Brand + Luck = Success

There were days when I used to think that luck was the least important thing to be successful. Infact I think the same even today, but with lesser conviction. That’s only because of experience, not just mine but also looking at others' . I have heard there are two types of people - wise people, who learn from their experiences; and wiser guys, who learn from others experience also.  I have tried to be in the later category.

Recently, we had a presentation to do regarding social media implementation for educational institutions in front of the professor & class. Ours was a group of 6. Over a grade of 10, I would rate my group, in terms of capability and talent @ 8/10. I must say, it was a pretty fine balance of pure knowledge, smart workers, hard-workers and hardly workers.  We had prepared considerably, but somehow I think, our power point wasn't really showing the work/ effort which we had put in.

It was presentation time, and ours was the 4th group to present out of the 5 groups. The advantage of having to present at a later part is that we know what is the expectation of the professor, but on the flip side, the class and the Prof would have lost interest, and we should do it really well to catch his/her attention. 

There were 3 people who were supposed to speak, starting with myself, followed by 2 other members, one who was like a lucky mascot ( atleast most of the times in the past; even though his group's presentations were a  bit cheek, somehow Profs were impressed), and the other had made a huge impression on the professor, in the previous course and had a brand image of her own.  But, having me in the group obviates it from being the best, especially in this Prof's class, as I had made a very bad impression, and he was one of those sadists who can punish a whole group, based on an individual.

Finally, I kicked off our presentation, and he seemed to be impressed from the beginning itself. It was carried on well by both my group mates. Overall, for that day, I must say, ours was the best presentation, based of the comments, the Prof passed.  He was very impressed with the flow of our presentation, to be particular.  I was infact surprised, what was it that made it such an instant hit, with him.

Then the wires inside my brain started analyzing all the things, that had happened.  Apart from the fact, that our group had that girl who had already made a great impression on the Prof, and we had a lucky mascot, I couldn’t find any great reason for our group to make it big.

I could clearly see how brands and luck could turns things around. Personal branding is a phenomenon, which I have been seeing a lot of value. The best part is you can have multiple brandings, based on the person with whom you have built it. It is equally dependant of how the other person perceives you and how you portray yourself. But the point of interest is, sometimes your luck builds your brand - something which I can't explain. 

However, I still expect a modicum of worthiness in recognizing the best works, though involuntarily, I want to have both the winning brand and luck in my group…  :)