Last week I was speaking to a team of sales executives (don’t worry – it was a virtual talk). At the end, I took time for some Q&A. Someone asked, “What do I do about managing my professional brand Monday through Friday versus managing my personal brand on the weekends?”
I get it. This isn’t an easy way to think about it. We all want to feel like we can be “on” for some days of the week and “off” for others.
This is tricky, and lots of people have different feelings about this, but when it comes to your brand, you’re always on. It’s not just Monday through Friday from 9-to-5. It’s Monday to Monday (like Stacey Hanke says), 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year (366 if it’s a leap year).
No matter who you are, no matter where you are, you’re always on.
Once you’ve defined your personal brand, everyone will hold you to that brand definition all day, every day.
And your employer? They’ll likely hold you to their brand too. You may not agree with that. You may not believe it. But how many times have we seen someone in the media who was caught acting in a way that was detrimental to their employer’s brand, and their employer fired them?
One of the biggest places where people have detrimental actions to their brand is in their online and social media presence. Over 51% of employers check their job applicants’ social media channels. If they see anything that doesn’t match the applicant’s brand or anything that doesn’t match the employer’s brand, they will not hire that person.
But it’s not just your online and social media presence. It’s everywhere.
Your actions must match your brand all day, every day, even when nobody’s watching.
And [SPOILER ALERT] somebody’s always watching.
A few years ago, I was in the Target parking lot and I saw someone I knew. This person is well known in their industry and well known in the community for sustainability and clean environments. I saw them in the parking lot and I said, “Hey, [NAME REDACTED]!” but they didn’t see me. They didn’t see me, but I saw them. I saw them get into their car. I saw them roll down their window. And I saw them toss a lit cigarette out on the concrete!
I wanted to yell out something like I regularly yell to my kids, “That is NOT okay! You pick that cigarette up and put it where it belongs RIGHT NOW!”
But she was already driving away, and apparently we don’t really say things like that to other adults.
Again, this is someone who’s known in their industry and in their community as promoting clean and sustainable environments. Every time that I see that person speak, I do not listen to them anymore. I do not believe them anymore. I tune them out. In my mind, their brand was tarnished by that one action I happened to catch them in when they didn’t think anyone was looking.
So if someone asks you, “What do I do about managing my professional brand Monday through Friday versus managing my personal brand on the weekends?” what will you tell them?
