What Brand Are You?

Reposted from May 3, 2004 @ 8:25

I finished that book by Fisher-Roffer awhile back,Make a Name for Yourself: Eight Steps Every Woman Needs to Create a Personal Brand Strategy for Success, but I keep thinking about it. Because it is mainly about marketing oneself, it brought forth many of the conflicts between the demands of the Kingdom of God and the demands of this world’s system, the Cosmos.

I guess what I found most useful was the idea of having one’s packaging consistent with one’s message. How the different areas of expression should have the central message at heart. We ought to have a congruency and continuity of purpose. Fisher-Roffer just put it into business terms.

But it got me thinking about what God desires to see in our “Brands” and came up with one scriptural concept. For Him, there is only one thing that sets His own apart from the rest. It is a spiritual mark of the Spirit, and it reads:

God Is True

John 3

He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

That’s it. God is True. But the consistency and congruency of our lives in expressing that will have profound impact on every part of our lives. And that is what faith is really about , isn’t it? Believing the truth of God and acting on that truth. It will express differently through individuals, but it will be one cohesive message. One recognizable brand, in feeling and in purpose.

Lot’s of times people can see that, but get mixed up about how that works out in life. They mistake homogenization for consistency of message, when one aspect of God is that He creates unique individuals. That must be expressed to express His truth properly. Another mistake is to feel that there must be rigidity of purpose, and deny the living creativeness of God. To think that the box has one shape and one look…or that there is a box at all, when in actuality it is service and corporate diversification.

The whole analogy is in danger if you see the Body of Christ as the Business Entity of Christ…. because just in case you get too caught up in such delusion ( quite common) there is always the famous action of Jesus in the Temple:

“It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,'[21:13 Isaiah 56:7] but you have made it a “den of thieves.”‘[ Jeremiah 7:11]

We make it a den of thieves when we get mixed up about our purpose, and our “Brand Name” and take on that of this world which merchandises everything it can without thought of value. In the world’s eyes it is all a bowl of pottage… and nothing matters but the next meal.

It remains we can publish something quite different and quite wonderful if we get the message right. Let’s pull together the components of getting the message clear and projecting the good news into our world. How do you identify your part in that? What are your gifts and your unique identifying factors ? God does have a banner, -His banner over us is love- He does have identifying characteristics that He wishes us to reflect.

On Passing Along the Brand Legacy

One final thing that stood out to me from reading this book, “Making A Name For Yourself”, was an entry under the topic of ‘mentoring’. It dovetails with the idea on a Father’s Blessing:

Robin Fisher-Roffer

“The ideal mentor has made it through many of those principal barriers we’ve discussed, and can show you around them. A mentor will build you up, counsel you, open doors for you, and help you assemble the skills you need to strengthen your brand and succeed. A mentor will speak up for you, put a good word in for you, but mainly teach you the ropes. Learning from a mentor is like learning at the foot of a master. Of all the truly successful people I know, I can’t think of anybody who hasn’t attributed at least part of his/her success to a mentor. Many people have more than one in their lives, and I’m no exception.

My dad was my first mentor.