Careers | Personal branding to be ‘more authentic’

Nidhi Kush Shah speaks during yesterday’s meeting

The France Macau Business Association (FMBA) held its first breakfast meeting of the year yesterday at the Sofitel Macau, together with the Founder and Director of Alchemy Consulting, Nidhi Kush Shah.
Kush Shah discussed the topic of “Personal Branding for Corporate Professionals” as a way to identify and build a unique place for each individual in the business world.
“A lot of us associate personal branding with values, our character, with what we stand for and that’s correct because personal branding is a sum of all these components,” she said.
During yesterday’s seminar, she gave advice about confidence and body language, tone of voice, physical presence, active listening, and building connections with people.
Based on her experience of living in and traveling to different countries, as well as working with people from diverse cultures, Kush Shah believes that it is vital to identify an individual’s unique strengths and accomplishments to stand out from the rest and connect with one’s clients, colleagues and leaders.
“If I had to say one thing to Macau professionals, I would say it doesn’t matter where we are, personal branding is really important and we can do it in a way which is authentic to our culture,” said the speaker to reporters on the sidelines of the event. “The key to realize is that we can brand ourselves in a way that is more authentic.”
When asked how the audience can apply the discussed factors, she declared: “The key to starting is to commit to one thing,” adding that “it’s a continuous process.”
FMBA members and guests in attendance said they appreciated the talk, particularly the reminders about effective leadership.
“It’s very straightforward and the message is simple. The message was about being yourself and being authentic,” commented FMBA board member Kevin Thompson.
FMBA Chairman Rutger Verschuren believes that inviting more keynote speakers could open up similar training opportunities for FMBA leaders.
“I think it’s a very interesting training exercise. There are things that I feel we could amplify in our character or appearance that will be good for us,” he said.
“I think it’s all about personal development. It’s a natural development that we like to do; having these sorts of guest speakers who train our members with new things in life.”
FMBA also shared updates on activities and events for the year at the meeting, such as a behind-the-scenes visit to the House of Dancing Water and a tour of the new Hengqin area.
The association also presented a recap of last month’s FMBA Charity Gala Dinner held at the MGM Macau ballroom, with the theme: “Shanghai: Le Paris de L’Orient.” The Times reported earlier that the gala dinner raised a total of MOP68,300, which
was used to support two charities: Architecture Sans Frontiers – Macau and Cradle of Hope. Staff reporter