What's Your Brand? | Kent Noble | TEDxUWYO

Summary

In this inspiring talk, the speaker discusses the concept of personal branding, emphasizing that it's not about self-promotion but rather how others perceive you. Using the Las Vegas sign as a metaphor, the speaker illustrates how images evoke immediate associations. The story of Bill Daniels, a cable TV pioneer who turned bankruptcy into a testament of integrity, serves as a powerful example of building a strong personal brand. The speaker challenges the audience to strengthen their integrity through daily choices and a 66-day exercise, aiming to create habits that reflect their desired legacy.

Takeaways

• 😀 A personal brand is the perception others have of you, which is largely based on what they say about you when you're not around.
• 🏰 The Las Vegas sign serves as an example of how an image can evoke specific thoughts and associations, similar to how a personal brand is formed.
• 👤 Personal branding is about the choices and decisions you make, which define who you are and how you are seen by others.
• 🗣️ The speaker emphasizes that personal brand is not about self-promotion but rather about the impression you leave on others.
• 🔄 The quote 'I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday' highlights the importance of past decisions in shaping one's current identity.
• 💼 Bill Daniels' story illustrates how personal brand can be positively influenced by integrity and ethical behavior, even in the face of adversity.
• 💡 Integrity is presented as a foundational element of personal brand, akin to a strong house foundation that one should strive to maintain and strengthen.
• 💪 The integrity 'muscle' can be strengthened through consistent decision-making that aligns with one's values and principles.
• 🚫 Small daily choices, like not sneaking candy into a movie theater or avoiding texting while driving, are opportunities to practice and reinforce integrity.
• 🏅 The analogy of training for a marathon is used to emphasize that building integrity, like physical training, requires consistent effort and practice.
• 📅 A 66-day challenge is proposed as a training exercise for integrity, based on research that it takes an average person this long to form new habits.
• 📝 The feedback shared at the end of the script demonstrates the transformative power of the 66-day challenge on an individual's mindset and approach to life.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is personal branding and how it is shaped by the choices and decisions one makes, with a focus on integrity as the foundation of a strong personal brand.

What is the significance of the Las Vegas sign in the script?

The Las Vegas sign is used as an example to illustrate how an image can evoke certain thoughts and associations, similar to how a personal brand is formed by what others think of you.

What does the speaker suggest about personal brand being based on?

The speaker suggests that a personal brand is based not on what you say about yourself, but rather on what others say about you when you are not around.

Who is Bill Daniels, and what is his relevance to the script's message?

Bill Daniels was a cable television pioneer and a successful businessman who, despite facing bankruptcy, demonstrated integrity by paying back all his debts with interest. His story is used to emphasize the importance of integrity in personal branding.

What did Bill Daniels do after recovering from bankruptcy?

After recovering from bankruptcy, Bill Daniels went back to Salt Lake City and paid back every penny he owed to season ticket holders, players, and vendors, plus 8% interest per year for the five years, even though he was under no legal obligation to do so.

How does the speaker relate Bill Daniels' story to personal branding?

The speaker relates Bill Daniels' story to personal branding by highlighting how Daniels turned his worst professional moment into his best through integrity, which became a significant part of his personal brand.

What is the speaker's view on the role of integrity in personal branding?

The speaker believes that integrity should be the foundation of personal branding and that it needs to be strengthened through consistent decisions and choices that align with one's values and beliefs.

What is the '66-day challenge' mentioned in the script?

The '66-day challenge' is a training exercise where individuals are encouraged to work on their integrity for 66 days, reflecting on their daily decisions and choices to ensure they align with the principle of honesty.

Why is 66 days considered significant in the script?

66 days is considered significant because research suggests that it takes the average person this long to create new habits, making it an ideal timeframe for the integrity training exercise.

How does the speaker suggest we can strengthen our integrity muscle?

The speaker suggests that we can strengthen our integrity muscle by making consistent decisions and choices that are true to our values, and by practicing integrity in small, everyday situations as well as larger, more significant ones.

What feedback does the speaker share about the 66-day challenge?

The speaker shares feedback from a participant named Hannah, who experienced a dramatic change in outlook, mindset, and approach after completing the 66-day challenge, indicating its effectiveness in personal growth and integrity development.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Personal Branding and Perception

This paragraph introduces the concept of personal branding, emphasizing how others perceive us rather than how we present ourselves. It uses the Las Vegas sign as a metaphor to illustrate how images can evoke immediate associations. The speaker suggests that our personal brand is formed by the collective opinions of others about us when we're not present, including our work ethic, honesty, and appearance. The paragraph also highlights the idea that our personal brand is a reflection of our past choices and decisions.

05:03

🏆 Bill Daniels' Integrity and Personal Brand

The second paragraph tells the story of Bill Daniels, a successful businessman who faced bankruptcy but later demonstrated remarkable integrity by repaying all debts with interest, even though he was not legally obligated to do so. This act transformed his worst professional moment into a defining aspect of his personal brand. The speaker admires Daniels for his integrity, which became a cornerstone of his brand, and encourages the audience to strengthen their own integrity as a foundational element of their personal brand, likening it to a muscle that can be developed through consistent ethical choices.

10:06

💪 Strengthening Integrity Through Daily Practice

In the final paragraph, the speaker proposes a 66-day challenge to reinforce integrity as a habit, suggesting that placing a reminder card in a visible location can serve as a daily prompt for ethical behavior. The idea is to reflect on daily actions and ensure they align with the values of honesty and integrity. The speaker emphasizes the importance of practicing integrity in small, everyday decisions to prepare for larger challenges. The paragraph concludes with a testimonial from someone who completed the challenge, noting a significant personal transformation as a result.

Keywords

💡Personal Brand

A personal brand is how individuals present themselves and how others perceive them. In the video, the speaker emphasizes that a personal brand is shaped by the decisions and choices one makes and is reflected more by what others say about you than what you say about yourself. For example, personal brand is highlighted through the story of Bill Daniels, who was known for his integrity.

💡Integrity

Integrity refers to the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. The video suggests that integrity should be the foundation of one's personal brand and can be strengthened through consistent, principled decisions. An example given is Bill Daniels repaying his debts with interest despite not being legally obligated to do so.

💡Choices

Choices are the decisions individuals make that define their actions and ultimately their personal brand. The video underscores that the decisions made today shape who you are tomorrow, illustrated by the quote, 'I am Who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.'

💡Las Vegas Sign

The Las Vegas sign is used as a metaphor for personal branding. When people see the sign, various associations come to mind, similar to how one's personal brand evokes specific perceptions. The speaker uses this imagery to explain that a personal brand is what people think of when they think of you.

💡Bill Daniels

Bill Daniels was a successful businessman and cable television pioneer known for his integrity. His story is used to exemplify how one's actions, particularly in times of adversity, can define their personal brand. Despite going bankrupt, Daniels repaid his debts with interest, demonstrating remarkable character.

💡Integrity Muscle

The 'integrity muscle' is a metaphor used to describe the process of strengthening one's integrity through repeated principled actions. The video suggests that small decisions, like not sneaking candy into movies or avoiding texting while driving, help build this muscle, preparing one for larger ethical challenges.

💡66-Day Challenge

The 66-day challenge involves consistently aligning one’s actions with integrity to form a new habit. The speaker asks the audience to focus on acting with honesty for 66 days, as research suggests this duration is sufficient to create lasting habits. The challenge aims to fortify personal integrity and, by extension, one's personal brand.

💡Foundation

A foundation is the underlying basis or principle for something. In the context of the video, integrity is described as the foundation of a personal brand. Just as a strong foundation is crucial for a stable house, strong integrity is essential for a reliable personal brand.

💡Professional Adversity

Professional adversity refers to challenging situations in one's career. Bill Daniels faced significant adversity when his basketball team went bankrupt. His response to this setback—repaying debts with interest—illustrates how handling adversity with integrity can positively impact one’s personal brand.

💡Training Exercise

A training exercise in this context is an activity designed to practice and reinforce integrity. The speaker proposes a practical exercise: placing a card with the phrase 'Integrity: Act with honesty in all situations' where it can be seen daily. This exercise is meant to remind individuals to align their actions with their values consistently.

Highlights

The concept of personal brand is introduced, emphasizing how others perceive you rather than how you perceive yourself.

A personal brand is formed by the decisions and choices one makes, reflecting one's character and values.

Bill Daniels' story is used as an example of turning a failure into a moment of integrity, showcasing the power of personal branding.

Integrity is highlighted as the foundation of a personal brand, crucial for building trust and respect.

The idea that integrity is like a muscle that can be strengthened through consistent decisions aligned with one's values.

The suggestion to use small daily decisions, like not sneaking candy into a movie theater, as opportunities to strengthen integrity.

The importance of practicing integrity in everyday life to prepare for bigger challenges and maintain a strong personal brand.

The introduction of a 66-day challenge to build and reinforce integrity as a habit, based on research about habit formation.

A practical exercise is proposed, involving placing a reminder card in a visible spot to reflect on daily actions and choices.

The significance of aligning daily actions with the values stated on the integrity card to build a strong personal brand.

Feedback from a participant who underwent the 66-day challenge, sharing a personal transformation in outlook and mindset.

The challenge is extended to the audience to undertake the 66-day integrity training for personal growth and brand enhancement.

The analogy of building a world-class marathoner to emphasize the need for consistent practice and dedication to integrity.

The story of Bill Daniels' financial recovery and repayment to all stakeholders, illustrating the impact of integrity on personal brand.

The impact of personal branding on legacy, as reflected in the feedback from the 66-day challenge participant Hannah.

The transcript's overall message on the importance of integrity in personal branding and its role in shaping one's professional and personal life.

Transcripts

[Music]

good afternoon everyone today I want to

talk to you a little bit about your

personal brand who it is that you are

how others see you and how maybe you can

improve your brand if you'd like now

just to make sure we're all on the same

page as to what a brand is at least what

a brand is for our purposes here today

what I want to do is I want to show you

an image and I want you to just think

about what it is that comes to mind when

you see it so here we are

this Las Vegas sign now I'll be honest

with you when I see this the first thing

I think about that ad campaign of theirs

you know the one

what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas I

would tell you that my wife I think she

probably thinks about some of the fine

dining some of the great night shows

there's certainly some nice shopping I

know she likes that depending upon the

time of year I think we also think about

the weather the point is we see this

image and things just instantly start

coming to mind well for our purposes

today your personal brand is what people

think of when they think of you and I

want you to know it's really not so much

what you say about yourself no it's much

more what others say about you when

you're not even around so for example

let's say that one of you was going to

leave the room and the rest of us were

going to start to describe you we'd

probably talk about what it is you like

and what you don't like what's you're

good at and what you're not so good at

how you treat us how you make us feel

are you a hard worker someone we can

depend upon are you honest how do you

look all these things and more go in to

making up your personal brand now I

think this is really interesting

you build your personal brand based on

the decisions and the choices you make

and those decisions and choices you make

you know what that's who you are

that's how we see you that's your brand

I like this quote that's up on the

screen I am Who I am today because of

the choices I made yesterday now I would

say given that if you like the general

direction of your life you kind of like

the way things are going I would say the

odds are you've probably been making

some pretty good choices okay so we

looked at an image and we thought about

what it is it comes to mind what I want

to do now is I want to introduce you to

a person and I want you to think about

what their brand is like okay the

person's on the screen this gentleman's

name is Bill Daniels now if you're not

familiar with Bill Daniels you should

know that bill was a cable television

pioneer but really what he was is just a

remarkably successful businessman in

fact by the time he passed away in 2000

bill had amassed a billion-dollar

fortune

and he ended up leaving almost all of it

to this organization that now bears his

name the Daniels fund okay so I told you

Bill was really successful very

successful businessman but you know how

business can be even when you're

successful there can certainly be some

difficult times and well that happened

for Bill in fact about 40 years ago he

went bankrupt yeah experienced some

really difficult financial times here's

what happened bill owned a professional

basketball team in Utah called the Utah

stars and while the stars were really

good on the court for whatever reason

they weren't so good at earning money

and it got so difficult that during the

last season in the middle of the season

bill has shut it all down he ran out of

money he couldn't afford to pay the

players he couldn't afford to pay the

vendors all of a sudden those tickets

that the season ticket holders had

purchased the tickets were now worthless

there were more no more games

so bill

he packs up Healy Salt Lake City he goes

back home to Denver you can imagine how

he felt he felt like a failure

he felt like he led everyone down well

slowly but surely he started to regain

his financial footing but it took him

five years to recover you know what he

did after he recovered he left Denver he

went back to Salt Lake City bill had

kept all the contact information for

every season ticket holder every player

every vendor and even though he was

under no legal obligation to do so he

paid him all back every penny he owed

them plus 8% interest per year for the

five years yield and the money who does

that

now you know what I love about this

story I love that bill Daniels took his

worst professional moment and he turned

it into his very best he turned it into

a moment we're talking about 40 years

later I don't know about you but that

inspires me imagine somehow taking your

worst moment and making it your very

best now I really hope that I never face

the professional adversity that bill

Daniels did I really hope I don't but if

I do I just pray that I have enough

character and conviction to respond in a

similar fashion because I tell you what

that's the kind of man I'd like to be

now as it relates to build of Daniels

personal brand I never got a chance to

meet the man I mentioned to you that he

passed away in 2000 but you know I've

talked to quite a few people who knew

him and they knew him very well

and without exception they told me that

man was known for his integrity in other

words it was absolutely part of his

personal brand

now as it comes to your brand and to my

brand I really feel like integrity needs

to be the foundation of our personal

brand it needs to be the foundation of

who we are as people and when you think

about a foundation for example maybe the

foundation of your house don't you want

that foundation to be strong sure you do

well if integrity is going to be the

foundation of our personal brand is

there a way we can strengthen our

integrity I believe there is because I

believe our integrity is a lot like a

muscle in every time we make a decision

or a choice where we remain true to our

values our beliefs those principles we

have inside of us

I believe we strengthen the integrity

muscle so who here enjoys a night out at

the movies I think most of us do don't

we but man can you believe the price of

candy pretty tempting really when you

think about it too to sneak some in I

don't want to supposed to I read an

article recently it said about 60% of us

do sneak candy into the movie

opportunity for me to strengthen my

integrity muscles yeah it is it's a

small one but it really is texting and

driving my wife and I we have three

teenagers two of them are teen drivers

ones in the pipeline to be a teen driver

probably like a lot of you who have

teenage drivers we talked to our kids

said please promise me you're never

going to text and drive can't even stand

the thought of what could happen if you

were a distracted driver you know what

I'm on the road a lot for my job I am

all over the region

lots of windshield time I've got a

smartphone I hear it buzzing opportunity

for me to strengthen my integrity muscle

to walk the talk to do what I'm asking

my kids to do yeah it is let me ask you

what if you wanted to be a world-class

marathoner I mean you wanted to run the

Olympic marathon what would you have to

do

you'd have to practice a lot could you

maybe take a weekend and run three four

or 500 miles and be ready no of course

not

it would take a sustained effort on your

part lots of practice lots of training

you know I really think the same thing

is true for our integrity if we want to

be good at this I mean really good it's

gonna take practice it's gonna take

training it's gonna take dedication on

our part and you know I think these

little integrity issues that we're

facing all the time these are great ways

for us to Train if we're ever going to

be ready for those big moments I think

we need to make sure we're training on

these small ones so what I want to leave

you with is just a little training

exercise all right now each of you has a

card that looks something like this on

the card it says integrity act with

honesty in all situations what I'd like

to ask you to do is find a place where

you can put that card where you're going

to see it at least twice a day kind of

an ideal spot that occurs to me is maybe

taping it up on the mirror in your

bathroom so let's say you do that and

there you are you're at the end of the

day you're getting ready for bed you're

brushing your teeth you're looking in

the mirror and you see your card

integrity

act with honesty in all situations I

want to ask you to think about the

decisions and the choices you made

during the day the actions that you took

and are they in alignment with that card

are they a reflection of what's on that

card

and I want to ask you to do that for 66

days and the reason why we've selected

66 days is because research says that's

how long it takes the average person to

create new habits so let me recap I'm

going to ask you to work really hard for

the next 66 days on your integrity again

making sure there's decisions and

choices those actions that you're taking

are in alignment with on with what's on

that card and remember this is a

training exercise for our integrity if

our integrity is gonna be a foundation

of our personal brand we need to make it

as strong as we possibly can and if we

can pull this off for 66 days we may

have done something pretty special let

me share this feedback with you it says

66 days ago you spoke to us regarding

personal branding and the 66 day

challenge every day when I leave my home

I see my brand hanging next to the door

I remember that the choices I may need

to be reflective of the legacy I want to

leave and that my choices are always in

my control 66 days later I'm a much

different person than I was at the

beginning of the challenge

my outlook mindset and approach are

dramatically altered and I intend to

keep growing better from here Hannah

took the 66 day challenge

now I'm challenging you let's give it 66

days let's work on this training for our

our personal brand thank you

[Music]