Having an authentic dream and a related personal brand is a very important asset in today's online, virtual, and individual age. This is the key to personal success. It is the positioning strategy behind the world's most successful people, like Barack Obama. It's therefore important to be your own brand based on your authentic dream. This will help you to actively grow and distinguish yourself. Remember what Walt Disney said; "If you can dream it, you can do it".

Barack Obama's dream is-Bring about real change, change that we can believe in. His passion for change is the pillar of his authentic Personal Brand. Parts of his speeches: "America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before.......The true test of the American ideal is whether we're able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life's big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams....Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.... I don't want to settle for anything less than real change, fundamental change - change we need - change that we can believe in. It's change that I've been fighting for over two decades ago. Because those dreams - American dreams - are worth fighting for".

He:

• identified and leveraged his authentic, relevant, meaningful, inspiring, enduring, ambitiousdream and hope
• responses to his dream/hope with love and passion and adds value to others
• knows what make him unique, special, different and outstanding
• recognized and identified his genius and expanded his limits based on this
• succeeded by living according to his dream and doing related work he loves
• has faith in himself and the courage to pursue his dream and hope, and based on this delivered peak performances and is exceptional

Remember this (Rampersad, 2009):

Dream it, hope it, believe it, fix it in your mind, visualize it, accept it, respond to it with love, passion, and integrity, give your peak performance to it and you will achieve it

Barack Obama is a man of hope, integrity, and vision, who is fighting for change. We admire him because of his genius, achievements, success, and added value to others. Anyone can deliver peak performances and be successful in life, because all of us have the genius within us to do so. Success is not something that will come automatically or something that the world will define for you. It's what you define in your ambitious dream (hope) and in the way you pursue this dream. Remember what Marva Collins said; ‘Success doesn't come to you ...you go to it'. You must have a dream in life, follow your heart and love what you do, if you expect exceptional success. You will surely have it, since people who ask for it, wish it, dream it, hope it, fix it in their mind, visualize it, feel it, allow it, give your peak performance to it, respond to it with love, passion and integrity, attract success. Obama has proven that if someone has a clear authenticdream, responds to it with love and passion, has the courage to pursue this dream, has faith in him/herself, and lives according to their dream, this dream will guide that person's life and will result in purposeful and resolute actions. He took the responsibility to identify his dreams and hope, and to respond to them with love and passion. Stop complaining and do not blame others for your failures. Take the initiative and the responsibility to develop, implement, and cultivate your authentic dream and hope as well, and keep it at the forefront of your mind each day. You should have faith in yourself.  Also remember this (Rampersad, 2009):

no dream + no hope +no faith + no self-knowledge + no thinking + no mindset change + no integrity + no passion + no trust + no love = NO SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

Love is an important element in this equation. It is about loving yourself (self-love), loving others, and loving what you do. You should love yourself in at least equal measure to others or things. This can be found in most religions: "to love others as you love yourself". Remember what Abraham Maslow said: "We can only respect others when we respect ourselves. We can only give, when we give to ourselves. We can only love, when we love ourselves". Without knowing who you are (self-knowledge), it's very difficult to love yourself and others. You need to make a positive emotional connection with yourself and find yourself interesting first, otherwise others you will not make a positive emotional connection with you and will not find you interesting. With an authentic Personal Brand (based on your dream), your strongest characteristics, attributes, and values can separate you from the crowd. Without this, you look just like everyone else.

This article is based on Dr. Hubert Rampersad's new book "Authentic Personal Branding: A new blueprint for building and aligning a powerful leadership brand' (Information Age Publishing, USA, 2009 Pearson Malaysia, 2008 ). He is president of TPS International Inc. (Miami Beach, USA). He can be reached at: h.rampersad@tps-international.com, www.Total-Performance-Scorecard.com