Why is Mercedes Benz one of the best-loved brands in the world? The Mercedes logo stands for quality and luxury. What sort of message does your personal brand deliver?
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to speak at Mercedes Benz to over 100 students and mentors from the University of North Texas.
These students are all involved in the Professional Leadership Program, under the guidance of my friend, Renee Hebert.
The topic of my presentation this weekend was “Making Connections” – focusing on how millennials can bridge the cultural gap that separates the generations.
Just as certain cultures have customs that can seem strange and unusual to Americans, there are some significant differences between a 22-year-old and a 52-year-old.
A lot has been said about the differences between the generations. The spotlight remains harsh for the millennial generation, who (according to Saturday Night Live) believes that “You can do anything!” and is full of “Unearned confidence”.
For my money, I keep an eye on the Millennial CEO – and maybe you should too, if you want to expand your horizons.
If you’re interested to learn more about how to create powerful connections in your search for internships or jobs, I highly recommend YouTern.com.
In my presentation, there were several questions about the balance between fulfillment, personal expression, and a paycheck. Here’s a great YouTern post that talks about how to follow your passion.
Created by my friend, Mark Babbitt, YouTern.com continues to deliver a clear picture on employment opportunities for college students.
And if you’re serious about success when it comes to working with your professors, be sure to check out the blog of Ellen Bremen.
A communication specialist, Ellen offers wise counsel (on twitter @ChattyProf) for students that want to maximize their college experience. Here’s a great post on “How to Communicate that You’ve Changed Your Mind”.
I’m passionate about helping people to create powerful brand messages.
And, no matter what you’re driving these days, it’s important to have the ability to create strong interpersonal connections.
Being able to inspire and persuade others is the mark of a truly excellent personal brand.
Photo by Aitor Agirregabiria. Used under creative commons, some rights reserved.
I've had three Mercedes...but my BEST Mercedes Benz story is a parenting one. When my first-born son was about a year old, I attended a sort of Daddy and Me class. One of the rituals in this class was singing songs. The dads and kids would all circle up and the leader would start a song. A favorite was Old MacDonald. Now, at the tender age of 12 months, my son had developed an idiosyncratic love and knowledge of cars. He was able to identify EVERY car on the road - just the brand, not the model. We later figured out that it was the brand symbol - like the Ferrari horse - that was his clue.
Anyway, we were doing Old MacDonald and the idea was that when we went around the circle, we'd stop at each kid and we'd say, for example, "And on Chris' farm he had a ???" and then little Chris would should out, "Horse" or another animal. Well, on this one occasion, my son wasn't paying attention and when it came to his turn, he looked up puzzled. I reminded him of what to do. He then brightened up and shouted, "Mercedes Benz!"
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