Hows your brand?

The current state of the world, more than ever, shipbrokers, freight traders, shipowners, and charterers need to assess their own personal brand.

And here I do not mean the brand of the business you work for. I mean your own personal private brand.

We can argue until the cows come home about teamwork and loyalty (both very important aspects of being a great citizen) but the truth is in times like this its your own personal brand that can make the difference between having a job and not...

And you know what - growing your own personal brand is becoming increasingly difficult in a shipping world that values loyalty, conformity and less risk. Ill explain more...

With consolidation happening everywhere in most industries what I am noticing is that those most comfortable within organisations have a strong persona brand. Ie - the company needs them....

This could be for any number of reasons but most likely

1. They could be a huge revenue generator
2. They have very close client relationships
3. They are just awesome at what they do
4. They have become internally indispensable (the boss can't function or they help with internal politics)

Case in point: One shipping executive I know feels fairly comfortable (rightly so) because of the strong bonds he has created over many years in a particular region of the world. He gets inside word on new business, often gets non market repeat business and for a shipowner or freight trader this is very valuable (regardless if the cargoes make money or not).

And you know what - listen up those over 40 years old. This will become even more important as you become an elder statesman.

In my books and blog click here I talk a lot about how to build your own brand in the shipping world. Like any good business you personally should be looking to secure long term profitable relationships. You too should be constantly evolving and learning new things.

Any smart business build walls around itself - protecting itself from the ups and downs of the market.
The irony here is part of that is not letting individual brokers get too powerful.

So how can you build your own brand in an ethical way? This requires an interesting mindset for any good loyal employee. Yes trust in the business but also watch and remain detached to some extent. Naivety won't pay the bills.

And lets be clear - I am not out to undermine great business's. There is nothing better in the world than finding somewhere to work that you love.

As a business owner myself - I am completely comfortable with this. Part of a being a great business is keeping staff happy. It is my experience that staff will stay for ever if they are given the opportunity to be rewarded fairly and have the opportunity to grow as people and professionally. Im not sure shipping has always been great at that.

How is your own brand?

VS
(tackling the difficult topics)