Per Marketing 101, perception is reality.  Therefore, companies are taught to manage to perception and not reality.  This doesn't work for people and it also doesn't work for companies either.  As with people, perception might work in your favor in the short term.  However, long term it will not.  Therefore, this archaic theory should not be taught to marketing or branding students.

Consumers today are very savvy.  They might listen to a company's pitch.  However, they listen more to people who have actually purchased a product or service from a particular company.  Lobbying with media to promote your product in a particular way is not a sound strategy either.  Social media rules in today's society.  This means that companies now have to live up to their claims.  This does not mean that they have to develop marketing strategies that convince people that their claim is true.  For long term survival, their claim must be true.

Because of the economy, many new jobs are created by unemployed people who have spent time in Corporate America honing their skills and expertise.  They create revenue for themselves by creating their own opportunities to earn a living.  Branding is now personal.  We buy from the person and not the company.  Therefore, personal rules now apply to branding.  From my Choice Hypotheses, here are the important personal rules to remember:

1. Who you are is more important than who people think you are because, eventually, you'll reveal your true self to others.
2. A lie won't stand the test of time - eventually the truth will come out when you least expect it.
3. Shades of gray obscure who we are, but reality shines through one action at a time.
4. The media attempts to shape and mold our world view.  Current communication technology properly tunes our vision to the actual reality of our world view.
5. Character is not something that others define or assess for us.  It is who we are based upon our choices and actions which are driven by our intentions.
6. Reputation is nothing.  It is what people say about us based upon what others have said and assumed that you have done.
7. Choose to show who you are according to your standards at all times.

Each of these have significance for me and my life.  I still have one foot in Corporate America and one outside in my own personal company.  If I believed in Marketing 101, I'd forget the idea of building a brand on me and who people say I am.  However, I'm experienced in the world of smoke and mirrors and shades of gray.  Most movies that were created in the 50's and survived their censorship taught us to assume what comes next after a woman's smile.  I was compared to Gomer Pyle when I was growing up because I smiled all the time.  I was not taught what comes after the smile, so to me, the answer to "What comes next?" is nothing.  A smile is just a smile and not an invitation.  I've lived that, so now there are people scrambling to get some proof that my smile is not just a smile but is a precursor to something.

Several years ago, I experienced a smoke and mirrors attempt that was very effective at creating a false impression about me.  However, because I know that smoke eventually clears, I allowed it to play out and did not stop and fight in the moment.  The person who created the lie was prepared for a war of words that he thought that he'd win, so I ignored his attempt.  I know that my faith in God is not misplaced and that winning the war is mine and God's justice.

I am a lifetime learner and have always been.  I earned a degree from Georgia Tech in Chemical Engineering in 1980.  My education did not stop there.  I learned how to learn from others in Corporate America - even when people don't like me.  Business and technical skills that I didn't learn at work, I learned from others in volunteer organizations.  As a child, I was a shy person who barely talked.  I observed.  I spent most summers learning new skills.  My mother was a school lunchroom manager, so I went to summer school while other kids were taking a break from school, relaxing and playing.  Because of the step up I received during the summer, I breezed through high school with all As and one B.  Because we had a class clown in my high school chemistry class, we didn't reach the information at the back of the book.  This created a gap in my chemistry learning when I reached Georgia Tech.  Another factor was the difficulty of the material at Georgia Tech.  The "A" student became a "C" student and was proud of every "C."  Georgia Tech had a reputation for weeding out students and reminded students of that in freshman orientation.  My mother repeatedly told me the story of the doctor she respected who was not smart enough to earn a degree from Georgia Tech.  She was also proud of every "C."  Being a workaholic, I know how to dig deep and study for understanding.  My brain got me through the toughest school in the south and our God and I know that.

My last attempt at formal education was a successful and important test for me.  It has taken me years to put it into perspective and to appreciate how great me and our God really are.  My brain enabled me to earn a Master's degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma State University.  However, after working as a specification administrator and cost analyst in close proximity to Product Development and Marketing, I decided that I wanted more formal education about the topic.  My company approved for me to take a class from a local college on the subject.  In class student introductions, my professor created the impression with the class that I didn't actually have a Master's degree - the first smoke.  He also asked me questions about my company's ownership and requested more information about the owners.  I requested the information from my company and gave to him in class - the second smoke.  Although the first test was open book, most of the class didn't do well.  I did, however, because I was extremely interested in the topic and read the book chapters more than once.  When I heard that the test was open book, I bookmarked my book and made highlights in my notes so that, during the test, I'd be able to quickly find the major topics we'd studied in class.  I found the test to be extremely easy compared to what I'd experienced at Georgia Tech.  After we received our test results, before class one day, the professor said that he had a friend who was hiring for a job that was better than what I had.  He wanted to know if I would be interested.  He brought a job description to the next class.  One look at the description and I knew that I wasn't interested.

During class, the professor attempted to get the class to laugh at my ideas on a potential new product business which was a class project - the third smoke.  I added smoke to the fire by making a comment during a presentation about women who show cleavage at work to gain favor with the men because there was someone I'd noticed doing it.  Although I never said that I did it myself, the professor tried to make a big issue about me with the class.  My answer was, "that was not what I meant."  My statement was ignored.  Because I'd done so well on the test and the tone that the professor set in the class, I looked at my syllabus to determine the minimum I had to do in the class and that was what I did.  That meant that I didn't do homework any more because it did not count toward the grade.  This made the professor bold.  He must have thought that he really had something over me.  During class, he made a statement that he'd gotten so much from me like the information on my company and other things.  The "other things" that the class assumed never happened.  My movements have been documented and can be proved.  I never met or saw the professor outside of class.  However, the flames were going strong and the class was becoming violent.

I had allowed the professor and the class's intimidation to change what I would do. Many in the class got mad at me because I'd done so well on the test and they had not.  They made up rumors about why I'd done well.  I didn't go to the class before the final exam because my father was sick and I left town to see him instead.  That week, I got a call from the professor to tell me that the final exam would be closed book.  There was something in his voice that made me think that he wanted to apologize to me, but I was cold and didn't give him an opening.  I completed my class project in which I proved that my ideas were also being pursued and implemented by Fortune 500 companies.  I had no care of how I did on the final exam or in the class.  I was pleasantly suriprised to see an "A" in the class.

Because at the time of enrollments, I attributed my experience to just that professor, I signed up for a programming class at that school for the next semester.  I received a telephone call from someone in administration who said, "I see you do really do have a Master's degree, why are you taking this class?"  I told her, "Because I want to learn."  However, after one class I cancelled the class and paid the fees out of my own pocket and prepared myself for any questions from my company who had approved the original funding.

I know that all experiences lead somewhere positive if our intentions are above board.  I also know that I was not a coward in this situation.  Staying in that second class at that school did not bode well for me and my future.  This experience and others have enabled me to sometimes, at a glance, size up a situation and prevent additional smoke.  I've experienced people's anger toward me for no reason and it only serves to make me stronger.  My faith in God is stronger than ever and I know that the smoke will clear and reality will shine through.  The debate will continue, but I have truth on my side and that cannot be denied.  Perception is indeed bold and daring.  However, it fades into reality over time.