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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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Hello, everyone. Welcome back to my personal branding master class. I'm your host, John, Michael, and today we're going to be exploring something guaranteed to shake things up. Get ready for some real talk, because today's topic is about polarity branding. So what is polarity branding? It's about leveraging controversial and counterintuitive opinions to build a magnetic personal brand. Now let me ask you this up front, are you tired of blending in? Because if you're playing it safe, trying to please everyone, let me tell you, you're making yourself invisible. Yes, I said it, being in authentically agreeable makes you invisible. And today we're going to unpack why, and with a little bit of courage, of course, standing out by embracing polarity and how it can skyrocket your brand. And I'm also going to be talking about the psychology behind polarity branding, and I'll start off with that as being number one. So here's a powerful stat to kick things off. Studies have shown the controversial posts on LinkedIn receive 50% more engagement than neutral ones. So think about that in a world overflowing with content. IE, me too. Type content. It's the post that challenge people's beliefs and mindset to cut through the noise. But we also know that challenging people's beliefs and mindsets is one of the hardest games on the planet, because it's very hard to change people's minds and mindsets, having said that, the idea here is to get them to think at least critically. Think, oh, there might be another possibility. So why does this work? Because human beings are hardwired to react to conflict. It triggers our survival instincts, and that is, of course, fight or flight, or in many cases, just freeze. So according to a Harvard business review study, the most memorable brands are those that evoke an emotional response, whether it's love or hate, the reaction itself is what sticks. Of course, social media is a great example of that, but let's be clear about something right up front. I'm not saying you should go out and be controversial, just for the sake of it. That's not polarity branding. That's click bait, and it's not sustainable, especially if you're a niche brand, and you know you hope to obviously create a really powerful following. You don't do it just to be Controversial. Controversial sake. You stick to your values around what you want to communicate. And then, of course, if that's going to be controversial, so be the goal here is to stand up for what you truly believe, even if it really means ruffling a few feathers, as Seth golden said, playing it safe is the riskiest thing you can do. So today, we're going to explore how embracing your authentic, sometimes unpopular opinions can transform you from being just another voice in the crowd to becoming the thought leader people can't ignore. So now number two, I'd like to share some real life examples about the power of polarity. Take Nike's campaign featuring Colin Kate pernic. The backlash was intense. You might remember that it's quite a few years ago now. I think at least seven, eight this is the year NFL footballer people were burning the Nike gear, vowing never to buy their products again. But here's what's fascinating. Nights, sales surged by 31% in the days following the campaign. They knew the stance will alienate some people, but they also knew it will resonate deeply with their core audience. So why did this work?

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Because it was about being authentic to their brand values. According to a study by Edelman, 64% of consumers want brand to take a stand on social issues, as long as they believe in them and are not just virtue signaling. This is very important. Virtue signaling, of course, is the opposite of being authentic. Brands are played safe, miss out on your. Opportunity to connect with their audience on a deeper level. So let me share a story from my own journey. Back in the early days of image Group International, I saw that the market was flooded with consultants, you know, who focused on service level, fashion makeovers, good people, but I would say, at times, very, very superficial, they were all about quick fixes, like putting that lipstick on a pig. But I believe then, as I do now, the personal branding was about something much deeper, aligning your external image with your core values and strengths, and of course, that's also known as your inner image. I started calling out the superficiality in the industry, and yes, I got pushback, but the clients who resonated with my message, the ones who understood the value of authenticity, started flocking to us. That's when our business truly took off. From my experience, when you take a stand, you might lose some people and anyone can relate with this, and I'm not talking about just clients, in this case, you could even lose colleagues and friends, but the ones who stay will be your most loyal advocates. A testimony that I can say I have clients now done business with us for over 30 years, and many have become also a dear friends. So this is important in understanding that when you do stand out, and you stand out, in this case, from with a counter intuitive opinion, at times, there's going to be a risk involved with that. And of course, somebody that plays it safe does not want any risk involved. And I think that's a fairly mediocre way of living your life. Imagine living every day with not taking any risk. My God, what would happen to the world? There'd be no entrepreneurship, no creativity, and certainly no love anymore. Because, of course, even love has risk elements to it, and I mean one on one, relationships in universal so you gotta take some risk. What I'm saying here is, of course, you don't have to do it just for risk sake. You can have your opinions as long as they are thought out and you actually believe them. So number three, how to get started with polarity branding. Alright, it's time for you to take some action. I say, grab a pen and paper or open a notes pad with an app. And here's your first assignment. Take 15 minutes to brainstorm three strong opinions you hold within your industry. These should be opinions that are authentic to you but not necessarily popular. For example, if you're in team development, for instance, maybe you believe that traditional performance reviews are outdated and a waste of time. If you're in marketing, perhaps you think influencer culture is overrated. Once you've identified these opinions, I want you to craft a LinkedIn, post a blog, or even record a short video, sharing one of them. Now what's important in all of this is Don't overthink it. Just be real and unapologetic. Share it and watch the reactions pour in. You might be surprised at how much engagement you'll get, not just from those who agree with you, but also from those who challenge you. And this is something important for you to reflect, because the challenging also is your opportunity to build an audience, to build opinion from the point of view of authentic authority, according to LinkedIn analytics, posts that present long or strong opinions and long loss is an interesting one that's coming into mode now LinkedIn, as well, can generate 70% more comments and shares and those that play it safe. And why is that? Because people are drawn to content that sparks a conversation. Authentic content that sparks thinking is something that, of course, draws an audience and, of course, potentially great clients down the road. I'm not talking about the Tiktok approach here. I am talking about more of a LinkedIn and the thought leadership approach. And number four, let's get into number four. Thought Leadership is all about having a spotlight. No question about that. Thought Leadership with no spotlight, invisibility doesn't work.

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So let's focus on somebody that has a big spotlight, especially now after the US election and, of course, his new role are in the Trump government, and that is Elon Musk. So let's take a moment to reflect on someone who's mastered the art of polarity branding, and that's Elon Musk. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him. Musk's willingness the speaker's mind, has made him one of the most influential figures in the world today, and of course, I just noted earlier that he's part of Trump's government. Many would argue his impact helped elect Donald Trump as a new president. His tweets alone can send stocks soaring or crashing. But here's the thing, Musk's polarizing stance. Attracts the right kind of followers, those who align with his vision. He doesn't care with the ones that don't. He's very, very adamant about that. Musk said, when something is important enough, you do it, even if the odds are not in your favor. Of course, being an entrepreneur, he could say that the key takeaway, though, is this, don't be afraid to repel the wrong audience. You know why? Because it's very rare that they'll ever going to become your audience. So the wrong audience stays as the wrong audience. Now I'm not saying that you can't convert people. Of course you can, but it takes so much effort and education and big expense to do that. So just be very clear, if you're going to go down that track, you're going to have to really, really invest because if you try to appeal to everyone, also, you're going to dilute your message, and you're going to try to play it both ways. You're going to try to play both sides of the fence. Now you can only be a billionaire to do that. Okay, effectively, of course, we know billionaires do that, especially in politics, but you're in this case, I would say not a billionaire. I could say that fairly confidently. So basically, what's important here is to get really clear what you're on about, what are your values, what you stand for, and what you don't stand for. That's sometimes more important than what you stand for. And I also love this quote from the ancients, a friend of everybody is a friend of nobody. Now ponder on that for a moment, and you'll be able to relate with people that you know that are like that. And you might know some people like that, I certainly do. And you know what my reflection sort of communicates on something like that, is, I can't trust them because, basically they don't stand for anything. See, I could respect somebody that's highly different to my views, my opinions, my beliefs, my values, at least I know where I'm going with that person, and we can have a respectful relationship, but someone that plays it both ways. Oh, my God, it feels so icky. So and this is very important, because as people have become more castrated, that becomes a serious problem, and I say castrated, especially the men, if you haven't got the power of your convictions, really it's a dangerous way of living your life, in my experience, having coached, obviously, 1000s of people, and have had the experience at least to give you some feedback on that. So number five is the next one, how to back up your controversial views with authority. Now let's talk about how to do this strategically. If you're going to express a strong opinion, make sure you back it up with evidence, whether it's through data, personal experience or research. This hasn't been about a shock jock. It's about positioning yourself as a credible thought leader who brings new insights to the table that has the courage to be an action an action step here would be this, and I have one for you. Identify one controversial opinion you've been holding back on because you're worried it might alienate some people. Write it down, then find at least three pieces of evidence, a statistic, a case study or a quote, obviously, from somebody that you trust and respect, etc, that supports your view this way, you're not just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, you're offering value with evidence. Now if it's important to you test it by sharing your ideas with your team or colleagues, and then reflect on reactions. So to wrap up, remember this polarity, branding is not about being controversial for controversies sake. It's about being authentic, standing firm on your beliefs and attracting the right tribe. The world doesn't need more agreeable and at times, I would say, complicit voices. Okay, people are scared. People have got a lot of fear and speaking their truth, but what that creates is other internal problems for them, including potentially serious anxiety and depression, as we've discussed many times before. So we need people who are willing to challenge the status quo, especially especially when the status quo is dead wrong. So I'm sure many of you can relate with this, and what you do with it is going to be up to you. If you found the value in today's episode, please share it with somebody you you believe might benefit. And if you're ready to take your personal brand to next authentic level. Reach out to Patricia at patricia@image group.com.au for a personal brand consultation. Also remember to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Your comments help us to reach more people who want to build the personal. Brands authentically, I want to thank you for tuning in until next time. Stay bold, stay authentic, and keep on building your legacy. 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.