Cult of Personality
We’ve all been there in the business world or in our personal lives. You come up with a great amazing idea and spout it out in front of all your friends, family, or colleagues to blank looks. Yep you’ve missed your audience completely your great idea is dead on arrival, but it gets worse one of the people present paraphrases the idea putting their own spin on it and then it’s a runaway success.
If you’ve ever experienced this it’s what I’d like to call the Cult of Personality. It’s someone’s charisma, their style trumping the substance of the offering (not to say the offering itself isn’t good).
In the business world you’re selling yourself as much as any product, but how do you market successfully? You could go to the library pick up a book, go to a seminar on how to influence people, you could get a makeover. Or you could take my advice: Win by playing to your strengths.
In three of the jobs I’ve had, I’ve had the fortune to have time to train my replacement. Now I can be a tough act to follow I have a knack for identifying and delivering on the underlying needs that are not voiced in the job description (a good topic for another day). The advice I give every one of my now successful replacements was “Don’t be me, beat me”.
Before we get to the takeaway let’s take a look at some solid examples of people who lead with personality that far surpasses any other skill-set they may have.
Mark Cuban – Bombastic, everyday man, blunt.
Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, internet Millionaire and blogger. Mark Cuban has an electrifying personality that brings his sphere of influence well beyond the entrepreneur and sports enthusiast community. He could very well turn his blog into a standalone business it is so successful. While he definitely has a nose for business it’s his communication skills that make him stand out.
Steve jobs – Minimalist, aloof, perfectionist
What can you say about Steve Jobs, almost anything he does leads to huge profits. So powerful is his persona that he completely makes you look past his failures (see the Newton or Apple TV) and leads you to believe he’s taken a Fortune 500 company on his back and singlehandedly driven its success. Yes he means so much to Apple that his recent illness shaved a couple million dollars off their market cap.
Barack Obama – Idealist, controlled, grass roots/direct communication
Barack Obama pulled off an upset so large you’d think it was a feel good movie. It’s hard to believe he went from an also ran to a juggernaut, and then onward to such a powerful office. Its not that he isn’t a “sharp guy” or that he isn’t experienced; it’s that he elicits such a passionate response and following that this is his key strength. Hearing him talk leading up to the election you knew whether you were a Republican or a Democrat he was going to win. You were afraid or overjoyed.
Take Away – There will always be someone better than you at <insert skill here> if you try and ape others you will doom yourself to mediocrity. Don’t be them, beat them by standing out. Steve Jobs could never be successful if he was trying to imitate Mark Cuban, and neither would you.
