I was moderating a great OSB Workshop yesterday with Yota Trom on building a personal brand.
Great timing – since this whole exercise of posting daily for a year is supposed to lead to that.
There was one exercise where we had to pick a word that our personal brand should represent.
Honestly… I was stumped.
I had no idea.
Yota told us to pick what felt right. But try as I might, nothing felt right.
When my turn came to share, I picked a cop-out answer:
Knowledgeable.
I knew it was wrong. It was supposed to feel right, but it was exactly the wrong word.
That thought stuck with me as we worked through the rest of the workshop.
I kept doing the exercises using that word as the foundation – and the personal brand I was building felt completely off.
Then we did another exercise where others (including some people I had never met before) had to give words they’d use to describe me.
The one word that came up – and shocked me – was Joy.
I would never have come up with that… ever.
But it felt right.
I love bringing people joy. I want to help people find joy in what they do. Joy in where they live. Joy in their health. And more.
And I’m not using joy as some fluffy, feel-good concept. That’s not how I am.
I mean joy in the deep sense.
This doesn’t mean I act happy all the time. It doesn’t mean I want to make people laugh all day.
Sometimes bringing people joy involves telling them hard truths. Letting someone go from the wrong job. Telling a friend (honestly, and with care) that they’re on the wrong path, in a way only someone with some distance can.
This word… Joy… feels right.
P.S. We’re sharing this workshop with Yota Trom (for free) in the OSB newsletter shortly.
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