A personality branding seminar organised by a Lagos-based firm teaches participants how to create a distinct imageBy Blessing Ogunli
They came in their numbers with one mission: to get the necessary tips on how to enhance their personal identity and positively change their outlook for the future. And by the time the Leadership for Associates seminar on Personal Branding, organised by Get Ahead International, a management consulting firm and sponsored by Daleware Promotional Advertising ended, participants had got more than they bargained for.
The event which held at the Banquet Hall of Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos on 24 March, saw the speakers making thought-provoking presentations on image packaging. It equipped participants, consisting of middle level career workers and entrepreneurs, with proven ways of branding themselves in their professional and business pursuits. The seminar, which was free of charge, also provided participants with information that would help them to change their outlook for the future.
Steve Akoni, President, Get Ahead International and lead speaker at the seminar, said his company decided to organise the programme based on its findings that many persons who aspire to better their lot cannot afford to do so.
“I went through so much to get where I am. So, I believe if I can make it, anybody with determination can,” he said.
Akoni who presents a daily personal and professional advice programme on radio called Management Tips, acknowledged that there is abundant information available on the internet. He, however, explained that those that could make a meaningful impact on the lives of individuals are not on the internet, but also expensive to come by.
“You get a lot of information on the internet, but the real information that you will use, the ones that are costly, are not on the internet,” he said. Akoni told the gathering that they were not there to learn how to pose, or how to be proud and oppress other people, but to learn how to become more and more of who they should be naturally.
He hoped that those present would be able to discover their true selves, so that when they retire they can boldly say to themselves that they lived a good life.
Akoni explained that the whole essence of personal branding is about creating a distinct image that will stand an individual out in a crowd and leave a lasting impression on the minds of people.
Defining personal branding as the way people see you, feel you and experience you in totality, the management consultant explained that for an individual to have a distinct identity and represent himself to the world around him as an able communicator, he/she needs to understand the concept of personal branding.
He listed the different stages of personal brand development as discovering the brand, developing the brand and deploying the brand.
Ken Egbas, Managing Partner of Trucontact Communications Limited, a leading public relations company, who spoke on Leading as a Lean-On, described a lean-on as someone who is out to support the vision of another individual. He stated that a lean-on could be a deputy supervisor in an organisation, the second-in-command in a church, personal assistant to the head of an organisation or a support leader.
He explained that as a leader, it is important to always carry others along and allow room for shortfalls and not crucify them for it. “A good leader creates a brand that will not only project him in his place of work but also as an individual in the corporate world,” Egbas stated.
Yemi Smith who talked on Vicarious Branding: The Potency of Associates, used the Maslow hierarchy of need to explain the concept of branding as it relates to personal branding. He advised the gathering to be wary of those they use as referees in their resume or those they appoint into the boards of their companies.
Get Ahead International is an organisation with an avowed mandate to enhance leadership. It organises, free of charge, periodic corporate training programmes tailored to empower middle-level career individuals and entrepreneurs.
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