Free Range Personal Brands

Anita Brick: Hi, this is Anita Brick. And welcome to CareerCast at Chicago Booth. To help you advance in your career. Today, we're actually very, very excited to be speaking with Nicole Ertas, who's a recognized global brand strategist, speaker, and bestselling author of Free Rage Brands. Her thinking has been embraced by companies such as Wrigley, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Johnson and Johnson.

Her success in global innovation and brand leadership gained her recognition in Forbes, The New York Times, and she was selected to be one of Crain's 40 under 40. Based in Chicago, she and her team train and transform organizations, cultures, and business teams to become free range thinkers and thrive in an age of unpredictability as a frame of reference.

You can find out a ton of stuff at Free-range brands.com. Nicole, welcome. So excited. Thank you. There was a lot of interest. The first question is how does a person assess, define, set goals to enhance one's brand and measure its effectiveness. And maybe we take those a piece at a time.

Nicole Ertas: Great question. What struck me is the similarity between building a brand that we're trying to sell versus our own personal brand. You almost have to pull back to the fundamentals and start to say, okay, we're starting with a human. Let's not discount that. And very likely a brand presence online is somewhat established, although it may not have been meant to be established just by growing up and doing the things that we do that get captured online.

So the idea now is how do we reposition ourselves? So in some cases, if you're launching a new product or a brand, you actually have a blank slate, but with a personal brand, especially in today's day and age, you often don't. And so the idea is, where are we going? Where is it we're trying to go, and what did we already do that may be in our favor?

And what do we need to cultivate or maybe overcome that? Maybe some baggage. All brands have baggage. So maybe there's something that we have inconsistent with where we want to go. The first question is where do you want to go? That is probably the most fundamental question of any brand. What is our vision? What is your purpose?

Where is it you're going? That's the first question to ask. If we want to know how a person assesses, defines and sets goals to enhance one's brand? My first question would be what is it you're trying to achieve? The answer needs to be for anyone doing this is to ladder it up to a very high level, a higher order level.

You want to define your vision in something that can actually withstand time. Your brand is likely going to want to evolve. So what that means is you really have to take a giant step back and dig into your authenticity, into your purpose, into your why. And that is the piece that needs to remain consistent. So you're prepared to navigate change as you go forward.

Anita Brick: It's interesting that you should say that, because I think it's very difficult for many people when someone has their brand anchored in traditional things like marquee companies, top schools, it's very hard to move away from that. In fact, there was one alum who said, even though I'm only ten years post MBA, I am viewed as a relic being at very traditional companies. You may be viewed as out of touch. Where can someone start to refresh their brand to make them relevant again?

Nicole Ertas: What we see when we look at a lot of the questions is that we have young people saying, well, how do I present myself as somebody who has this experience when I haven't done it before? And then we have people who are on the other side of it saying, now, I've been doing it for ten years. I'm a relic.

And so the answer really isn't in trying to unwind where you've been or wind up where you're going. It's really to identify what is your voice, what conversation do you want to be a part of? If you want to move into a space where you feel like you don't have the right, say, credentials because maybe you're a job changer and your former brand puts you in this one realm of institutions, and now you want to go into the other, you need to again dial up your narrative.

We call it a higher order that needs to stay in our traditional marketing form. So it's not functional, because when you tell a functional story, you get pigeonholed and you get routed, and then you do become a relic to kind of connect this to a traditional brand. I used to manage the Windex brand. This is a very simple analogy, but if Windex was always about dust glass cleaner and Windex would really never be able to go beyond glass.

In fact, that brand had a lot of challenges getting out of a glass cleaner, even though people use Windex to clean all sorts of things, but they couldn't get out of it because they just kept talking about the functional story. So I would relate that to people equating themselves into a functional career path, affiliation with a type of corporation or a particular role. These are all functional attributes that I would say when you want to build a brand, you don't want to connect yourself to. Those are expressions of how your brand is successful, but your brand has to live on a higher plane.

Anita Brick: Let's make this practical. So you said you change the narrative and that there are key entry points. When you think of key entry points, like one of the people was talking about how he wants to move into consulting, he's been in a more technical role, so he wants to look at strategy rather than looking at coding. And he wants to be part of technology strategy. He wants to be part of that conversation. What would be some entry points where he could express his view and his voice in a very practical way?

Nicole Ertas: Terms, rather than feeling rooted in the old, I would encourage him to start engaging in the conversation in where he would like to go and just assert himself in that space. He's making the change. There's obviously a connection between the old and the new, right? There's something that is allowing him to move into that new space. The skills may not be precisely applicable. Maybe he is going to have to learn new skills that he won't be able to comment on, but if he can get into some LinkedIn groups, look at different conversations that are going on online, it doesn't even have to be online. Go to some networking events where the people who are congregating and conversing in the new environment are living, and what he can do is start to identify where he adds value.

Again, it shouldn't be in the functional skills arena, especially when you're moving into a new space. You probably won't have the knowledge that may make you a thought leader in your new area, but you may have a perspective that you can bring with from your past that creates a whole new spin on things, that gets people to look at things very differently. What I would recommend is, before you get in there and start asserting yourself, it's a matter of listening and finding where your voice might naturally fit and authentically fit.

Anita Brick: It's a really good point, and I know in the book you talk a lot about how brands and I think this is true for personal brands too, are largely impacted and influenced by others. So one of the questions that came up from a weekend student is, what are three things I can do to get influencers to help me when I'm changing careers without putting them at risk?

Nicole Ertas: What anyone wants to do is before they jump in and start putting anything forth, they really need to take a step back and determine who they are, where do they live in the ecosystem that they're looking to be a part of? It's somewhat of an audit. So first and foremost, you want to take time to kind of do an audit.

I say the second thing is really to do something that we do in marketing a lot. Well, I should say always, and that is write a brief. A brief is really a very clear articulation about who you are and what you're trying to achieve and why. There are very distinct pieces that need to go on a brief and a brief needs to be very concise and clear.

It's actually a very challenging undertaking because you may have it in your head, but to try to get it down to a brief requires some pretty heavy lifting to get very clear. And that's going to be your guide as you move into the world. And then lastly, it's really about collaboration. Who can you work with? Because none of us get there alone. And how are we going to collaborate with others, and how are we going to view others not as our competition, but as collaborative partners that can help us grow and succeed?

Anita Brick: That's good. So let's break those down. I love what you just said. Let's just say someone is thinking about doing an audit. What would be the specific actions that someone would do around an audit of a personal brand?

Nicole Ertas: First thing is to really take a good look at what you value versus what you do, or what you've done. An audit should always focus more on values versus output, because values are going to be what are going to help you navigate everything going forward. So rather than saying, you know, I'm a really great coder, your values may be your attention to detail. You're a great team player. You're always open to feedback. You have an incredible imagination when you're getting to your audit. It's really to figure out what makes you unique. And sometimes if you feel stuck, what we do for brands is we talk to stakeholders for people and personal brands. Talk to your friends, talk to your coworkers, talk to people you know who you trust to give you an honest answer, to understand why they think you shine.

So really start to dig into what makes you unique, what are your values, and maybe even start to look at if you have a sense for where you're going. But when you have a sense for where you're going, then you can start to audit your competition. What are they doing? But you should keep an open mind. How can you enter a sea of sameness with a different personality?

Perhaps you're not the smartest person in the room yet, but you have a very distinct take on things, and you have a very distinct way of looking at things. And people might really be drawn to that because we tend to think, oh, if I'm going to go into finance, I need to wear my dark blue suit and I need to have everything look like this, and I need to follow the convention when frankly, in today's day and age, people love it. When you break convention, they admire you.

Anita Brick: We have to take risks that are not crazy risks. If we keep doing what's always been done, there is no movement forward. So how do you take that information like the why and what you stand for and all of that, and turn it into a breeze? Because ultimately if you don't have the brief, others can't help you. So how do you turn it into a brief?

Nicole Ertas: You bring up a really good point, because if you don't write a brief, you will never be able to work with anybody else because you will never be on the same page. So what's most critical is to sit down and put that together. There's a lot of ways you can write a brief, but one thing I really love to do as a starting point with people is to suggest they write their own manifesto.

It's your brand narrative, it's what you believe. And what I would recommend is to go online, search for brand manifestos. You'll find a bazillion different ways people have written them. There is no one way. What it does do is it articulates your story in a very inspiring way, and it will actually inspire you as a person. Writing the brief.

What is your purpose in the world? What are you trying to do? That's one great way to start. But what you want to do is really start to articulate in part of a brief, a short background of what you're trying to do and why are you moving into a new career? Why just start it for yourself. This isn't anything you have to show to anybody else at this point. But then if you are going after something very specific, like a job change or a repositioning of your personality to your peers, articulate that very clearly. Kind of a form too. So from feeling like a relic, from feeling stuck in this particular job to being seen as someone who has great experience and new ideas, to who is your audience? Who is your target? So articulating your form in your to who it is you're trying to be perceived by? Are they coworkers? Is it people who have a particular point of view?

Anita Brick: Very, very powerful. So you get the brief, you get the messaging. And sometimes it does take a bit of boldness to reframe something and use language that is a little bit different. I'd love to frame the last part of it, the collaboration part. I ran a question an evening student asked and she said, in your book you talk about attracting like minded people. In principle. I like that idea. Yeah, these same people are my competition. How does a person resolve this and do collaboration versus create potential conflict?

Nicole Ertas: I again would start with reframing your narrative. I wouldn't look at this as your competition, people. You can learn from people who would be able to help you because we're all greater together. We have seen that collaboration, co-creation, crowdsourcing these things where we work together as a team benefits everybody better.

Anita Brick: I would agree, and I think if you know solidly, if you do the audit, if you do the brief and you have a solid idea of who you are, you become, as one of my friends would say, a category of one rather than just being lost in this bland vanilla space. If you're bold, or at least you know authentically who you are, what you stand for, why you want to stand for that, why you want to do that.

There's substitution, of course, but there's not that super direct competition. But one of the things that came up with an alum in the book, I think this is what he's referencing. You say, you know, stand up, be bold, stand out for who you are and what you are and what you want, he said, I know what I stand for and yet can feel intimidated when I'm challenged in a big way. How can I fortify myself without losing my authenticity and the brand? And I know I am.

Nicole Ertas: I love that question. Anybody who is pushing themselves is always going to feel like that, and it's never going to go away. The only way it's going to go away is when you stop challenging yourself. So rather than feeling like you want to get rid of that feeling of feeling intimidated, recognize that that's part of growth and that's part of being somebody who is courageous enough to push themselves.

First and foremost, I would applaud this person to say, hey, you know what most people actually run from intimidating challenges. They don't run towards them. You're running towards that. So the second part of the question is, how can I fortify myself without losing my authenticity? I would say your authenticity is your home base. It is your fortification. So when you get really clear about your authenticity, then it feels less intimidating.

So one of the things for me is passion. I used to go into interviews out of business school where I would be like, oh my God, there's so many other people that are more qualified than me. I really want this job. I really, you know, want to do well. And what would happen to me is I might get too excited or too nervous.

I might not feel like I presented myself well. But guess what? Oftentimes I wound up getting a call back, and what was happening in that process was I was leading with my authenticity, which was passion. I can't tell you how many times I have gotten huge opportunities in life. Huge, because someone that came back to me and said, you know, you weren't my first pick, but I really like your passion. And by the way, it also helped me get really clear that I would say, you know what? I'm going to go into this interview and I'm just using the interview as an example that I'm intimidated by, but I'm going to be myself. I'm going to be who I am. And if they didn't like me or they didn't connect with me, then it probably wasn't a fit. And so I think fortifying yourself isn't about losing your authenticity. I think fortifying yourself is finding a place in your authenticity. You have your own compass inside of you, and you can experiment and explore.

Anita Brick: Really good point. Do you have time for one more question? I do okay, great. I love your passion. It comes across in every answer that you've given and I really, really love that. So what are three things that a person could begin doing today to take the next steps in discovering and creating a free range personal brand?

Nicole Ertas: One is to really get clear on where you're coming from. Is that your authenticity? Really get clear on that. And I think a really good way to do it that I didn't mention that I want to be sure to mention is there's brand archetypes and you can search it. It's the 12 brand archetypes. So for example, Harley Davidson is an outlaw brand whereas Apple is a magician brand.

So an outlaw brand is a brand that helps people break away from convention, not just defining yourself by your functional skill set, but what your essence is. You know, a magician brand is one about transformation and imagination. Are you somebody that brings that forth? So when you read these 12 brand archetypes, you will know who you are. And if you don't, it's a great way to ask people, which one of these do you think I am?

So that is a really amazing starting point. Secondly, consistency, depending on where it is you want to go and what you come from is right. That brief try to look at everything you do as from that brief. It's very easy. Today in our world of social media to jump all over the place and react quickly and speak off the cuff, but if you're interested in building a brand, you have to be mindful about what your tone of voice is about, how you conduct yourself, about the brand you're building.

Because everything you do is either going to build your brand or erode your brand. So it needs to be consistent with where you started from. And then lastly, I'd say seek out and collaborate with others because they're going to give you a mirror to what's working and what's not working. And don't be afraid of trial and error. Don't be afraid of starting something.

You know. I started a newsletter for free range brands. I changed the format 50 times. The goal is to get better and the goal is to be more relevant to your audience. It's okay to ask for feedback. It's okay to put things out there, adopt a give first mentality, and don't be afraid someone's going to take your idea from you.

Because guess what? Very few people actually go out and do it. The fact that you're going out there and doing it, you're already way ahead of the game. And then I guess you asked me for three, but I'm going to say one final thing. Coming out of a really good graduate program, you compare yourself to people in your space.

It seems like the whole world is brilliant, right? But you're actually comparing yourself to very high level people. And it wasn't until I actually got my first job out of business school and was now back at business school interviewing that. It surprised me that all this time I thought my peers were so far ahead of me. What I actually found was, yes, the people I was interviewing were very, very smart, but a lot of them didn't have the personal skills that would make me want to put them on my team. So don't negate your humanity, which is where we started. That is more important than anything.

Anita Brick: Great way to end. Thank you and a call so much. Great book, great advice. I love the fact that you are passionate and that you're a maverick. A little bit of an outlier. Thank you. It gives us a fresh way of looking at all of this. And thank you so much again for making the time.

Nicole Ertas: Thanks so much for inviting me. I enjoyed speaking with you.

Anita Brick: That's wonderful. There's a lot of good things at the call site, which is freerangebrands.com. And thank you all for listening. This is Anita Brick with CareerCast at Chicago Booth. Keep advancing.