These brands are as important to consumers at critical moments of their lives as many of their personal relationships, yet few professionals receive training during their academic studies or from their professional societies on how to build a brand that delights their clients. And most professionals appear to give little thought to how to create a brand that turns clients into fans who refer friends to their favorite doctors or professional practices.

One professional person who works hard at correcting this omission is Gary Kinman, an award-winning landscape architect and founder of Kinman & Associates. Kinmans client approach is marketing-driven, which makes him a unique brand among the others in his field, most of whom see themselves as sellers and installers of horticultural products. Rather, Kinman defines his brand promise as shaping the earth to enhance the life of his clients. "The first thing I do is understand the psychology of the customer," he says. "How do I connect with my customers and what is relevant to their lifestyles? People buy because of emotion. If I can find the motive or emotion they connect to, I can create a prod- uct that will create value way beyond the cost of physical materials." Another dimension of Kinmans brand is his commitment to teaching others and elevating the entire industry. He founded the Kinman Institute, where he trains other architects and professionals on everything from business operations to branding. He teaches attendees, who already know most of the functional basics of bal- ance, scale, proportion, materials, and so forth, a great truth of branding: "You cant understand how to do what your clients want you to do unless you understand them and what constitutes value for them." Whether it is a minor change in a modest home or a million- dollar landscape project for a suburban estate, Kinman shows his students how to create value by connecting with customers and how they have to take on marketing roles themselves.

As professionals such as Kinman demonstrate, the term marketing should no longer be considered taboo, regardless of your industry, even in the world of medicine. Physicians who take time to help their patients, show them care and concern, and connect with them are the ones people want to visit-they are the ones with thriving prac- tices and the ones that receive the most referrals. And while taking a lot of time with patients isnt always feasible, it speaks volumes about the brand of the person and the healthcare organization.

Ultimately, the most important brand developed by any person is the brand called You. Whether you have to promote yourself to win clients or get a job, customers will make choices about you based on your personal brand. What makes some rock-and-roll stars more successful than others often stems from what they are like as people and how that translates into their brands. The musicians featured in this book offer lessons on how to handle controversy, how your personal brand connects to the brand of your professional practice, how personal values can affect peoples perceptions of your brand, and how you will most likely be your own best marketer. In addition, the CEOs described in this book such as David Neeleman (JetBlue), Leslie Wexner