Lately, I've heard a lot of faculty talking about their "academic brand" and how to build one.
When they talk about a brand, they are describing how they hope people perceive them, their work, and their relevance to the world outside of the Ivory Tower.
Most often, the conversation unpacks itself as tips and tricks for building a brand, maintaining it, & knowing when to update it.
It's a tricky business, as I learned when I served as a moderator on a panel on branding.
I appreciated how Michelle Carter, Randy V Bradley, and Lionel Robert explained the opportunities and perils of building an academic brand. Their basic contention was that building a reputation for communicating honestly & forthrightly about specific domains and issues created opportunities for changing the world.
Your reputation is important - because its shapes how you are perceived inside and outside of your organization - so how can you manage them?
First, carefully consider how you want to be perceived.
Think through how you are currently seen and how you want to be seen.
This does not mean becoming insecure, it does mean taking an unflinching look at your own behavior.
Second, understand your brand conveys your professional identity.
It shares with the world what you think is or is not important. This means you need to carefully think through what you want to be known for - for better or worse.
Third, remember that you construct your brand.
This means that you control how you present yourself and your ideas.
You can shape your brand, through communication, or simple acts of kindness, in interpretable ways.
Fourth, you can update your brand.
If your ideas change, you have a right to update your values and beliefs. If your circumstances change, you have a right to change your mind.
Finally, if you change, you need to be consistent - so people will know the change is authentic.
When I think about an academic brand, it is more than simply how you want to be known. It is about understanding who you are & how you want to be remembered.
Once you have sorted out how you want to be remembered, you can take steps to make your brand consistent with your professional identity, how you want to be known, and to think through your next career steps.
Best of luck!
P.S. many thanks to Donald Wynn, Jr. & Adriane B. Randolph, Ph.D. my co-organizers of the panel.
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