Whether we recognize it or not, we all have a personal brand. The decisions we make, how we present ourselves, what we say, do and even how we dress creates an impression that others use to judge how they will respond to us.
So much of what we are able to achieve comes down to the choices we make, not the choices others make about us.
Think about your brand. In this economy, everyone needs opportunity. If you are a student, you need an opportunity to be accepted into your chosen school. If you are a recent graduate, you need an opportunity to get that first job in an area you enjoy. Once you are employed, you need the opportunity to show your talents so you can progress your career. If you have been laid off, you need to create an image of someone who others would like to work alongside. Even if you have a great job, or are running your own company, you need customers who continue to want to buy from you rather than your competitor.
I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to speak to young people in cash-strapped inner city public schools as well as to kids at well-to-do private schools. Each year, I am more convinced that the difference in success comes down to two simple elements, how you present your personal brand – The brand called You — and what you believe your fate in life should be.
I am absolutely convinced that if you give me a young person with a desire to improve him or herself I can create a person with more opportunities than they otherwise would expect, by simply making them self-aware of their personal brand and finding the desire to improve upon it. Part of that self-awareness can be tough. For example, helping a young person recognize that attire and behavior can limit potential is difficult. Is it fair that a retailer might not want to hire a teenager wearing baggy pants and t-shirt with a gang-inspired theme? Probably not, but a store manager that has to make a thousand decisions a day often can’t take the time to make nuanced decisions. If that young person wants that job, he or she needs to recognize that the brand called You plays a big part.
For those of you in college, you should start thinking about your life after graduation long before you don the cap and gown. Finding your first job is more about the connections you make during school than anything else. When you come home during breaks, start thinking of every family friend as a potential advocate or employer; you want as many of them thinking about the opportunities that can be offered to you as possible. For every young person that finds a job through the newspaper or a career Web site, dozens more gained a position through a family member or even someone who knew your parents long before you were born. They are your advocate not your adversary.
Related to that is how you feel about yourself. I believe that awareness is important, but self-awareness is critical. As embarrassing as it is to admit, in high school, I began reading every self-help book I could get my hands on, throwing it into the mix of other reading. Knowledge is power.
Once you get that job, give serious thought to how those who have input in your career view your brand. Appearance is just one aspect. Today, it is a fashion statement to go unshaven or wear your shirt untucked. That works in a tech company full of young employees as long as you don’t aspire to run the place. Because running the place means there will be board members who judge you on their standards. If you are passed up for a promotion, it is not because you are a victim of their prejudice it is because you made a choice that limits your options.
I always wore a blue suit to office jobs even as an intern. My hair was trimmed and I shaved every day. Those seemingly simple decisions were the reasons that I had numerous advocates who took the time to move me along in my career.
Attitude and drive also contribute to your brand. Today more than nine percent of all Americans are unemployed. That is the highest rate of unemployment since 1983, 26 years ago. Why is it that some people are laid off and others are considered irreplaceable? Much of it comes down to the small decisions you made leading up to that day. Did you show up for work and do what is necessary or did you come to work thinking about making your company more innovative, creative and relevant?
As you built your career, did you develop a natural network of friends and peers who you can ask for help? Did you provide those peers help when they asked for it? Do you socialize often? Do you do charity work or support non-profit organizations in your community? We are all tired after a long day at work, but while most go straight home and turn on the television, others take the extra effort to attend a community meeting, or sit on a volunteer board. On the weekends, some stay home while others coach soccer or baseball. Along the way, every time you decide to make a commitment back to your community, you increase the opportunities that come your way, enrich your neighborhood and build your personal safety net should you need assistance in some way.
Every day, in almost every interaction, we contribute to our personal brand. Whether we are making a positive contribution or a negative one is up to you.
New rules are being created to oversee our financial system. These regulations are designed to protect us from financial harm. Unfortunately, what just harmed us is rarely what we should be worrying about.
Let me give you an example.
Today, banking regulators are working furiously to demand that the nation’s bankers rid themselves of those problematic development loans. That makes sense on the surface. In the minds of most, not a single new home will ever be built in this country. Neither will a new city be incorporated, a new school be built or a new job created.
But dig a little deeper and you will find that all land development is being regulated, even those where the borrower is steadily making proper loan payments.
From the banker’s perspective, he is not going to argue with the bank regulator. Running afoul of their demands carries the possibility that the bank is focused on too closely or even shut down.
For those with a short memory, or of a younger generation, I share with you the example of the banks that regulators chose to chain shut during the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s.
Within just a few years, courts across this nation heard cases against the government for unfair decision making on the part of regulators. In at least one case, the fallen bank won a settlement for the subjective nature of its closure. In an odd aside to that crisis, the publicly traded stock of several banks continued to trade for the future value of potential settlement, long after the bank ceased to exist.
On another level, does anyone else find it odd that after more than 100 years as an investment firm, Goldman Sachs woke up one day and decided to announce it was converting to a bank? It was one of the first to do so and just in time for its former chairman, Hank Paulson, to announce that as Treasury Secretary banks would be offered a new program called TARP.
I suspect that when the story is finally written on today’s banking environment we will all conclude that some good banks were shut down, some bad banks were allowed to stay open and the system was overly focused on yesterday’s problems rather than tomorrow’s solutions.
In late 2008, Lakeside observed investors nationwide displaying unprecedented panic over the stock market. Both large corporations and small investors alike sold stocks in a massive attempt to get cash in hand and quickly.
Where we once turned to our parents to gauge the severity of the market’s cycle, we now turned to our grandparents to see if they’d experienced anything this devastating in their lifetime. First, reports indicated the economy was the worst it had been in 10 years, then it became the worst market in a generation, and now, some people say it’s the worst market most have ever seen or heard about.
Much like our peers in the investment business, our clients rightfully demonstrated concern about their investments. Some wanted to sell their stocks and a few did.
To understand the situation from Lakeside’s perspective, it’s important to note that our average client is debt free and had no more than 20 percent of their investments in the stock market. We can only imagine what an investor under the auspices of a Wall Street firm must have felt - 50 percent account declines, zero accountability and to top it all off, many investment firms were either bought, sold, merged or closed the doors.
Even more important, is knowing that today the market is less volatile than last fall and there are many opportunities for investors with the right guidance.
The media propaganda machine is once again in full force. The talking heads tell you excitedly that the market rallied 20 percent in the past few weeks and they are absolutely correct. As a word of caution, there is always opportunity to manipulate and segregate performance to tell a good story and Wall Street is a master at that. This is something investors have seen since railroad stocks were pushed into their hands right before the panic of ‘07, 1907 that is.
Here is the scenario we see and the rules to follow:
Rule #1 –We believe that the stock market is indeed a forward-looking indicator, historically, moving six to nine months ahead of the actual economy. If we are correct, and you are an investor planning to “get back in when the economy looks better,” you will be too late. The economy will look better in the rear-view mirror and that may be 18 months too late.
Rule #2 -The media sets the tone as a contrarian indicator. In our work, we are regularly asked to give an opinion on business issues. Often we are given a list of “hot topics.” A hot topic is one that will sell well and is determined by where the public places its worry that month. I can assure you that what worries us is rarely what harms us.
Here are a few examples:
Rule #3 - Know the source and motivation behind the research you follow. An extremely bright young analyst I follow has been calling buy signals on local bank stocks for two years. She recently gave up and started sending sell signals after stocks fell 80 to 90 percent. We often provide her our insights about what we see in the market, however, her MBA usurped her instincts in this instance.
Since 1999, we’ve obtained our research from independent research firms. We follow research from Wall Street as well, but have not put much faith in it for years.
I will end today with a few statistics for you to digest:
Looking back, October 2007 was the perfect time to reduce your exposure in the stock market. During this time, most stocks had more buyers than sellers. Late 2008, was the time to increase your exposure.
We feel that the easy money has already been made with 60 percent of all stocks on a buy signal. Careful selection is necessary going forward.
The information presented is the opinion of Lakeside Capital and is not meant to serve as investment advice.
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