I am currently teaching 50 MBA students personal branding. It’s the first semester we’ve offered this course at UNR, and I believe it’s the first of its kind in the world. If someone else is doing what we are doing, please show me.
I LOVE this class because I sincerely believe that the skills I am teaching these folks have the ability to radically transform their lives and careers. It’s also unique in that I practice what I teach. When I require my students to blog twice a week and tweet three times per day, I plan to blog four times per week and tweet six to ten times per day.
Last night I gave my class the assignment of writing a recommendation for someone on LinkedIn. Recommendations matter, and I’ve found that the best way to get them is to first earn them for yourself and then to give them to others.
It was not a comfortable moment, but I told my class to not recommend me on LinkedIn. The reason is that I could never recommend them until the course is over and I’ve seen how they performed. I only put my personal brand on people that I truly believe earned it.
What matters most to me is what they do when the course is over. I hope they prove me wrong, but experience teaching this course to undergraduate students tells me that 95 percent of them will quit the first day they are no longer required to practice the skills I’ve taught them. Some will not even choose to clean up their Facebook pages during the course. Why would I put my brand on someone that spent four months with me and then sent me the signal that they didn’t value what I had done to try to help them?
I recommend people that have the vision and strength of character to do things others are not willing to do. I recommend people like Sharon Markovsky, Brandon Jones, and Jessica Torres because they continue to give themselves permission to be remarkable.
It will be my honor to recommend every single student in my class that takes the basic skills I’ve tried to teach them and not only continues to practice them, but applies them in ways that I can learn from them. I recommend excellence, not mediocrity, which is why I will never recommend a quitter.
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Bret, I’m covering the topic on a less formal level than your groundbreaking course, and this post is now required reading. Too few people…esp students are taking the personal branding issue as seriously as they need to. This is now a career and life spanning issue. Kudos on your course! -Art
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:09 pm
We are on the same page, Art. You know, we should meet and talk sometime.. how about this Saturday in Phoenix?
See you soon! Bret
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I feel privileged to be a part of this groundbreaking class. So far, it has been a lot of work but I love every minute of it and can’t wait to see what I will learn the next week. This is something I plan to continue indefinitely. Thanks Bret for the opportunity! Miriam
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:10 pm
The only way to lose is to quit, Miriam. There are so many people quitting this game that they make it easy for anyone that stays in to win. Keep it up! Bret
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Bret, A really interesting post. Given your standards for recommending your students, obviously any recommendation you do make needs to be taken seriously. I visited the blogs of all three of your students, and as they were all excellent, I have bookmarked them. Thanks for letting me know about them. ps. I wish I had had a teacher like you when I was in graduate school.
Jesse
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for following my students, Jesse! Hard to believe some of them just started 2 months ago. I’m very proud of them. Thanks! Bret
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Thank you so much for your recommendation (and for listing me in this post). I know what a big deal it is after taking your personal branding class and learning the value of a recommendation. I had no part of social media and personal branding before I took your class. Since then, I have continued to learn and grow by staying active with social media and I love. I have been able to connect with so many new people. I think the hardest part for students it to remember that social media is not for fun, it is for personal branding and that what they do online can impact them in ways that they don’t know.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:12 pm
The sky is the limit for you, Jessica. I’m excited for you because one year from now you are going to be doing even more amazing things and earning money doing them. Keep it up! Bret
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I gave a speech to the Business Student Association at ORU on using social media for job hunting. My number one recommendation: start a blog fell on 98 def ears…and 2 hearing ears. Those 2 kids are now rocking it.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Excellence is rare, which is why it always commands a premium price. Keep encouraging folks and setting the example, David. Thanks, Bret
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Bret,
I have to say, your Personal Branding class is by far the most challenging and rewarding class I have taken for my MBA program. When people ask me to describe the class, I just say this… in no other class you will ever take will you have as much of a direct impact on your professional life as you will from this class. Thank you so much for fighting to develop and teach it…and of course allowing me to take it.
Oh, and thank you so very much for the kind words in your blog. I am not, nor have I ever been, a quitter!
Thanks,
Sharon
http://www.sharonmarkovsky.com
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Thanks for the encouraging words, Sharon. Keep up the great work! Bret
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I really enjoyed this post Bret – someone needs to keep this conversation going to those who keep asking for recommendations, not taking seriously what they’re asking for. I have had numerous people ask for my recommendation, some whom I’ve not heard from more than a couple of times in the past couple of years. I feel more than annoyance, and actually think less of some of these people. If I’m going to provide MY voice, MY opinion and MY word about the awesomeness of anyone, they will be remarkable. It’s my reputation on the line as well, and very important that if I do write a recommendation it carries value.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 11:17 pm
A recommendation for YOU is remarkable, KC. I know how high your standards are. Thanks! Bret
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Great thoughts on recommendations, and brilliant idea for a class. Those students are very lucky; the rest of us are left to figure it out on our own.
I doubt I’m the only one, but keep posting excerpts of your content on here so the rest of us can learn as well (please….).
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Thanks for the encouragement, Tim! Bret
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As a “late blooming” undergraduate student in my 50’s, I am very thankful to be in your class! What a tremendous opportunity to learn from your example. Your guest lecturer, returning student Jessica, told our class that the material she learned was possibly the most usable and valuable of her undergraduate degree. I get it! If only I had been privy to this knowledge before the economic downturn that hit our design and construction business so hard. I would have been much more prepared to create my own recovery. Hopefully, a much higher percentage of your class will also get it this time around. Thank you. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
January 28th, 2012 at 10:53 am
Welcome, Vicki! It’s never too late to start. There is no age limit on excellence. Thanks for sharing your comments! Bret
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