For your personal brand also, being seemingly indifferent to other peoples’ successes and challenges will certainly have a negative effect and can label you as uncaring and self-centred. In fact, being interested in other people makes you a more interesting person and provides a solid, genuine and authentic element to your brand that is appreciated and remembered.
I often use the story of a coaching client of mine to demonstrate how powerful being interested in others is. This particular client was the Company Secretary of a FTSE 100 company – a particularly busy and international role. While we were making small talk at the start of the client’s first session as we got to know each other, I mentioned the challenge I had at that very time getting accommodation sorted out for my son, Max, at Cardiff University. He had 2 weeks to go before the start of term, and nowhere to live!
At the client’s second session some 8 weeks later, the very first thing he asked me was: “How’s Max, how did he get on with his accommodation at Cardiff?”.
I was blown away by the fact he recalled this situation, with the details of Max’s name and University too. It was a huge reminder of how powerful being interested in others actually is.
If you can build into your business and your personal brand, a higher degree of interest and less indifference to your colleagues and clients, consistently, then you’ll have an edge over your competitors, stand out from the crowd and be remembered and talked about for the right reasons. What can you do today to eliminate indifference?