Actively managing your personal brand is critical if you want to make a significant impact in the areas of your life important to you. What you say and what you do influences how people perceive you, so take note that your personal branding will determine how successfully you’ll be able to make an impact in life.
Welcome to the third episode of The Personal Brand Catalyst, where we are joined by Matt Levy, who was born 15 weeks premature with cerebral palsy and vision impairment. He has survived 50+ operations, including brain, heart, lung and ears.
Today he is an international swim star, having competed in five consecutive Paralympics - winning three gold, one silver and five bronze medals. He swam at five World Championships and countless nationals and other professional meets and holds 120 international medals and four world records.
Matt has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia and is an ambassador for Australia Day, Westpac, International Disability Day, Life's Little Treasures, Athlete Leader Swimming Australia and on an advisory board for the Institute of Sport and Commonwealth Games Australia. He’s a board member of Rainbow Club Australia Ability Options and the governance officer for the Australian Swimming Association, and countless other organisations.
What a pleasure and privilege it is to have the opportunity to speak with him today.
Self-Identity as a Brand
Matt sees himself as a brand from the sporting and ambassador side, but he just sees himself as “Matt Levy” when he’s going to work in his normal day job. He says it's about wearing two hats and having a different mindset for each.
It's a really beautiful approach because many people don't have that understanding of exactly what their brand is. I think that he’s really encapsulated what people perceive him as, but also what he does, as being part of his brand.
The Concept of Reputation
Matt says his reputation is a byproduct of what he’s been able to do and achieve and not necessarily why he does what he does.
He has always wanted to make a difference and show the community out there that you can do anything you set your mind to, no matter if you think you can or you think you can't. It's about having that attitude when taking the first step.
While his parents instilled those values and beliefs early on, being born with a lot of challenges and having to overcome them taught him not to take any opportunity for granted and that you can learn a lot from anything, whether it's negative, positive or indifferent.
For Matt, it’s really about having fun in what he does, whether it's in sport or outside of it. He uses his experience and what he’s learned to inspire the next generation, and reputation is a byproduct of that.
Establishing Values
Because his values were instilled in him at a young age, Matt says he’s more on autopilot these days and lives his values naturally. He does think about it subconsciously to an extent, working on what's going to give him the best benefit and what's going to allow him to keep moving forward.
He says that improving is what he thinks about on a daily basis: “I'm living these values and I'm doing XY and Z. How can this activity move me forward and keep me improving and moving in the right direction?”
Making the Right Decisions according to your Values and Beliefs
Matt recalls that in 1999, he was at a swimming carnival and had just finished his race and went off to play in the play equipment. By then it was time to get back on the bus and at this time he didn’t have a cell phone - so he ended up being stuck at Olympic Park, which was around 70km from his house.
That moment started him on the journey of growing his mindset, figuring out things for himself, and taking that first step - he had to work out how to get home by himself. He didn't know what bus or train to catch and didn't know anyone there.
He realised that he had one of two choices: he could crawl up into a ball and cry, or he could do what had to be done to get home.
It took him three to four hours of asking strangers for help, but he made it home safely in the end. And this became a defining moment in his life, reminding him that sometimes the hard choice is the right choice.
Imparting Wisdom and Knowledge to the Younger Generation
Matt is less the type of person who talks to individuals and tells them what he’s done and how he’s done it, but rather leads from the front by showing them his actions.
We all do things in different ways, and each individual is trying to find their own way to build their brand and work out how they can move forward in life.
Matt may do something in his life that improves him, but that specific thing might not work for someone else. But, he says that everyone should strive to find that little bit of inspiration from someone that might help them move forward in their own journey.
Taking Adversity and Turning it Into a Positive
With COVID, everyone has had that feeling of adversity in some way, whereas previously, everyone just went about their normal lives. So people are more empathetic to the fact that life isn’t always rosy and there are plenty of challenges along the way.
This has given people another focus and made them look at themselves and look at what their purpose is in life.
The Influence of Training in Different Aspects of Life
The skills that Matt has learned from his sport such as goal setting, discipline and mindset help build resilience and attitude, but also what you want to deliver from a reputation and brand perspective as well.
What we do in life is echoed by what we learn, what we've done from experience and everything Matt has learned through his sporting career he has translated into his corporate life, too.
Building your Network and Connections
Matt started building his LinkedIn gradually from 2008. That’s where he prefers to share what he’s learned throughout his life, rather than what he’s done and how he’s done it. He focuses more on sharing insights because he doesn’t like to relieve his adversity and what he’s been through
In his book, he shares his key concept of success by emphasising the journey to get there. Matt believes that because we're only here for a short period of time, we might as well use the platforms we have while we're here.
If you can change one person's view on life, then you've done a good service to the community.
Matt’s Philosophy and Approach to Expanding his Career Outside of Swimming
Matt always aimed to grow in other areas because swimming wouldn’t pay the bills, but it’s taken him many years to learn to balance swimming and working life.
Things have been better since he’s been at AS in Canberra because everything is on-site. He doesn’t have to travel Sydney traffic for an hour and a half each day.
He says that the biggest and most important thing as an athlete and as a human is recovery. So it’s not so much the training side of things, but the recovery and the rest from each session and making sure your mind’s not going a million miles an hour for 24 hours a day.
Next year is the Commonwealth Games and that's definitely a big focus, but there comes a time when there's an end date. The aim is to end your career on your own merit and your own note rather than someone finishing it for you. So keep going while you're enjoying it.
Matt’s Intention Behind Writing his Books
Matt consciously wrote his books to enhance his brand to an extent, but once he got into the process of writing it, it was more about wanting to make a difference to whoever read it and to be able to change their way of thinking and change what they do.
He aims to change people's perception and understanding by imparting his knowledge and expertise on what he’s done in his life as opposed to promoting himself.
Success doesn't come easy and it doesn't mean that you will win a gold medal or come first in a race. It’s about learning through that experience. Success to Matt isn’t about TV or winning medals. It's about improving what he did the day before and getting that message across to the reader more so than anything else.
Being a Mentor
If people want to hear Matt’s experience and what he’s done, he’s happy to share it, but he doesn’t specifically mentor people.
He says that things have been much easier during COVID thanks to Zoom. He prefers doing keynotes and speaking and releasing books from a mentorship side of things as opposed to one-on-one, because he has a full-time job, and then also swimming on top of that, and a couple of board roles.
Matt’s Advice for the Younger Generation
Matt says that it's really about finding what your passion is and then working out where you want to go from there. That’s how he started back in 2000, wanting to go to a Paralympic Games class or the Paralympics in Sydney.
He emphasises listening to the people around you because you're not going to get there by yourself. You're going to need a village.
Learn where your limits are and know what you're capable of. Don’t kid yourself about what you know and what you can and can't do. Being open and honest with yourself is how you really get the best out of it.
It’s very hard to stand out from the crowd, but you can certainly stand out from what you were previously - even a day ago or two days ago.
Final Thoughts
I want to thank Matt Levy very much for taking the time to really share his wisdom and insights.
Thank you for listening to this episode. Please leave a five-star review and subscribe for more episodes if you enjoyed it.
If you'd like to learn more about developing your personal brand, please visit garrybrowne.com.au to get in touch or grab a copy of Brand New Brand You.