UNDERSTAND YOUR BRAND BY MAX SNYDER

“You are the world’s undisputed expert of your own experience.” Ever since I saw a video of Tom Kelley, partner at IDEO, a design and innovation consultancy, this quote has stuck with me.

After the clip ended, our entrepreneurship professor paused, and repeated it: “You are the world’s undisputed expert of your own experience, so try to capture the lessons from your experience and you will be able to use those.” The professor made it a real point to emphasize this quote more than anything else that class.

I like to try and sell things, and often times I find myself trying to discover new ways to sell myself – whether it be to convince someone of my expertise in a certain area or make myself stand out in interviews. I began to think about how I might use this quote to become better at selling myself and my personal brand to prospective employers. In order to better understand how I might be able to do this, I decided to really break the quote down and understand what it meant.

At its core, the quote indicates that everyone is an expert in his or her own right, no matter how old or experienced. This portion of the quote alone is hard to digest and really accept. I would find myself saying that I have to have a certain number of years working on a skill or building experiences in order to be an expert in something.

Breaking the quote down further, I recognized that Kelley states you are the expert of your “own” experience. This felt more manageable to me and easier to understand. I began to buy into the quote and believe in it. It felt intuitive – I am an expert of my own experience because I have experienced it. Just like a person’s fingerprint, no individual has had the same life or work experience as any other. In understanding that my own combinations of experiences were unique, I was able to better recognize how I could be a valuable asset and fit into a company.

I moved on to the next word that stood out to me in the quote: “undisputed.” This was where things started to sound interesting and I think it is the most empowering word in the quote. It dictates that no one else has experienced exactly what you have, and therefore no one else can dispute it. Looked at another way, I believe that it allows anyone to understand what traits make them unique and how to feel more confident going into any situation.

Here’s why I believe it’s valuable. It is a quote that I use to empower and instill confidence in both myself and others. I believe it can be applied to many different situations, whether interviewing for a job, giving a speech, and even leading a group of people.

When you interview for a job you may now recognize the simple truth that no other candidate has the same experiences as you, and you have the opportunity to convey this to the employer. When you give a speech, if you have the choice, give it on something you are passionate about and that is your own experience. Memorizing the speech will become less of a priority because the topic will come naturally to you. And when leading a group of people, you can be confident that you bring a unique experience to the group that only you are the expert of.