A reaction to Reginald Ponder

From Reginald Ponder, the esteemed movie critic, I learned a lot about the world of critiquing films, as well as utilizing the media to spread a message or an opinion. I also gained a lot from his discussion about individual brands, and the importance of becoming your own brand and establishing your personal identity so that you may achieve a certain level of popularity in the field in which you work.

Ponder spoke about the content of films, and one of the aspects of that content which most struck me was his discussion on the subconscious marginalization of a particular group. For example, in Quentin Tarantino’s new film Inglourious Basterds, the main character is known as the “Apache”, for he and his men scalp their Nazi victims. Ponder pointed out that those of us who do not question this parallel to the Native Americans as savage beings are subconsciously accepting or agreeing with the reference. He also noted that the process of scalping was first employed by the French, but the general public would not know that, due in part to the perpetuation of stereotypes found in movies similar to Tarantino’s.

I enjoyed listening to Ponder explain that his day has no set schedule, which was an answer in response to one of the questions posed by a student. He could not describe to us what a “typical day” in his life consists of, for it changes every day. I also appreciated the fact that he offered us some advice, which was to get as much sleep as possible, for when he does not sleep enough during the night, he notices a dramatic change in his work ethic and his writing.

Lastly, I realize that delving into the field of Journalism is risky, due to the fact that newspapers are on the decline and many companies are firing or laying off a large percentage of their workforce. Ponder was able to quell my fears about my future in this field because during his discussion, he outlined many jobs which have to do with marketing and professional writing. This gives me hope in that I can harness the skills which I have obtained throughout my major and apply it to a more modern field, such as that of website design or anything which has to do with the Internet. If anything, Ponder’s presentation was a comfort to me, as well as an informative experience.

The Importance of Branding: "A Brand Called You"

The real power of You, according to Tom Peters, is that of influence. It is centered around the level of circulation and networking that you can do in order to spread the word of your brand to people on the scale that you are targeting, such as statewide, nationwide, or even international. Each and every one of us who is in the process of creating this original brand has the real power - and with that, the real responsibility - of sharing ideas and goals which originate as a result of this new brand. Given the technological advantage that we each have, we can rapidly transmit information to and from sources. This makes for an easy distribution of ideas and therefore a subsequent growth of the brand. If you have the power to influence a wide array of people by utilizing the technology and the resources that are available, your brand will inevitably expand and become an influential faction.

Indeed, with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, displaying and posting information is an easy process, and results in a large following of people. Peters suggests that instead of building the old-fashioned résumé, you should allow your history to speak for itself and of course constantly update it as needed. Yet not only do we hold the power to circulate on the internet, but in person, as well. Peters is an advocate of harnessing our strengths and putting them to work in order to spread our brand's popularity. For example, we may give a presentation at a workshop or write a column for the local newspaper, depending on if we are better writers or better talkers. The influence and the recognition through both mediums is likely to diffuse to a greater and greater amount of people each time.

Loyalty to you, Peters admits, may seem like a selfish concept, due to the fact that it encourages you to develop and perfect the business brochure of Me, Inc. However, paying more attention to yourself in order to make your brand more marketable also serves to aid the company for which you are currently working, for they, according to Peters, are very likely to laud your performance if you can make your brand better and more accomplished. He suggests asking for honest feedback with every project or task which is assigned to you, so that your résumé can begin to have some structure and you can portray yourself as more marketable. Even if you are not looking for a job, it is beneficial to assess where your brand ranks in the business world; hence, Peters also suggests going on a few interviews to see where your skill sets lie in terms of necessity for other jobs. Treating your résumé as a job brochure, says Peters, is a way to keep playing in the game with your brand.

Finally, Peters negates the concept that career success is measured using the image of a ladder, where those who are more successful can climb up the rungs, and those who do not attain the same level of success are stuck more toward the bottom. He encourages us to think of career success as somewhat of a maze, moving in any and all directions. We are also encouraged to gauge our success using any means that we see fit, whether it is financial success, popularity, or avoiding the stasis of falling into a “dead-end job”, i.e. one that presents no further projects that challenge our skill set, thus weakening our brand. The future of You depends on sticking to your goals, and on not wavering when it comes to those set goals, or the “mission statement” that we are prompted to draft and frequently review. Peters says that we are not to shy away from our imagination, but we should employ it as much as possible in order to realize our goals and keep them firmly set in our minds. The ability to plan for our future and thus abide by the rules that we have established for ourselves will aid in attaining our personal success.