What Forrest Gump Can Teach Us About Branding and Leadership

Posted by Small Business Tribe under Customer Service
From http://pushingsocial.com 172 days ago
Made Hot by: ZiggyFreud61 on November 30, 2012 10:42 am

Blogger Stanford Smith recounts the scene in the iconic Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump where Hanks' character begins his marathon run across the country. Without every intending to start a movement, Gump begins to collect a band of followers who hang on his every word and action. He isn't obsessed with gathering followers though. He's just following his passion. Is your brand like this? Are you focusing on your passion and letting your customers, your tribe, find you? Or are you sitting around fretting and trying to get others to buy into your brand without much luck...perhaps because you're too focused on attracting attention to yourself and not enough on helping your customers achieve their dreams and desires.

Who Voted for this Story

Top BizSugar Users

This week's most active BizSugar users. Join Them!

Comments

Written by bigmoneyweb
146 days ago

Great article I agree. You might think what a story like Forrest Gump has to do with leadership, but once John Maxwell said, leadership is influence. Throughout his life, although he was largely unaware of it, he has touched many lives along the way just simply by being true to himself. Unlike us, due to his mental illness, Forrest does not have the facilities to try to hide his true self, and his real self shines through in his story telling. We can influence people just by being true to who we are. I believe that is the main lesson that Forrest Gump teaches us. Thanks for sharing.

- 0 +

Written by bigmoneyweb
146 days ago

Great article. You might think what a story like Forrest Gump has to do with leadership, but once John Maxwell said, leadership is influence. Throughout his life, although he was largely unaware of it, he has touched many lives along the way just simply by being true to himself. Unlike us, due to his mental illness, Forrest does not have the facilities to try to hide his true self, and his real self shines through in his story telling. We can influence people just by being true to who we are. I believe that is the main lesson that Forrest Gump teaches us. Thanks for sharing.

- 0 +

Written by HeatherStone
171 days ago

Hi Stanford,

This is a great way to look at building a personal brand. There are too many businesses focused on getting attention instead of on creating the best possible content, product, or service. Focusing on what you're passionate about is important because it brings results people can see instead of trying to grab attention that may be undeserved. I really enjoyed reading this post in the BizSugar community and hope to see more of your posts here in the future!

- 0 +

Written by tcamba
171 days ago

This is one of the most POWERFUL and EMPOWERING POSTS that I have read all my life. Yes, I wrote it all in caps lock because that's how I feel right now. it's so easy for us to forget who we are in this internet era. Thanks a lot! Thank you!

- 0 +

Contributors of the Week

Latest Comments

Gary Bembridge

Marketing Consultant, Blogger and Podcaster with 30 years global marketing experience, managing and building brands for companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. …