Tyra Banks is a model, entrepreneur, television executive, author, business and also guest-lecturer who is teaching personal branding at Stanford Business School. Now in her second year of teaching there, she first started in May 2017 where she co-taught a class with Graduate School of Business lecturer, Alison Kluger. Tyra named her class, Project You! She did a run down of what personal brand is, how valuable it is, competitive advantage, how one can distinguish themselves, how to use social media to build personal brand and also when to evolve one’s personal brand.
Ms. Banks is the lecturer who goes the extra mile as she also takes the time to have individual sessions with her students. “I can’t just stand there and lecture. In order to make sure my lessons truly resonate with my students at Stanford GSB, I often talk one-on-one to offer that extra bit of knowledge. I like to think by involving myself on a personal level, we both leave a little more wise” she commented in a post shared on her Twitter page.
Here are Some Lessons From Tyra Banks’ Personal Branding class:
- Broadcast yourself to the world – as loud as possible. Take what you do, blow it as big as it can be, and blast it to your audience. She said your personal brand is not the time to be shy or modest. She called it Kanye Yourself
- Be Distinct – In order to be iconic, memorable and remarkable, be distinct. Distinguish yourself from others. She said you become memorable when you are different from others and different is better than Better.
- Know Where you are Going – See the end from the beginning. Determine the end goal, everything you do should be drawing you closer to your goal. If you don’t know your end goal now discover it.
- Consistency is key – Figure out what you are known for or what you want to be known for or what you are expert at and be steady and true to your personal brand. If you consistently tweet about football updates and your Instagram is dedicated to fashion then you don’t have a consistent personal brand. But when you stay consistent and true to your brand it makes your followers depend on you and know what they can get from you and always want to come back for more.
- Stay True to Yourself – As your personal brand grows, there would be temptation along the way. Knowing who you are not is important to staying true to yourself and always know when to say NO! Your personal brand boils down to what people will remember about you
- Learning is 360 Degrees – “We can always learn from each other. In my second year of teaching at Standord GSB, I may be the instructor, but my students school me with their original takes on my lessons. The world is not built for one way of thinking, doing, or achieving” Tyra Bank shared.
Photo Credit: Twitter/ Tyra Banks