Toying with your brand

Whether it’s a multinational corporation or a recent college graduate, the challenge in creating a brand remains the same — riding the fine line between authenticity and adaptability.

This Tuesday’s Wharton Leadership Lecture featured Geoff Walker, the executive vice president of Fisher-Price, the famous toy manufacturing company. Drawing upon his recent experiences in renovating Fisher-Price’s brand, Walker discussed how a brand name could impact both the global toy industry and a personal career search.

Walker encourages people to brand themselves to get a leg up in the corporate world by looking over honest feedback and using it to create a list of defining characteristics. He suggested that while checking for corporate culture fit and taking general typology tests are important, a critical step in getting feedback is creating a personal advisory board. “Your personal board of directors is a group of people ... mentors that guide you ... bounce ideas off of you.”

Walker emphasized the importance of making a personal brand genuine. “Getting that honest feedback will make or break whether you succeed in the long term,” he said.

Penn students in attendance were interested to hear that Walker encouraged people to find themselves in their personal brands. “I found his passion for his brand incredibly interesting and inspiring,” Wharton freshman Julia Liu said.

Wharton freshman Dawit Gebresellassie agreed, stating, “He really walked the walk regarding his personal brand.”

As Walker described how to apply and adapt personal brands, he also weaved in descriptions of his experiences at Fisher-Price. As he explained how one needs to constantly adapt or “go obsolete,” he used the example of Fisher-Price’s transition from marketing to “Generation X” parents to “Millennial” parents. But even during this transition, the challenge lies in “being authentic to your brand.”

“It’s a fine balance — I want to lead a company to be great, I don’t want to tell them to be great,” he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.