What are the Terms and Service of your personal brand? According to Wikipedia, Terms of Service (TOS) is defined as rules by which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. Usually, such terms are legally binding. The average person is typically not in a position to write there own TOS.
As I have been listening online recently there is a very interesting theme occurring with high profile people leaving companies, organizations and changing industries. This has me thinking about the power and ability to leave on your own terms.
High Profile People who are Changing
- Oprah Winfrey announces, The Oprah Winfrey Show ends September 2011 and she will focus on her cable network, OWN = Oprah Winfrey Network.
- Allen Iverson announces he is leaving the Memphis Grizzlies for personal reasons (basically because he isn’t starting) and later signs with the Philadelphia 76ers.
- Fritz Henderson former CEO of GM is forced to resigned after 8-months
- Alec Baldwin announces that he is not interested in acting anymore after 30-years in the profession.
- Bobby Bowen built the Florida State University Football program over 34-years and at the end of his tenure is basically asked to step down, but we still want you to help raise funds for the University.
Why are these events significant? This is significant because the world of work is changing and dependence on companies is fleeting. One of the greatest benefits of developing a strong personal brand is to be in a position to write your own Terms of Service. Whether you like Allen Iverson or not he is a first ballot Hall of Famer basketball player and he has decided he is either going to start or not play. That means he has limited his opportunities but has decided to live on his own terms. Oprah Winfrey has decided to develop her own network and be on TV on her own schedule.
The Elite Personal Brands Rewrite the Rules
Elite personal brands rewrite all the rules that we are instructed to follow in college. The ability to do this comes from paying the piper and spending the 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers. As a personal brand I am working to get to the Steve Jobs, Russell Simmons, Oprah level where I can rewrite the rules and live by my own Terms of Service: corporate dress consisting of blue jeans, sneakers, and maybe a baseball cap and start my own television network.
Are you operating on your own Terms of Service (TOS)?
