Here in the Kinetic office we’ve just switched to The Times as our regular daily newspaper.
I’ve just read a piece in there about the latest crop of billionaires who are buying football clubs in the same way that most of us would buy a can of beans in the supermarket.
The writer, Simon Barnes, believes that billionaires buy football clubs, not because they are besotted with the beautiful game, but because sport can give you “things like fame and name and beauty and love”.
He cited Roman Abramovich as a perfect example. Hold your hand up if you’d heard of him before he bought Chelsea FC? No, precisely.
Because of football, his name is now known across the world and carries weight wherever he goes, says Simon Barnes.
Which makes you think the £700 million he is owed by Chelsea might be a small price to pay for the powerful personal reputation he now enjoys?
But how do we mere mortals go about building personal reputations? I for one don’t have a spare hundred million pounds in my back pocket to buy a football club.
I guess there are a few basic principles we should stick to. Get out there and network. Listen well. Be genuine. Be honest. Follow up when you say you will.
But apparently, there is much more to it than that. And I’m about to find out exactly what.
I’m off to a PSMG seminar next week entitled ‘Celebrity Status in a Business World – building a powerful personal reputation’.
If I take on board what I learn in that seminar, then I will be ‘heard more, paid more, respected more and noticed more’.
Watch this space to find out what I learn. Or keep an eye on the directors’ box at Stamford Bridge to see if I’m hob-nobbing with Roman et al.
