Makeover
Caroline Nyamwaya Mwazi
C
oca Cola, Pepsi, Adidas, Nike,
Microsoft, Apple, Mercedes,
Porsche are all strong, highly
recognizable global brands. According
to businessdictionary.com a brand is a
unique design, sign, symbol, words, or
a combination of these, employed in
creating an image that identifies a product
and differentiates it from its competitors.
Over time, this image becomes associated
with a level of credibility, quality, and
satisfaction in the consumers’ mind.
Just as companies have brands, people are
brands, too. Professor Wangari Maathai,
Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Lupita
Nyong’o, Usain Bolt, David Rudisha, and
it does not just apply to celebrities only;
think about your colleagues, family and
friends.
All of us can name people in our circles
who are well collected, consistent and
reliable. Conversely, we can also name
people who are disorganized, loaded
with excuses and extremely unreliable.
As Rachel Miller, author of A Beginner’s
Guide to Personal Branding, puts it, your
personal brand is what people say about
you when you’re not in the room”.
I first heard about personal branding the
same time the organization I worked for
was re-branding. Fully understanding
organizational branding, I found it
fascinating that Tom Peters insisted that
individuals should brand themselves like
companies. The year was 2005, and the
book was Re-Imagine! Written after Tom
Peters first introduced the idea of personal
bran