AKINYEMI: If you want to win the future, prepare to work on your brand as a person

I have spent the last few weeks focusing on the brand—specifically the personal brand or the brand called YOU. At this time of the year the customary thing to do is to start by wishing each other a happy new year and I do.

However, what will make the year happy and new is not that the calendar changed but rather that our thinking is going to open up to new realities and possibilities that have the potential of making the year happy and new.

One such possibility is that of taking your brand seriously. You may be a chief executive officer, but if you are not conscious of your brand you might find yourself in a difficult position at some point in time because if you cannot stand alone aside from the corporate brand which you represent, bumpy days await you.

December 31, 1983, was the day the Nigerian military led by a younger Muhammadu Buhari toppled the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari.

Those days, nearly every single person in power was in uniform—ministers, governors and heads of key government installations were all manned by the military. Gen Buhari was head of state. Gen Babangida was his chief of army staff and a coup specialist. Gen Sani Abacha was a member of the Supreme Military Council.

Now fast forward to today.

Gen Abacha is dead but was in the process of transforming himself into a civilian president. Gen Babangida was a presidential candidate and a key political figure in the country while Gen Buhari is back again as the president.

How can a person who truncated a democratically elected administration position himself as a democrat? In the same vein, how do people that we know stole money suddenly return as anti-corruption fighters and we accept them?

We have heard it said that you have only one opportunity to make a first impression. Well, think of the number of people that you have met that you did not like the first time you met them and that you ended up liking.

Think of the number of people who hated each other when they first met and who eventually got married. It does not matter what the first impression is, what is most important is the last impression and you can fix that at anytime.

The Buharis of this world simply got brilliant people who could rebrand them. Rebrand him from an anti-democracy general to a peace loving democrat. The rebranding was so good that he won the first time and then again the second time. If you want to win the future, you must be ready to work on your brand as a person.

One of the most remarkable cases of a person who took the defining of their brand very seriously is the story of George Sand.

There was a time in France when women who wanted to wear what was considered as men’s clothing, had to get a special permit. This was a direct order from the French police in 1800. It was also a period during which few people regarded female authors. It was an era where no woman was making any money in the literary world because there was a ceiling beyond which they were not allowed to rise.

One extraordinary woman decided to change that mould. Her name was Aurore Dupin Devant. Since the world was not yet ready for female literary giants, she decided to create one.

Publishers turned her down but due to the power of her conviction and what she stood for, she created a character called George Sand. It was under this pseudonym that she became one of the most successful authors of the time.

She even went as far as dressing up as a man (without a permit) to reinforce the brand she had created. Her mode of dressing opened doors for her where other women could not gain access. She even did the bizarre and smoked cigars in public.

This was before the time when women were not allowed such liberties associated with the wealthy upper class male. It was all part of her brand.

She was accepted into the upper echelons of society and like it or not, it worked for her and her name has gone down in the history books as a great author. Her convictions and deliberate efforts to create herself as a great author created her brand.

You do not have to be confined to the character that you were born with. Every child is born without a brand. Even those born in the royal families have to deliberately work on their brands. Not all royals command attention and not all royals have the power of endorsement.

Not all good footballers have the brand power of Christiano Ronaldo. Not all beauty product entrepreneurs have the brand power of Kylie Jenner.
Not all great singers and entertainers have the brand power of Rihanna.

The world’s first impression of you does not have to be the last. You are a human being. You have creative power. You can define your brand.

God created each one of you for a purpose. Branding yourself for that purpose is entirely up to you.

Wale Akinyemi is the chief transformation officer, PowerTalks