"The mark that 50" by Tom Peters
Summary of the book, “The Brand You 50” by Tom Peters
Tom Peters’s “The Brand You 50” was a quick read, but the excessive use of exclamations !!!!!!, bold, ALL CAPS, font changes and hyphens was tedious and somewhat youthful.
Once I got over that it was a solid read that gave me some fresh ideas. I recommend this book to the person who is realizing that it is not just about what you know, but WHO you know and WHAT they know about you. I chose the most relevant pieces by identifying what I wanted to remember (which I added to my learning journal) and what actions I wanted to take. Both are described below.
Why I selected this book:
For the life of me, I can’t understand where I got the information to read this book, I think I read somewhere that this was a personal brand classic. I remember buying it used for 99 cents on Amazon.
Was “The Brand You 50” useful?
Yes. It helped me think about what was most important at work and I do it and try to eliminate the non-essentials. It also helped me think about “who am I” and “why do I want to be known.” As this requires quite a bit of introspection, I don’t have the results yet, but the mind is working in that direction.
What will you do as a result of reading “The Brand You 50”?
Take a personal brand equity assessment:
Define: What are the 2 or 4 things that I am known for?
Define: Next year, I’ll be known for these 2 or 4 extra things
Start building a personal brand value statement (brand priorities)
* Start with skills, attitude and character.
* Develop a quarter page ad.
* Synthesize up to an eight word positioning statement
* Make sure the calendar reflects 1, 2 or 3 of these priorities each day
* Perform an after-action review (AAR) each night, did you focus the day on one of the three priorities of the brand?
Look at the “to do” list, do you have any off-brand topics? Can you 1. Kill it, 2. “Wow” 3, put it off Ask, it’s not branded, stop! Focus 100% on branding work
Develop a contact list and manage it to the fullest! Last contact, next contact, score each contact (contact, neglect, etc.)
Invite the project killer to lunch Develop a visibility plan
Build a formal word of mouth marketing campaign (see Read: Regis McKenna’s “Relationship Marketing”)
What did I add to my learning journal after reading “The Brand You 50”?
Reread “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
Read: “Radical Honesty” by Brad Blanton
Read: “Relationship Marketing” by Regis McKenna
Try 1 really different thing every month
Go to the bookstore and browse 20 magazines you don’t normally read.