Want the goss on personal brands? Go by the book

A PERSONAL brand may not be something many of us spend too much time consciously cultivating, but the concept is certainly driving growth in the self-help/management sector of the publishing industry.

A quick Google search will bring up a raft of authors and titles on the subject about the importance your life and your career, how to develop and grow your own personal brand and then what to do with it once you've finished nurturing it.

Of course, technically speaking, one should never actually finish nurturing a personal brand because as long as you're alive and kicking, so is your personal brand.

Titles include: U R a Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success by Catherine Kaputa; Peter Montoya's The Brand Called You; and Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd by David McNally and Karl D Speak.

But what is personal branding?

Most professionals have slightly different views but there is a general consensus among advertising agencies, public relations practitioners and communications professionals that personal branding is the intentional, or unintentional, development and communication of the personal and professional qualities of a person that define that person in the eyes of the community.

For the first time, this year's annual branding survey featured a category devoted to ranking 'WA's best personal brand'.

This inclusion illustrates the growing level of importance being placed on personal branding by the business community. And opportunities to enhance personal branding are developing all the time.

Online specialist and Longtail chief executive, Carlo Bertozzi, said developing personal branding online was a certain future development, although careful engagement was required.

"Given the number of social media, social networking and business networking sites that exist, the opportunity for personal branding in the online space is clearly huge," Mr Bertozzi said.

The inaugural winner of WA's best personal brand was Fiona Stanley, founding director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and inaugural chief executive of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.

The outcome came as little surprise to most branding and communications professionals contacted by WA Business News, such as Mills Wilson Communications Consultants principal Marie Mills.

"For me, in my business, personal branding is about personal values that translate into the business world and have demonstrable value, and she [Professor Stanley] does at every level," Ms Mills said.

"I think Fiona Stanley is consistently strong, beyond reproach in terms of integrity; she's got a hospital named after her now and obviously, she was Australian of the Year.

"At the same time she's not just a figurehead, she's got a very strong body of work that holds values and continues to this day."

It's a sentiment shared by FD Third Person director, John McGlue.

Mr McGlue, a former business and finance journalist and current director at the corporate and financial communications group, said Professor Stanley translated her strengths in the not-for-profit sector across to the corporate world.

"She's got great boardroom presence, she's someone who understands and who is very corporate with her engagement with corporates and understands where people's concerns and objections would be about throwing a lot of money at what is an amazing organisation she runs," Mr McGlue said.

"In the NFP sector, those who walk and talk like they are in the private sector in terms of the governance and reporting and accountability and so on are people who gain immeasurably in terms of personal branding."

Despite not knowing Professor Stanley personally, Marketforce chairman and chief executive John Driscoll recognised the value of her personal brand, suggesting her professional background and strong ethics gave her credibility.

"I guess those qualities make her who she is, and if you're picking up those sort of qualities and you don't even know the person, that's a very powerful brand," Mr Driscoll said.

And Ms Mills, similarly, wasn't too surprised to hear that burns specialist Fiona Wood was ranked as the second best personal brand in the survey.

"It's not surprising, and I think it's not an accident that we love doctors; they heal and they bring the social aspect to it," she said.

Beyond Dr Wood the list of best personal brands turns to some key figures in the Western Australian business landscape, which Mr McGlue said should be people who had delivered outcomes and value to shareholders.

"It's the old saying, if you make money for your shareholders you'll forever walk on a red carpet," he said.

"Governance and the ability to run the business well and the ability to formulate and implement a credible and believable growth strategy, the ability to manage crises well, all those things in the corporate arena, in a branding sense, become really important.

"And the philanthropic aspect too is quite important.

"A lot of it is less around cocktailsparties and profile and [more] around the ability to deliver value and outcomes."

Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest came in third place, followed by Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder.

Mr Driscoll said both men were very smart individuals with a well-defined balance between corporate objectives and community engagement.

"They're involved in sport, the arts, community organisations and having a balanced score card in terms of putting back into the community that is supporting their business, and they do it in a way that is genuine," Mr Driscoll said.

The Brand Agency managing director Steve Harris said there was no question that the CEO of a company and shareholder sentiment were inexorably linked.

"Richard [Goyder] is more a newcomer and he's done an extraordinary job in establishing his own presence and personality and credibility in that role," Mr Harris said.

"I personally believe when you buy shares in a company you buy shares in the CEO and your opinion of the CEO, and let me tell you I own shares in Wesfarmers and I keep buying them."

Apart from the fifth place getter, Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, there is a notable absence of political figures in the survey results.

Mr McGlue said this could be due to their inclination to speak out on issues.

"I think a number of them [politicians] feel that if they do stick their necks out they will get it chopped off," he said. "Maybe politicians themselves need to tap into better ways of communicating their views."

However, Mr Harris firmly believed that Treasurer Troy Buswell deserved a spot on the list having turned his personal brand around because "he's rebuilding himself and he treats himself like a brand" much like prime minister Kevin Rudd.

"Kevin Rudd became a brand that's much bigger than Kevin, and you see when the Kevin Rudd brand comes unstuck when he yells at people because he didn't get the meal on the plane and things like that," he said.

Block Branding creative director, Mark Braddock disagrees with Mr Harris about Mr Buswell, suggesting he's better remembered by most for the personal indiscretions that were aired last year.

Meerkats creative director Mike Edmonds said personal branding was relatively important, especially in the corporate world, but didn't suggest buying a book on the topic.

"There was a whole lot of conjecture about 10 years ago when people were coming out of with statements like "you are your own brand', and I think there was a best-selling book called that," Mr Edmonds said.

"I mean, the idea is true; when you're a high-profile person representing a corporation, then you are living that brand but I think its overdone a little bit - as long as you're authentic and you are consistent, that's about all you need to do."