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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of Image Group International, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies, and hacks for the new tech world. Here, you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques, and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image, and reputation.

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Welcome back everyone. I'm John, Michael, and you're listening to a conversation that will be a little bit challenging, a bit contrarian, and frankly, long overdue. Today we're discussing building a personal brand in academia, a topic many academics avoid or dismiss as unnecessary or even inappropriate. But I mean to say that building a personal brand is essential if you're serious about leaving a legacy, influencing your field, and let's be honest, standing out in an increasingly crowded space. If that sounds like self promotion, it is, but it's self promotion with purpose. Let's understand why your personal brand in academia is just as important as your research credentials and publications. Now I want to say from the outset, if you're on tenure, obviously you've got a guaranteed jump for life. And I understand sometimes it's easier to hide, as opposed to standing out. I really get that, but most people don't operate on tenure. And I just want to say from the outset that I don't believe tenure should exist in the year 2024, and beyond, and by the way, I'll also be sharing some practical strategies you can also put into action right now to take control of your narrative and create an authentic brand that definitely resonates with your peers, students, research funders, the media and, of course, even the public. So let me start with the story, a true story, of an academic client with a PhD, who, like many, felt that branding was beneath the work that they were doing. They were established as a researcher with publications, definitely a respected name in the field, but they were frustrated watching others, as often with less experience, get more attention, invitations to speak, and, of course, greater opportunities. They knew they needed more visibility, but didn't know where to start. The concept of a personal brand felt alien, even uncomfortable after we started talking together, the first step was aligning their brand with their authentic self. We developed a clear narrative, a message that highlighted not only their work, but their unique perspective on it, and at times, contrarian perspective. Nothing wrong with that. They began sharing insights, regularly, putting their thoughts out there, and, yes, engaging with social media in the way that was intentional, authentic and on brand. And guess what? The attention followed soon. They were the ones being sought after in the past. That wasn't always the case. They became the one who other researchers and students wanted to hear from, including interest to be part of global events. The other interesting thing that happened was a lot of these academics would give out their knowledge, their thought leadership, for free, historically, but now they were also paid speakers, a grand opportunity to add to their income. This is what happens when your personal brand aligns with who you truly are, doors open that you didn't even know existed. So if you're willing to challenge some assumptions, here's how you can do it.

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First of all, position yourself as a thought leader. This starts to sound quite cliche these days, because every man in his dog on LinkedIn and socials is using that as a concept, but thought leadership here is, you know, I'm going to explain exactly what this is. It's a myth you need to bust, because you don't have to have all the answers to be a thought leader. People in academia often think they need to know everything before they can speak up. And that's in in our opinion, wrong been a thought leader. Isn't about perfection. It's about perspective. It's about contributing to the conversation and doing that regularly enough that people remember your voice and ideas. Studies show that professors, for instance, who frequently publish their views on public platforms see a 20% increase in research visibility and cross discipline citations. Now think about that. Visibility means more influence, more citations and more opportunities to impact the field. Because you're expanding your field, you're not just talking to your fellow peers. That might be four or five or six. Six or 10 or 20, you're potentially speaking to hundreds 1000s, if not millions. How can you do this? Well, start by putting your thoughts out there. By writing a blog post, contribute articles to journals or academic websites and share insights on social and legacy media, talk about your research, critique or question popular theories or weighing on trends on your field, but you've got to be courageous here. The point is to make your voice heard, so that when people think of your field, they think of you next. Use storytelling as a tool for connection. Academics tend to stick to the facts, you know, rational, etc. But here's the thing, facts alone don't inspire that. Don't create connection. People remember stories and stories with emotion. They remember the people behind these stories. 

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A study from Stanford found that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone. So if you want to be remembered. Start telling the story behind your data, your research, your journey. Think about it this way. You're presenting at a conference what's going to make an impact, joining, reciting your findings or sharing the why behind your work. Talk about the challenges you faced in your research, or what inspired you to start in the first place. Share anecdotes from your journey that show who you are and beyond the credentials. Because people don't resonate with resumes. They resonate with real human stories. Next, engage outside your field. You know, break out of your bubble. This is one big thing, academia is notoriously siloed. Many are lone wolves, and scholars mostly only interact with others in their own narrow field. If you want to build an influential brand that resonates, you have to broaden your scope interdisciplinary collaboration not only adds depth to your work, but also amplifies your credibility and reach so start looking for other experts. What I would say is performative masters in related fields and find ways to collaborate on projects or publications. Be entrepreneurial. Yes, that E word, it doesn't have to be a big, formal partnership, sometimes just simple as reaching out to a colleague in another department, another university, in this case, and finding out you know what they're working on, even something that's straightforward as interdisciplinary panel discussions. Can't raise your profile and establish your brand beyond the walls of your specific discipline. Another way to break out of your bubble. How about community outreach? What a great idea that would be, whether it's mentoring, volunteering or working with local organizations. Being involved in your community shows you're a scholar who cares. So you're not just tucked away in an ivory tower. You're a contributor to suffer, to society, which enhances your credibility and trustworthiness, and I love the next one. And of course, it's something that's very personal to me, and that is commit to lifelong learning. And of course, I've used the term auto Didact in the past. This one should go, in my opinion, without saying another self is forever. It doesn't stop. But it's also worth emphasizing.

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Academia is also now evolving, and so you shouldn't stop, you know. So that includes you as well. The more you develop your skills, including life skills, the more relevant you stay, not just in your field, but in your personal brand and life purpose. So in my experience, a lot of the challenges, a lot of the problems that are associated with us as people, is not necessarily you need more job skills. I certainly put my name to this. You need more personal development skills. You need to go more internally. Because we've discussed this before. We've all looked at a history, and at times some of our conditioning might be holding us back. So some of this is also unlocking some of the talents and values that you have that you haven't considered was actually even there and on. Academics has stopped learning new methodologies a decade ago or more, and now they're struggling to keep up. Don't be that person. And by the way, they gave up because, again, they were on tenure. They could never get sacked or lose their job or their position, because they were in a guaranteed position. Now I don't know how many professions in the year 2024, 25 and beyond can actually do that. Academia is actually one of them. There's a few others as well, but they won't go there today. So what I say is, don't be that person. So even if you've got tenure, don't be that person. Attend workshops, take online courses and go to conferences outside your field and commit to being a perpetual live student. You know, in order to direct, like I said before, your brand will reflect that growth. A Harvard study found. That professors who continue learning and adapting are 40% more likely to secure research funding and keep students engaged. What the research did not say, but I will say, is that they also became enlivened again in the way they felt. That's my guess. Anyway, so staying relevant isn't about knowledge. It's also about personal growth. And of course, wisdom comes from personal growth. So when you commit to continuous learning, you're showing that you're serious about your development, and that reflects positively on your brand. Next, consider this something that we've spoken about many, many times before, and especially on our podcast regarding other professions that is being tension on social media. And this is a big one and often a hot topic in academia, social media has been a game changer, but it's also a double edged sword. If not you using it intentionally, you're leaving a huge part of your personal brand in the hands of chance. So let's make this clear, you don't need to be on every platform, but the ones you're on should align with your professional goals. If your work resonates with industry professionals, focus on LinkedIn, for example, for academia, x is still a hub for real time conversation, while Instagram as an example, can be powerful for those in visually driven fields. And here's a controversial take stop treating social media like a soapbox, treating like a networking connection event is a different way of looking at this, sharing your thoughts, asking questions, and, of course, engaging with others work. This isn't just about sharing your achievements, it's about participating in a conversation. 

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So if you're interested in using social media just to broadcast, you're missing the point. Social media should amplify your brand, not diluted. Next, consider the power of strategic relationships. That's something, of course, that we've spoken about every single profession and individual out there. Your brand does not exist in a vacuum. Strategic relationships play a huge role in amplifying your reach or reputation. So don't just focus on your CV. Focus on building genuine, mutually beneficial relationships with people in your field and beyond. If you don't believe me, let me dispel a myth. Most of the chair and board positions originate by cultivating the right networks, although most people have been conditioned to believe that it's all based on merit. Now don't shoot me as the messenger. However, this is the reality in many, many cases, endorsements from respected colleagues, influential voices and even former students, can have a ripple effect on your brand when other credible figures speak well of you, it adds a layer of validation to your work that's hard to achieve on your own. That's the power of testimonials. My advice, actively engage in selective online and in person groups, and don't shy away from any collaboration, partnering with credible names in your industry and also outside of the industry, as we noted, elevates you by association, and we would call that an effective leverager, alright? So let's wrap this up. Personal branding in academia isn't about self aggrandizement. It's about owning your narrative. It's about making sure your work is seen, respected and remembered for the right reasons. If you want to that you know be valued. Let's do a complete recap of the six strategies with outline. First of all, position yourself as a thought leader. Share your perspective, even if you don't have all the answers. Number two, use storytelling. People remember stories, not statistics. Number three, engage beyond your field. Break out of the academic bubble and broaden your impact. Number four, commit to lifelong learning. Stay relevant by continuously growing. And that means also personally, be intentional. Is number five on social media, use it to amplify, not dilute your brand. And finally, number six is, build strategic relationships, credible voices, elevate your brand. So building a personal brand in academia isn't just beneficial, it's transformative. You don't need to sacrifice integrity to be memorable. In fact, when your personal brand aligns with your values and expertise, you set yourself up to create a legacy that outlasts your publications, projects or tenure, and that sort of comes to the finalization for today, I want to thank you for joining me. If you're ready to take your academic brand, in this case, the next level, reach out, contact Patricia at patricia@image group.com.au. Connect with me on X, as Jon_Michail, my LinkedIn is Jon Michail, and you can find me as Image Group International on Facebook.  Until next time, embrace the change. Shape your narrative. Cheerio

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence, and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for personal coaching, seminars, and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.