I thought of Steve Grodon’s talk as an indication of what dream catchers d. You throw them into the air with hope, and pray they make it, that you make it. Photo courtesy of Durova.
Steve Gordon was, to me, a very articulate and genuine public speaker. This was the first thing I noticed. Even though he is not making a living on just public speaking, per se, he is incorporating this skill into what he does as a personal brander.
As someone who doesn’t know much about personal branding or how to make a brand for someone else, what really resonated with me was his personality. I think besides having the skills of a designer, his personality is one that can work with people to figure out what they want for their company and therefore their brand. I think that that is an important thing to note when looking into future endeavors, especially in the entrepreneurial world, that your personality and its attributes is important. Making yourself fit a mold for a job could be very hard, but if you find a job that fits you, you could really thrive. I think that that is what Gordon also did, as he worked in a variety of different environments before he found that going out on his own was what he was searching for. This resonated with me because even though I am not a designer, I think this idea works for everyone in our field.
The main thing that I learned from Gordon was that dreaming big was never a bad thing. I hadn’t thought about this mainly because I don’t see myself as much of a dreamer. I plan everything. If something unexpected happens in my life, I pretty much immediately come up with a plan to remedy it or make it better. That being said, as much as I have “dreams” for my future, I don’t count on them coming true without a concrete plan for my life in place. Gordon seemed to function on the idea that dreaming can get you to where you need to be, and that if you are dreaming big to keep doing so. After listening to him, I am trying and will continue to try to adopt some of this into my life, as dreaming has never really been my thing. I am going to try to think more in this way not just for fun, but because I think that doing so could maybe open my mind to different opportunities that I wouldn’t have seen had I just been sticking to my plans. I think that letting in some degree of dreaming could really benefit me – especially the closer we get to graduation.
Finally, I think Gordon was good to hear from because of these attributes (being a dreamer and having a big personality). We are all getting degrees in a creative field, and so hearing from someone who is this way and is successful in the field was very comforting. He did his own thing, followed his dreams and has become successful by doing so. Showing our class an example of someone who has done this was helpful, and I enjoyed the insight he brought to our class.
Words on a Wire 