Bring Business School to Personal Branding ? Gap Analysis | A ...

I love finding ways to bring concepts from the business world to personal branding. I believe that the subjects taught in business schools across the country and in business magazines like the Harvard Business Review can be directly applied to branding individuals and businesses of all sizes.

At this point, some of you may be saying, ?Duh, marketing is a part of business education and branding is marketing.? Maybe you didn?t say that, but let?s say you did. But what I am actually talking about is taking concepts from operations, finance, and organizational behavior and applying them to enhancing your personal brand.

One of my favorite concepts from business school is the gap analysis. Are you familiar with this framework? Gap analysis involves identifying and documenting the present state (or what things are like now) and then writing down what you want the future state to be like. You then figure out what is required in order to get from point A to point B (the gap). What skills are you lacking? What do you need to change about yourself to make the future state a reality? This might seem really elementary, but it?s amazing how powerful this can be.

When working with a client, I have her write down one or two skills that she is currently known for. I then have her write the one or two skills that she wants to be known for. Similarly, I have her write down two to three personality traits that she is currently known for and what she wants to be known for.

Obviously, if all of these items are the same in both the present and future states, there is no need to do the gap analysis. I suspect though that most (if not all) people have something that they want to change about themselves.

Let?s say, for example, that you are a shy person and want to become a good networker who can mingle at parties and business events. The gap in this case would be to learn about how to be a better networker and then put yourself in lots of situations where you don?t know anyone and need to talk to people.

Maybe you want to be known as the best web developer around. In that case there might be some classes, online training, or books you want to read. In addition, you?ll want to start getting experience creating many websites for different types of clients.

I challenge you to do a gap analysis for yourself. What do you want to change about yourself to achieve your professional goals?

Source: http://www.abrandedyou.com/2011/08/24/bring-business-school-to-personal-branding-gap-analysis/

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