Personal Branding and 'The Power of One'

Dedicated to Wiliam Arruda, World’s No 1 Personal Branding Guru

“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” 

Helen Keller

We are not proud of the world we live in. But as individuals or organisations, we often consider ourselves powerless. I strongly believe, “One person can bring change in society and one organisation can change the industry for the better.” But it can happen if and only if we are empowered with the right tools and the conviction. Today the easy availability of social media to individuals and even small businesses has given them a powerful opportunity to share their stories of victory with the world and go global by creating viral content.

My personal mission is to empower individuals and organisations and to make them realize, “The Power of One.” I once posted, “I do not believe in creating a larger than life image. I rather believe in aspiring to be as beautiful and large, as life is.”

Only deeply passionate professionals and organisations have the perseverance and energy to build a personal/business brand through social media. The main strength of social media is viral marketing and hence generating excellent content becomes critical. No wonder, creative professionals and organisations have a natural edge in the social media age we live in.

I started reading about “The Power of One” more than one decade back because I had felt, so powerless in a certain situation. My decision to become a Branding Consultant was not just a career decision; it was a mission decision rather.

Creative professionals and introverts have always lost out monetarily, due to their inability to market themselves. As they rightly say, “No matter how good intentions you may have, people look only at your presentations. No matter how good presentations you may have, God looks only at your intentions.” Good intentions are fine but good presentations are also necessary to deal with the ways of the world.

I was participating in a Substance vs Style debate once and when my turn came to express my opinion, I simply said, "Those who only have substance, must develop a little style and those who only have style would be better off with a little substance. We must be practical and should not expect the world to change overnight."

Jack Kemp rightly says, “The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society."

The famous couplet in Urdu conveys the power of one, “Main akelaa hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar log aatey gaye karwaan banta gaya” Roughly translated in English it means, “I started alone towards the destination, but people kept on joining me and soon there was a procession/crowd” 

I don’t want to use too many words and sentences. If I can touch the readers' hearts and souls, it can be through the power of one word or one sentence. I had once posted on Facebook, "One who walks with confidence and joy does not walk alone for long."

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Lord Buddha

Note-The 'ek' word in the image means 'One' in Hindi language.

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Dr Amit Nagpal is a Personal Branding Consultant and specializes in Personal Branding with a holistic touch. He is based in New Delhi, India. His philosophy is, “Take charge of your life and your brand.” To know more about him, visit www.dramitnagpal.com