A Cowboys Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

A Cowboy’s Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career In business (and in Washington D.C.), too often a courageous-think-and-act-outside-of-the-box individual is pejoratively labeled a cowboy. As if being a cowboy is a bad thing! Whoa! Thats exactly what I want on my team. Why? Because I know cowboys real cowboys. They are about inspiration not regulation. They dont worry about rules but rather principles, values, and character. Cowards are not tolerated among them. Courage isnt about bull-riding, its about speaking up and saying what needs to be said when others are afraid to; taking action when others wont. They cowboy-up when things get tough, and they dont quit on you. They keep their promises and dont dodge and spin or whine. With a happy soul and maybe a grin, they speak directly and purposefully and they mean what little they say. They dont much go for windbags. James Owen wrote the book Cowboy Ethics (Stoecklein Publishing). Its what he, a Wall Streeter, felt his peers could learn from the Code of the West: The West is a place where the fence is always tight but the gate is always open to friends and neighbors. It is a place where a man can make tough decisions without looking over his shoulder or worrying what someone else will think. A cowboy gets his strength from knowing what is right and what is wrong and being true to his beliefs. That is the essence of the Code of the West and the true cowboy way. And then theres the line from The Shootist, John Waynes last film, I wont be wronged, I wont be insulted, and I wont be laid a hand on. I dont do these things to other people and I require the same from them. Thats why I like cowboys (and married one).