What is the “point of Rick?”
I just saw a little contest on Appstorm relating to mac/iphone/ipod skins. (If you didn’t know, these are essentially decals/decal sets that decorate or protect your device. But “skin” generally means decorative as opposed to a generic screen protector or similar product.)
I’ve got a smallish-skin for my old Fujitsu and was surprised how much I liked the unique difference. It’s just a blown-up version of the ASDworld logo; we got some free offer when buying a portable DVD player for Dylan to use in the classroom.
Now, with a new Airbook as my first Mac, I’m excited to find something that helps say “Rick” in all the different places and contexts and roles where my laptop shows up.
I wonder what that is? I guess that looking at all the “personal branding” and “own a word” tasks/notes/ideas that cluttered up my task list have me thinking about this a little more closely. My desktop images are generally pictures of my two boys playing or being cute. But the laptop skin is a different environment, slightly less personal, more general in audience. One thought is to simply send the message you want and the audience will find you – the triiibes mentality. Another would be to aim for something a bit different with the goal of sparking interest or even intrigue. That might be a way of communicating to people that I do some things or have some skills/goals/interests that they might want to learn more about.
Those two thoughts sound the same at first, but they’re different. One is just putting the equivalent of, for example, an Autism Speaks blue puzzle piece and something to indicate that I’m partly a special education lawyer who works with families with children on the spectrum. Or, something to show that I’m a corporate lawyer who works with startups. Or that I’m a strategic corporate advisor who helps companies develop performance management systems to improve financial performance. I’m also a hopeful triathlete and a writer of sorts.
So do I pick one role to represent me everytime I pull the laptop out? Or do I show them all, which given my range of interests might cause people to think I’m a Nascar fan with all these logos everywhere! My sense is that the right answer for me is to go through the branding exercise and distill the common theme, the core competency of “Rick,” the ur-Rick, the eleven secret herbs and spices of Rick-ness, and, quite simply, the point of Me.
I’m certain to post several iterations of this process and idea here, along with some tangential ideas (I’ve got a draft post on career path & progression waiting to be edited a bit more) and related thoughts.
What is the “point of Rick?” What should my brand be? What words or ideas do you associate with me?