If there is anyone out there who still wonders or who still questions the meaning of ‘Sidoman’ this Blog post is your answer. It is an answer told by the same man you often ask: “What’s the meaning of Sidoman?” in chats or by large at the social media fraternity.

Inasmuch as I do tell my friends and clientèle the same meaning on chats – of course in an honest courteous way like I do all the time! Today I choose to share with a wider audience across the globe owing to this timeless global-village product: Internet.

You’ll fundamentally agree with me the opinion of three or four people in a society represent a wider percentage of others not in the opinion-poll for the same questions. A simple analogy will suggest that we don’t need to take out all our blood when we want to check-up or test for Malaria parasite in our bodies. Therefore, I’ve heard my two to three people, in away as well as the wider range at the background perhaps wondering who’s ‘Sidoman’ without a mention or so to speak.

Quite often in both business and the corporate scene, the term “brand” will pop-up. Thanks to our trusty friend in Silicon Valley called Google, many will look up what exactly it means. The white-haired ladies and gentlemen who contributed to the Oxford English Dictionary and boast the Queen’s English will tell you that a brand(ing) is “the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.”

Perhaps that definition worked for them back then. I believe I speak for many when I say quite aptly that a brand is simply “what THEY whisper about you.” What do people say about you or your company behind your back? When you are not listening? That, my friend is a brand in modern speak.

My incessant ranting about a brand and branding as a concept and not logistics was triggered by a question about my brand name that I recently received from a human rights activist in Minnesota. So allow me to indulge you because going by the new-age definition of a brand you wouldn’t know what to whisper about my brand.

Photo Credit: Own

I was born Saeed Sheikh Abdirahman but soon gained the sobriquet “Sidoman”. I earned it during my childhood, during some jumping competition. Back home the name is synonymous to Saeed Sheikh or better known as SS Abdirahman in writing. A good analogy would be the mention of “Alexander” but people would not know who you are referring to without adding “The Great” – Alexander the Great.

It is therefore safe to say that Sidoman is an old brand name that has moved from being a personal brand to a company brand that embodies my beliefs and virtues as an individual.

At an early age, I realized that with personal brand as an operating principle, the universe of strong, positive relationships is expanded and the possibilities for achievement become so much larger.

The potential pay-off for embracing the notion of personal brand is based upon whether one views personal brand as an image-polishing strategy or as a framework to get credit for how an individual uses their values and beliefs to make a difference for others. I’d say I am realizing both pay-off’s with the passing of each day.

As I serve my childhood friends in my humble company, the mention of the name Sidoman takes them to a very happy place; where there was no worry about tomorrow, where competition was based on who could jump higher or leap further. Through tailored logistics they know that they do not have to worry when Sidoman is in charge.

The same confidence is rubbing on to my esteemed clientèle. As we travel along this journey of life, I’ll continue sharing my thoughts, both personal and professional. I’ll take time each week, as I have in the past since I started this blog, to use this platform to open up my thoughts to you.

A window into Sidoman’s world will take away the fear of the unknown and give everyone a chance to “whisper” from a point of information.

Lastly but not the least, for the wider range, to those who are cynical and doubtful in their minds, with much poignant and more so benevolently I’d put a cross that works here are my own. I was not born a photo-copy, therefore I do not plagiarize. ©