All those companies out there, they are brands. Google, Pepsi, Reliance, Nokia, Vodafone, Adidas, LG, Samsung, Hyundai…
Think of any one of them, without their name.
Think of Adidas selling their sports wears without their logo on it. How about a new Google service which does not begin with “Google”? Every one of those companies, and the others out there, have a brand.
This branding does not come on its own. They need to advertise, they need to put logos on their products, they need to put in their product as theirs. And after all of this they grow as a reliable brand with customers worldwide.
Not just that, when we hear of a brand name, all the values, all the ideas, all the causes that brand supports suddenly pops up into our mind. So, when we hear Google we will know it is about simplicity. Firefox – open source. LG – Making life good. Pepsi – Selling more (dil mange more :D).
Now how do we apply that to human beings?
Let us say a person X has a lot of qualities. X finishes the task assigned well in time, X meets all dead lines, X is punctual, X never wastes time, X loves working late.
Now, if you were asked to give an urgent task, one that will become messy if postponed, would you not consider X automatically?
Because you know X knows to manage time.
Then we say X is a brand in a person. A brand which puts time up in their priority list.
For becoming a brand you need to have a set of values, which you strictly adhere to.
Could be Gandhian values (like me), Buddhist values, Islamic values, or for that matter the values of any religion, English values, American values, European values, Indian values.
Or it could be hybrids.
Or it could be a new set of values that you define on your own.
But whatever be your values, you need to strictly adhere to it.
If you say “you will always be happy”, you must always be smiling.
If you say “impossible is not a word in my dictionary”, you must display that courage to do anything.
If you say “I love sleeping”, you must have even tried polyphasic sleep.
The idea is you must be predictable. If you say “I will be unpredictable”, you must be always (and predictably) unpredictable.
And then people will know what to expect from you and what not to.
That way when there is some thing that you can do well, they will know who can do it well.
When an expert is needed in what you love to do, they will know whom to run to.
And you will not have to explain the reason behind things you are doing. Because they know that it is your nature to do such things. You will no longer be misunderstood, because they know what you are meaning.
Life becomes so much more easier.
So, brand yourself.