Personal Branding

We are always told “never judge a book by its cover”. Yet in reality, unless one is familiar with the content or the author, how else is once expected to judge a book, if not by its cover? It is what first attracts us to pick it up in the first instance. Or repels us.

Instinctively, we do exactly the same with human beings. It is not about judgement, it is about survival. In four seconds flat, before someone has even had the time to say, “Hello, my name is?” we have decided whether we like the look of him or her enough to choose to do business with them.

It is all about Personal Branding. Before we even consider the messages our very expensive corporate identity is putting out, we need to consider how our clients, suppliers, colleagues and shareholders are reading us in those first few seconds? What information are we leaking? Do you know how you come across? Does it matter?

In today’s fast and competitive corporate world, no job is for life. People need to be able to adapt and adapt fast. Enormous sums of money are spent on up-dating a company?s corporate identity but all too often the Personal Branding from the MD to the canteen staff, is largely ignored. People only choose to work with people they “like the look of.” Do you know how your Personal Branding stands up to the four second test?

Michaele Wynn-Jones is a very different kind of Image consultant. She literally “consults images” and trains private and corporate clients to access unconventional information by integrating their logic and their intuition.

With strong education and training background, she qualified in Image and Colour consultancy in 1990 and went on to become Director of Standards for the Federation of Image Consultants for three years before forming her own independent training consultancy. She become the Corporate Image trainer for Colourflair Studios Ltd and has worked with clients as diverse as Kingston Education Authority, Littlewoods PLC, The Woolwich Building Society, Borealis Oil Sales Managers in Eastern Europe and the NHS and HM Prison Service.