Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd [Paperback]

David McNally (Author), Karl D Speak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

Brands are typically associated with products and businesses, but David McNally and Karl Speak suggest the same concept can be applied to individuals and relationships, with powerful results. Be Your Own Brand shows how personal branding, like product branding, creates a special type of relationship fueled by a strong belief system and tied to an emotional connection. The authors help readers understand the importance of relationships as the currency for success in their personal and business lives. They present specific tools for success that include simple principles that define the characteristics of a branded relationship; a clear model that defines one's unique personal brand; and a way to distill the essence of that brand into a meaningful and actionable "brand promise." This blueprint for "personal branding" will help all readers achieve maximum career success - quickly and permanently - without personal compromise or selling out.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Squarely delivers where other books have left off by creating a genuine self-understanding and a strong picture of the person you are and want to become to create real sustainable personal change.”
--Stephen Weiss, Former President EDMC Online Higher Education and Former President and COO Capella Education Company

“A strong personal brand is paramount for effective leadership. Be Your Own Brand is a powerful and practical guide for building deep and meaningful relationships.”
--Perry Cantarutti, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Delta Air Lines

“Be Your Own Brand, when applied within a business organization, has the power to accelerate the pace of organizational brand development tremendously.”
--Taras K. Rebet, President, West Europe, Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH

“From this book you’ll experience deep introspection and discover your own brand which will surely ignite personal and professional growth.”
--Heather Backstrom, Employee Development Manager, Moog, Inc. – Aircraft Group

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Living Your Personal Brand – The Key to Enduring Individual and Business Success

Brand building is typically identified with businesses, but personal and professional relationships can also be seen—and managed—by these practical and proven techniques. It’s not enough to simply paste on a superficial veneer. Brands, like special relationships, are real and make a difference. Just as the greatest business brands succeed through authenticity, your personal brand must reflect a sense of purpose, vision and values that truly embodies the real you.

David McNally and Karl Speak will show you how to create just such a personal brand. Using powerful techniques refined in the heat of business competition, they’ll guide you in defining and building a personal brand that is strong because it is distinctive, relevant, and consistent. A strong personal brand will enrich you personally as well as professionally. This book provides:
• An in-depth understanding of the principles of successful brand building—in any context
• Practical tools to build and manage powerful relationships in all aspects of your life
• Strategies for aligning your personal brand values with your employer’s brand values and making brand building a successful endeavor for you and the organization
• Advanced personal brand management techniques to help you stay on course as you continually refine and improve your unique personal brand.

Personal brand management will help you become more successful by building special relationships that allow you to get credit for who you really are and what you believe in. By daring to be your own brand you get to be more of who you are, not less – the most authentic strategy for success throughout your life.

“Be Your Own Brand gets right to the heart of how people can become a powerful, creative force in their own lives.”
—Bill Rutherford, Chief Financial Officer, Eastern Group, Hospital Corporation of America

Be Your Own Brand David McNally and Karl Speak start from the premise that a brand is a relationship, not a statement. And a personal brand is a special type of relationship, fueled by a strong belief system and tied to an emotional connection. Companies and products with strong brands are always the most successful in their industries. Strong, enduring personal relationships are every bit as sound and satisfying. Using the proven principles of successful brand building, McNally and Speak will show you how to build the kind of enduring, resilient relationships that can drive personal as well as professional success.

In an accessible style, Be Your Own Brand presents a new and compelling brand-development model—“personal brand management”—to help you succeed by building on your own unique values and beliefs. These “branded” relationships will let you be more of who you are, not less, in all facets of your life. And Be Your Own Brand will help you create relationships that, like the best brands in the world of business, truly stand the test of time. This innovative brand development approach will also benefit companies and organizations of all types by harnessing the power of the individual to ignite the collective brand building power inside the organization.

David McNally is a best selling author, an internationally acclaimed speaker, and an award-winning film producer. He is the author of the bestselling Even Eagles Need a Push: Learning to Soar in a Changing World and The Eagle’s Secret: Success Strategies for Thriving at Work and in Life. He has spoken before such organizations as Merrill Lynch, The Washington Post, Unisys, Dun & Bradstreet, Honeywell, American Express Financial, State Farm Insurance, and Amway.

Karl D. Speak is president of Beyond Marketing Thought, a global brand management consulting firm. In addition to his many consulting assignments, his Executive Branding Workshops™, seminars, and keynotes help take the mystique out of brand management issues for audiences representing every size, scale, and type of business. He writes regularly for magazines ranging from Design Management Journal to the Journal of Health Care Marketing. He has taught in MBA programs from the University of Minnesota to London’s renowned University of Westminster. His client list includes industry leaders like Target Corporation, Wall Street Journal, Stanley Tool Works, Skandia, Pillsbury, FedEx, US Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Sony, American Express, Cargill, Sara Lee, 3M, Honeywell. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576752720
• ISBN-13: 978-1576752722
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #755,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be Your Own Brand cuts to the chase!!, March 23, 2002

By 

"neil_schermitzler" (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd (Hardcover)

Have you ever known someone who didn't match up to their press release and/or who wasn't the same person "off camera"? If so, read Be Your Own Brand. McNally and Speak neatly help the reader become cognizant of the fact that who we think we are can be challenged by simple word association, i.e. I ask someone you know "when I say(fill in your name here)what comes to mind?"

The authors lead the reader through an introspective journey that allows one to ponder whether they have the same drawing power as a fast food chain or a soft drink. As a learning tool, Be Your Own Brand helps the reader get below ones surface (image)to consider their core beliefs and values (soul) that others can
easily differentiate about us. A whole lot of good thinking in less than 150 pages.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Self help for marketers- one useful idea, May 5, 2006

By 

Louise McCauley (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd (Paperback)

This book re-casts in marketing speak Adam Smith's old injunction for businessmen, that they ought to be honorable, because dishonorable behavior will damage their reputation, and thereby damage their business. Of course, those who have not noticed that other people judge them by their behavior, are probably so far gone that this book wouldn't help them anyway.

That said, thinking of oneself as a commodity, like toothpaste or hamburgers, can be a useful heuristic device for understanding the perceptions other people make about you, and where their understanding might not align with your own. It is, as the authors point out, not enough to simply be a good person. If other people do not "perceive" you as a good person, then you're unlikely to get many of the benefits of being a good person. The authors' most interesting peice of advice is to use metrics to measure how well your behavior matches your "brand" (the kind of person you want to be) and to also actively measure how well your "brand" accords with others' perceptions of you.

This is a rather starkly utilitarian perspective on self-development. This book contains several ideas in the details that are useful thought-experiments for understanding where there may be a disconnect between what you think you are, and what other people think you are.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Is A Must Read For Everyone In Business!, May 29, 2002

By 

"jennifer_achievers" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd (Hardcover)

"BE YOUR OWN BRAND" is a great book with a powerful premise. Instead of regurgitating all the old marketing themes about branding, David McNally and Karl Speak, uncover the fundamental truths. Creating a unique stand-alone identity requires a commitment to build special relationships - with yourself, your co-workers, your customers and the public. The authors make it easy to read and understand. In addition, there are lots of practical strategies that will inspire you to take action. This is a must read for everyone in business!