Self Absorbed is Not a Personal Brand

Recently, I happened upon a Twitter conversation in which there seemed to be agreement that personal branding is flawed and self-centered. Since there were resume writers in the conversation, I wanted to add my view that obsessing about getting one’s resume right can also be self-centered. But I didn’t. The fact is, I could actually see their point. When personal branding is used merely as a self-promotional tool, it does come across as egotistic.

 It is an unfortunate misconception that personal branding is “all about me,” when virtually all brands put emphasis on some promise of value delivered to a target audience. As I observed in a prior post, if you work at defining your brand without considering the people to whom you can deliver some clear benefit, you don’t really have a brand. Put another way, if you promote yourself in ways that don’t show your relevance to a specific brand community, then you’re simply being narcissistic.

My reading over the past year, has clearly reinforced the idea of community:

• Seth Godin, in his book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, discusses the importance of being “part of a tribe [where you] ...contribute to (and take from) a group of like-minded people.”

• Pam Slim, author of Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, makes the point that to be successful in business, it’s critical to identify “your people.”

• Chris Brogan and Julien Smith have pointed out in Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, one of the characteristics of a trust agent is to be seen as "one of us," - that is, as belonging and therefore credible. 

Clearly, these thought leaders see relevance and belonging as key to success. As I see it, if you want to be able to point to your personal brand, you need to mention the people for whom you matter.

Cross-posted at The Personal Branding Blog

 

Comments

[Nils Montan]

Wow, you read my mind. I saw a post somewhere yesterday on "personal branding" and it really seemed like the blogger was suggesting that one become an ego maniac on the web. Good balance and references here. It's good to establish a personal brand, but ask yourself how the Buddha might do it.

[Walter Akana]

Hi Nils! Thanks for your comment! Love your reference: “How would Buddha do it?” Indeed! While I have no problem with being proactive about personal brand, especially in managing one’s online reputation, I think contrived “all-about-me” communications (and there are *plenty* of them) do damage to the essence of personal brand. My perspective is that it’s your unique promise of value as relevant and beneficial to your community. No community, no brand!