Sital Ruparelia

Whilst watching the Football European Championships this weekend, I got into a conversation with some friends about football (soccer) coaches.

One name which kept popping up was Jose Mourinho – the ex-coach of London-based Chelsea Football Club (and recently appointed manager of Italian club, Inter Milan.)

Interestingly, 5 years ago, Mourinho was unheard of outside his native Portugal. Today, the self styled “Special One” is one of best known coaches in world football. He is a sought after coach and commands one of the biggest pay packages around.

Of course, part of his success comes down to the trophies and success he has delivered for his employers. But a large part of his reputation and celebrity status comes down to the fact that Mourinho is controversial and so of interest. Love him or hate him, people talk about him. As Seth Godin the marketing author and speaker would say, Jose Mourinho is “remarkable”.

Seth defines remarkable as “worth making a remark about.” Being remarkable and worth talking about is a fundamental part of how you stand out in a crowded market.

In his books, Seth talks about how in today’s fast-paced world everyone has such little time and so much information to consume, that organisations need to have a different marketing strategy to stand out. It’s no longer effective to ‘interrupt’ people with formal marketing & advertising.

But instead – businesses need to be remarkable so that people in their niche tell others and do the word of mouth marketing for you.

People in the market tell others your story because it’s interesting, it’s different and in the hyper connected world we live in today – people want to share ideas and stories.

So as the Chief Marketing Officer of You Plc (or You Inc), it makes sense that this same principle should apply to you when you think about marketing yourself.

Trying to ‘interrupt’ key decision makers and senior leaders to progress your career is no longer effective. They are overwhelmed with heavy workloads, full diaries, overflowing email box’s and suffering from information overload – so you need a different strategy.

To stand out from the crowd you too need to be remarkable.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the ‘best’ or the ‘hardest working.’ But like Mourinho, you need to be someone that is “Worth Making A Remark About” so that you create your own word-of-mouth marketing which makes the right people notice you.

Here are 7½ tips to help you be more remarkable in your career:

1. “Remarkable doesn’t mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you’re average, and average is for losers” (A direct quote from Seth Godin). So focus on being remarkable in the eyes of your peers, your business unit and your senior leaders, not your own.

2. Be a Contrarian. No matter how much I hated Mourinho’s arrogance while he was at Chelsea, I would always look forward to his pre-match press conference and post-match interviews. Why? Because he had a different opinion and was controversial – and so regardless of whether I agreed with him, I listened and then talked about him to others. And look: now I’m even writing about him!

So take a stance and be willing to stand out with your opinions. When you do this, everyone starts doing your word-of-mouth marketing for you.

3. Don’t be perfect. Having some rough edges is good. Even if you are.  Whether it’s the way you present yourself at job interviews, the way you deliver presentations or the way you leed lead your team – don’t worry about being perfectt. When you

If you want to get noticed, perfection is not a good strategy. Perfection is boring and won’t help you stand out.

4. Break new ground. Go do something different – be the first into a new market, a new product or taking a fresh new approach to an old problem.

Everyone remembers Sir Edmund Hilary for climbing Everest first. A whole bunch of people may have then gone onto climb it faster and more efficiently – but who remembers them? Who is talking and writing about them still?

5. Look different. If someone mentions your name to a senior executive in your firm or to a well-known head hunter in your segment, will they immediately know who you are? Does your physical appearance get you noticed?

I have an ex-client who always made a point of wearing something completely unconventional at corporate golfing events. When he made follow up calls the week after to potential clients who he had met at the event, they always remembered him and said “oh yes, I remember you – you were the one from xyz bank!” Being different got him noticed (and before you ask, yes he got the business too).

So ignore the pressures to look like everyone else – a different hairstyle, clothes and different look will make you stand out and talked about.

6. Be your quirky self. We all have our quirks. I talk fast, can’t sit still, tell bad jokes and apparently do even worse accents (although I do think my accents are pretty cool). But regardless of whether people like them or not – they do remember me and possibly tell others about me.

Forget trying to be just like everyone else. Embrace your quirkiness and become worth talking about.

7. Be real – Anyone can say controversial things or wear wacky clothes once in a while in an attempt to stand out. But being remarkable is being different without trying to be someone else. People want to tell others about authentic people who do and say things that are a true reflection of the person inside, not an artificial exterior to impress others.

The congruency that comes from having consistency between the person you are on the inside with the behaviours and actions on the outside is what makes you truly remarkable.

After all, there was only one version of you that was ever created. So being the real you is the very best way to be different.

7½. Screw Up – Go take some risks, fall over and mess up. You will learn some lessons, become better at what you do and get closer to your goals without realising it.

Messing up will actually get you noticed. Whereas holding back and watching the world go by most definitely will not.

Your Field Work

Over the next 7 days:

Go and do one thing that’s worth making a remark about. Something that get’s the right people talking about you. Something which feels natural to you and yet still takes you outside your comfort zone.

In a tight market, standing out is not a nice-to-have, but an absolute necessity.

But instead of working at being the most talented or the best – focus on becoming interesting and worth talking about.

As Jose Mourinho has shown with his meteoric rise in football management over the last 5 years, talent and work hard are important.

But to really attract the best jobs, real wealth and admiration it pays to be different. It pays to be ‘remarkable‘.