Vidyadhar Prabhudesai is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of LeadCap Ventures, the regional partner of the World Economic Forum and supports their research, policy interventions, programs and other engagements to strengthen relations and economic cooperation within the region. He is also an inclusive development policy fellow of United Nations, technology, media and governance fellow of Ford Foundation and non-resident fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London. Vidyadhar received the World Bank’s Prize on Youth Employability for impacting more than 10 million youth through public private partnership programs under LeadCap Trust where he serves as a Board member and Managing Trustee. He established World’s first Leadership Village in Kerala, India for which he was nominated as Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. He has been listed among the Young Visionaries, the Top LinkedIn Professionals, the Top 40 EU India leaders by EICBI and is a distinguished alumnus of Aegis & Thunderbird.
In the 30th edition of Intraskope‘s Personal Branding Series, Vidyadhar Prabhudesai articulates what makes a personal brand and explains how doing great and consistent work can lead to people recognizing your worth. Learn more in this interview.
Watch the YouTube video interview and read the complete interview below. Look up more such stories on my YouTube channel and on LinkedIn.
Interview
1. What according to you is personal branding?
A personal brand is one who can be remembered and recalled easily by a common person. When your work is making an impact, you will be remembered and therefore create a personal brand. You may be doing 20 things at a time, but you may be known only for just one. Just like Google – it is known for Search and not for Gmail or other products it owns. Moment you are remembered for that, you have created your own personal brand. It may be completely different than your job.
2. Do you consider yourself a personal brand? If yes, how do you know it?
It is still a very long way for me to be a brand. Currently, I am focused on creating bigger brand for the venture I run. Once that grows, I am hopeful I can create my niche.
3. What does one do to go about building a personal brand?
You first need to do great work. When people come and tell you how effective you are, your personal brands is created. One way is to write a blog or a book or do podcast etc so that they notice you.
4. What are the attributes of a personal brand? And what do people associate your brand with?
People associate with their selves. They look for motivation and inspiration to relate to. Some figures are one in a million, for e.g., Sachin Tendulkar – a local boy who shot to fame is a bigger personal brand since more people would try to follow and be like him.
5. What steps did you take to build your brand? How do you know it is working?
I help people in any way I can. Be it designing resumes, giving career tips or directing them to resources to learn from. When you help, word spreads and your personal brand grows. I built my own website just for people to reach me easily. I respond to all their queries.
6. What challenges did you face while building a personal brand? What techniques did you use?
I didn’t have any process or rules to build a brand. there There aren’t specific steps to become big. You have challenges along the way. In my journey, my family and friends have wondered about what I do and how I make a living! So, I put up a website just to show them. There is no end to learning – I always am.
7. During the process of building your own brand, what did you gain in the process? What did you lose?
Invest in learning, gain experience across roles and introspect.
8. How can someone starting from scratch build a personal brand? What is the first step he or she must take?
Don’t let pressure bog you down. Brand are made by consumers and not companies. So, keep doing what you do and if you are focused, you will get noticed.
9. If you had the opportunity to change something about the way you built your personal brand, what would that be?
I change and adapt the way my audience wants me to. To some I am a house husband, to others an entrepreneur and so on. My work or way of life doesn’t change all I have to work is on how I address different roles and yet deliver on my responsibilities.
10. Who according to you are personal brands whom others can follow and learn from?
There are different brands for different categories. If you follow sports and especially you may like Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni.
11. With COVID19 and other crises what steps can personal brands take?
This is the biggest opportunity people had to create your brand. However, few people were able to Nail it and are known as COVID19 warrior. They can be health care, municipality workers, police or even civilians who were able to come together and make impact because they were humble and down to earth.
12. What’s your advice for youngsters (Gen Z and others) who want to consider their personal brands?
Create your own niche
Liked this interview? Please do share your feedback and comments.
Keen to get ahead with your personal brand? Here are some resources:
- Take this course – Personal Branding 101: Unlock Your Potential and Stay Ahead
- Take a FREE assessment on personal branding.
- Refer to the 3C model on Personal Branding
- Sign up for a 60-minute personalized chat on personal branding
- Personal branding for corporate communicators
Missed the earlier episodes? Read the interviews with Muqbil Ahmar, Tinu Cherian Abraham, Joseph Fernandez, Christina Daniels,Karthik Srinivasan,Gautam Ghosh, Alexander Michael Gittens, Mubeen Azeez, Itzik Amiel, Mangal D Karnad, Abhijit Bhaduri, Sandeep K Krishnan PhD, Scott Shirai, Sunil Robert, Latha Vijaybaskar PhD, Abha Maryada Banerjee, Dr. Amit Nagpal, Sukanti Ghosh, Amith Prabhu, Dave Carroll, Prof. Deva Rangarajan, Ramesh Thomas, K V Dipu, Chip Helm, Suresh Ramdas, Karthik Nagendra PhD, Jeppe Hansgaard, Raja Karthikeya and Atamjeet Singh Bawa online and share your thoughts.
Keen to join this Series and share your thoughts on Personal Branding? Write to me at [email protected]
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