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Tiger Woods: Seven Lessons on Tarnishing a Platinum Personal Brand

Does platinum tarnish? The answer is no, due to it’s high purity which is the way most people felt about Tiger Woods personal brand, that it could never be tarnished. He has been the embodiment of focus, drive, and winning. The world’s first billion dollar athlete who until November 25th had a seemingly impeccable reputation that most people and brands admired and envied.

Sponsorship Impact

  • 80-90% of his annual earnings are from endorsements.
  • His approval rating has dropped 18%.
  • Gatorade, Accenture, and Gillette sponsorships dropped.
  • Pac-10 has pulled their ad with Tiger Woods.

Seven Lessons all Personal Brands can learn from the Tiger Woods Situation

  • Be Authentic: A personal brand should not be a make believe image that you cannot live up to. Whether you are a billion dollar athlete or not packaging your personal brand in away that is consistent with your lifestyle is important.
  • There is always somebody watching: We live in a digital world that is online 24/7 that archives every step of your digital footprint. Understand everything you do will come to light so live your life as though everybody is watching. When the public makes you how you are, you sacrifice your privacy for brand equity, fame, and fortune. Remember your personal brand cannot be compartmentalized.
  • Reputation is NEVER more important than Character: What is more important reputation or character? Tiger is the poster child for impeccable reputation. Reputation by definition can be distorted which was clearly the case for Tiger. Strong character can be developed.
  • Who in your inner circle?: Do you have a person or people who are not bought, not “YES” people, but individuals who are capable of giving you sound advice. “YES” people make you feel good that will literally destroy your life and your brand. You need people around you who will help you to stay accountable especially as your influence and personal brand grows.
  • Understand the 30-Second Rule: How long does it take to build a strong brand? It takes a lifetime to develop a strong reputation and 30-seconds to destroy it. Think before you act.
  • Where is your Focus?: Whatever you focus on is what will grow. What you focus on creates actions, those actions create habits, those habits are the foundation of your personal brand.
  • What is your Personal brand Connected to? As your personal brand grows and your influence expands your every decision impacts future opportunities, future earnings, and the strategic partners you are connected to.

Conclusion

Will Tiger continue to make money? The answer to that question is yes. Has Tiger Woods personal brand been tarnished? Absolutely. Can it be restored? Absolutely. The strength of our personal brands are determined by our character, which is a product of our habits. If you don’t want to Tiger your personal brand think about the seven lessons that I have listed and the value of your character.

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Can your Personal Brand Write its own Terms of Service?

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)?

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Putting the reader benefit into your Personal Brand

If you read the bios of some pretty successful people, you’ll see why truly effective personal branding during job search can be such a bear. Here’s how it often sounds:

“Bob Smith is the Vice President of Really Important, Co., leading five divisions nationwide.”

“Jennifer is the author of Business Book.”

“Marc holds a Bachelors degree from Columbia and a MBA from Harvard University.”

Ooh, we think. Impressive.

And so as we go out to find our new jobs, oftentimes our resumes start to smack of hyped-up corporate bio.

We list titles, awards, education. In short, it’s all about credentials. “See where I’ve been before? Isn’t it great?”

When what the recruiter is looking for is less where you’ve been and much more what you’ve done, and what you can do for them.

Let’s take an example. Imagine you need a sales pro and you need them to be able to run on their own with little guidance. You get two resumes:

“Terri has sold B2B technology solutions for 10 years.”

or…

“John has delivered 20%+ sales growth for each of the past five years.”

Which would you call?

The fundamental difference here is that Terri’s bio plugs a credential, while John focuses on the reader benefit. John makes his statement about the benefit that his employer received. And if it’s a benefit that the new employer wants, they’ll be interested.

So here are some examples of mini-makeovers to focus on reader benefit in our branding and job search messages:

Before: “Allison has five years experience in insurance brokerage, with three years supervisory experience.”

After: “Allison has successfully landed five new clients in the past two years, doubling her book of business.”

Before: “Jamie is a driven, competent communications professional, with strong skills in direct marketing, writing for web, and multimedia content development.”

After: “Jamie has written, edited and produced print and online campaigns totaling $1 million revenue annually.”

Or…

“Jamie has successfully maintained key client relationships for years through her excellent work and relationship building skills.”

So, look over your branding messages. Are you speaking in credentials? Or are you connecting with what the reader really wants?

Kristi Daeda shows mid- to senior-level professionals how to get better jobs faster. Her blog, Career Adventure, shares advice on job search, management skills, leadership, personal branding and more to help savvy career adventurers make it to the top. She invites you to find new opportunities through her ebook, 51 Places to Find a Job.

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Good Morning Twitterverse

Good Morning Twitter and to all my friends in the Twitterverse. I just wanted to add a personal touch and reach out to all you stellar personal brands. If you plan on having a great day sent a tweet and include @HajjFlemings and #Twitterverse and the city you are repping. I will see you in the Twitter stream.

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Personal Branding Interview: Hill Harper and Hajj E. Flemings – The Conversation

Hill Harper who most notably portrays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: New York, he recently released his third book, “The Conversation” which is number two on the New York Best Seller list. In his latest book he discusses the topic of conversations between men and women which has created a lot of buzz online.

Successful Brands Provide an Experience

One of the key characteristics of successful brands is that they provide customers with an experience. I recently interviewed Hill Harper after a book signing in Royal Oak, MI. Hill is a very grounded person with a magnetic personality, who makes every person in the room feel like they are the only one there.

After the book signing I saw how each person walked away with a personal experience after interacting with Mr. Harper, his command of the room is second to none. I walked away thinking about the experience I provide those I interact with and what do they walk away with. It was a moment of sobering reflection as I began to evaluate myself.

Hill Harper on Twitter

Hill is very active on Twitter, to follow him on the set of CSI: New York or to find out when he is coming to your town for a book signing or to extend the ‘”The Conversation” about his book follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/HillHarper.

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