What's a personal brand and how do I get one?

by Maureen Merrill

A personal brand? Can people define and convey personal value through visual impressions and behavior, like an organization's logo, colors and image? Or is "personal branding" just another made-up worry embraced by consultants eager to sell the soothing solutions?

Tom Peters (you recognize that brand) opened the question in 1997 with an article in Fast Company (August), "The Brand Called You," presenting reasons to develop and manage exactly that. Ten years later, that 10-year-old article comes up first among 335,000 when I Google® "personal brand." Even Forbes.com paid (albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek) attention in an article (2/26) earlier this year.

Personal brand is easy to understand if we consider certain memorable public personalities who have staked a position in the collective mind or market – a signature, if you like - whether or not they sought to do so: Oprah. Warren Buffet. Mick Jagger. Bill. Tiger. Paris.

"If you're going to be a brand," Peters wrote, "You've got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value." Finding that focus is the key to managing your personal brand, instead of letting a lesser impression define you. We see this a lot when helping a client prepare for a public appearance, because it's necessary to get right to the essence of the message. To do that, we need to set aside much of the story about the message, the thoughts and qualifications around it – anything that isn't the heart of the matter.

We must also identify the unique value that goes with the message, along with something more difficult: the emotion underneath it all. What keeps you doing this? What's the passion, the aha!? The satisfaction? These questions help uncover the seed of the message so that we can grow its best expression from there.

Is "branding" inauthentic? Well, think of the difficulty in expressing the genuine heart of a matter for, say, a speech, article or interview. Notice how awkward or boring a speaker can sound, even when the sentiments come straight from the soul. Authentic expression really does require special attention and focus.

First impressions remain crucial to branding, and not just because attention spans appear to be shrinking by the daily sound bite. We two-footed types wouldn't have ventured far from the cave, had we not been able to make quick choices based on what we see and hear. To this day, we subconsciously make immediate decisions about likeability, credibility, and whether we want to know more. Correct or not (another issue!), first impressions are persuasive, and very hard to rewind.

Another way to look at it: we each already do have a brand. Its nature, quality, effectiveness-and yes, its truth – is the question. If everything about one's presence informs the message, it makes sense to assure that the brand, or whatever you call it, is both authentic and supportive of our goals. The concept can give us some productive ways to think about – and ultimately, I hope, create, shape, express and manage – those messages.