Can a 10 Year Old Have a Personal Brand?

This is my son Davis pitching at a recent tourney where an opposing coach made a comment to me (not realizing he was my son) that 'You've got a really good little pitcher in that one. What a great move to first base.' that I quickly thanked him for and then began thinking about this post -- well after the game was over.

There is so much debate right now on the whole personal brand versus corporate brand that frankly, should just stop. Not because it isn't important but because you simply cannot stop personal brands from forming. My son is 10. He didn't do anything to promote himself to this coach. In fact, the coach was from a team we'd never played until that day and his only exposure to Davis was watching him pitch earlier in the day against another team. So in less than 4 innings of play, my son had already built a 'brand' in this coach's mind by doing nothing more than throwing good pitches and picking off a boys at first with a wicked good move that caught more than a few boys this year and resulted in outs.

And that is my point. Every industry has it's rockstars. I don't care if you're in sports, advertising, technology or sell steel pipe to big oil companies. Pick an industry, find the leaders (coaches) of that industry and they'll tell you who the top 50-100 people in that industry are or will be in the next few years.

Why is this? Simple. When you put a bunch of folks together doing the same thing, some are simply going to be better at it than others. They'll have a certain talent (my son is a lefty with a wicked good move to first), ability or maybe just be willing to work harder. But whatever it is, it will create a point of difference, something they become known for and that will translate into opportunities, jobs and success independent of the companies they currently work for today. And people that matter (the coaches) in that industry will take notice because building the best team is how they become successful.

It's the inevitable outcome of a natural world order that successful people want to be around other successful people and they tend to find each other. 

Asking uber-talented folks to not develop a personal brand is simply not realistic. They can't help it because even if they don't try to build it, the world will build it for them. As a society we flock to the great ones. We like and almost need to put them up on little pedistals. Usually so we can rejoice when they fall off but more likely because it creates a north star for our own success. It creates something we can and often should emulate to find success in our own lives.

So stop worrying about if your star player's brand is growing faster than the team's brand. Instead, start thinking about how you're going to harness and direct that star brand to win the world series without upsetting any apple carts. I'll share those thoughts tomorrow.

In the meantime, what'cha think? What's your personal brand? Should your boss be pissed that you think that or that you are trying to build that brand? Let me know your thoughts. Make this post better than I can by adding your voice won't you