When I was in grad school, a friend of mine went to Europe and brought me back a coffee mug displaying a humorous cartoon under the title: “The Perfect European Should Be…”. The cartoon was meant to underscore the difficulty of building a united Europe given the cultural differences of its members, as suggested by the stereotypes assigned to each individual nationality.

One of the challenges of building our personal brand in this increasingly globalized world is how to combat the different stereotypes associated with our national or ethnic origin. As in all re-branding exercises the task is not easy, but here are four approaches that have worked for me:

1. Give people a chance to know you: most people embrace stereotypes because they don’t know better. Once they get to know you, though, they will see that you are just like everybody else: a unique individual with a distinct personality and many different qualities.
2. If the stereotypes assigned to your nationality have negative connotations work hard to combat them: For example, a stereotype frequently associated with individuals of Hispanic origin is that we procrastinate and are always “fashionably late”. That is why I am always on time and finish my projects before the established deadline. I don’t want to be associated with behaviors that don’t respect or value other people’s time.
3. If the stereotypes have positive connotations, embrace them: For example, Hispanics are assumed to be very family-oriented. I completely subscribe to the point of view that family should be priority #1, so in that regard the stereotype helps me get that particular message across.
4. Don’t sweat the small stuff: I don’t remember how many times, when people learn that I live in Miami and speak Spanish, say goodbye to me with a loud and cheery “hasta la vista!” (a term that nobody in Latin America uses any more). In those cases, rather than coming across as a snob and lecturing about the petty idiosyncrasies of the Spanish language, I just smile and wave back.

Do you have any experiences of your own that you would like to share?