Can you imagine anything more corrosive to human interaction and our basic humanity than modeling our behavior on inanimate, imaginary, unmoving and un-evolving objects designed solely to generate profits?
What a great post and so well written. Finally someone with courage and credibility from experience calls out decades of juvenile thinking that has pervaded far too many “C-Suite” initiatives. As an MBA in marketing from a highly regarded B-School, this crap never sat well with me but I couldn’t articulate so wisely as you. Thank you!
After 75 years my brand is not what it was when I lived in Silicon Valley (before it was called that), NYC, Austin, NM., or during these last few years back in Texas. Frankly, I was what was necessary and it's just now that I could be my own brand if I had something to sell. These days it's just me and my imaginary buddy, Watts Nexx, and we just make it up as we go along. Life is too short for us to worry about a brand.
When I was getting a creative writing degree, there was a huge emphasis on branding. I found it a huge turn off. I feel the way to attract readers is to write things that are interesting in an engaging way. Not to turn myself into a product. I was told how important an author’s website and social media presence are and all I could think was: I read dozens of books a year and I wasn’t even aware authors had personal websites. To turn any creative occupation into a brand sucks all the joy and beauty out of it in my opinion.
So glad to hear this from a marketer! I’ve always been uncomfortable with the notion of a personal brand and you’ve just perfectly articulated why - thank you!
If I am genuine, you get a mixed bag of 66 years of multi-faceted life experience that defies branding. My brand is the Unbrand. Who else is with me, let me know so I can follow your stack.
From a small, regular online writer who can get overwhelmed with the need to market myself I say thank you💕 This message needs to be sung from the rooftops.
It’s one of the reasons I love Substack where I can simply show up and try to do my best work, interact with truly cool people doing interesting things, and leave all the rest.
As Maximus41 said in the comments this message packs punch coming from a marketing heavyweight.
I love this. I always thought the personal brand BS was so phony. I worked for a big company and the entry level HR presentation included a pie chart with the Personal Brand section BIGGER than the job performance/mastery chunk! My department pushed back because even the entry level people would say things like, so how you present yourself is more important than how you do your job?
In the last 10-15 years this concept has been popular because it’s more fun to read about them the old boring standby of really, really digging in and learning your job.
Branding is not new. Anyone remember the "MARLBORO MAN"? That was certainly a form of "branding". There are many others from decades ago. But the BIG difference is that the internet was not around back then. That simple invention has made branding THE major way of selling yourself, which is THE product, aside from all others, after all the word "inluencer" would never have any meaning without the invention of the internet.
Love, love, love this piece, Jennifer! At the conference last week, while in line to meet Michael Shellenberger at his book signing, I met another author who during our conversation advocated that rather than spending money on traveling sports or traveling band performances, I should invest in a Virtual Assistant (VA) for my 14 year old son through his high school years so that my son could build his brand and number of followers online. The VA would quickly learn all about him and follow his interests, his experiences, successes, etc. and would generate posts, responses to posts and so on, advancing his brand and following. He explained to me that this would make my son more valuable to future employers because he would be seen as someone who could bring a following to the employer/corp/organization. I guess the VA would automatically make my son an influencer by default. The whole idea of an influencer has also always rubbed me the wrong way. His proposal sounded strange but his logic made sense in today's online world, and naturally I wouldn't want my son to be at a disadvantage when competing for limited employment opportunities. I had to consider it. But seriously, has it really come to this?
Exactly! I find authentic and genuine people are those that I seek out. They are way more interesting and comfortable to be around. Those that act as brands, and there are many, often seem shallow. It is often apparent that what they say and do are solely to make others think a certain way about them. I find it a turn off. Thank you for a great piece!
I think this post contra personal branding pairs well with Jen’s post of May 14 on the potential impact of Linda Vaccarino’s hiring on Twitter’s corporate brand. If you read both posts you get the difference between expressing the identity of a human soul and crafting a corporate brand that appeals to customers. And how to do each well.
But isn't branding a person like type-casting? Wouldn't it be more difficult for an individual to grow, change, and expand if their identity had to always be tightly aligned with their "brand"? Sounds counter to a soul's development.
Jen, it strikes me how the idea of "branding yourself" preys on the tendencies of high-functioning autistic people to mask. Basically, seen through this lens, an encouragement to "branding oneself" is appropriating a feature of disability.
I wonder if I said that correctly and in a way people can understand...? Anyway, one look into "Autistic Masking" on YouTube and you'll understand how it could be really harmful to autistic folks, like me.
It explains political tribalism as well. “I am a democrat” becomes a personal brand statement, devoid of thinking through whether one agrees with a policy or not. It’s an association not a thoughtful analysis.
Unless you have the iconoclasts like Matt Taibbi, Michael Schellenberger, Eric Weinstein, Bret Weinstein, Joe Rogan, Alex Berenson, Glenn Greenwald, and we can't forget Bari Weiss.
And, like you, I think many of these folks became more well-known with Covid. (Thank goodness.)
I don't know if you have read or watched Jordan Peterson, but his number one rule, if I remember correctly, is always tell the truth. He also had a long podcast with Bari Weiss that is worth listening to.
Goes along nicely with what you said.
You will be able to live with yourself after this hysteria is over and done with. Hopefully, we will all have gained some spine to not go along with the next one to get along.
What a great post and so well written. Finally someone with courage and credibility from experience calls out decades of juvenile thinking that has pervaded far too many “C-Suite” initiatives. As an MBA in marketing from a highly regarded B-School, this crap never sat well with me but I couldn’t articulate so wisely as you. Thank you!
After 75 years my brand is not what it was when I lived in Silicon Valley (before it was called that), NYC, Austin, NM., or during these last few years back in Texas. Frankly, I was what was necessary and it's just now that I could be my own brand if I had something to sell. These days it's just me and my imaginary buddy, Watts Nexx, and we just make it up as we go along. Life is too short for us to worry about a brand.
When I was getting a creative writing degree, there was a huge emphasis on branding. I found it a huge turn off. I feel the way to attract readers is to write things that are interesting in an engaging way. Not to turn myself into a product. I was told how important an author’s website and social media presence are and all I could think was: I read dozens of books a year and I wasn’t even aware authors had personal websites. To turn any creative occupation into a brand sucks all the joy and beauty out of it in my opinion.
A fantastic piece!! Finally something coherent and effective to combat the BS fed to so many.
So glad to hear this from a marketer! I’ve always been uncomfortable with the notion of a personal brand and you’ve just perfectly articulated why - thank you!
In the overt abandonment of God, society has created many gods / idols to take the place of worship. In this case, worship of self.....
Spoiler alert, it never ends well
If I am genuine, you get a mixed bag of 66 years of multi-faceted life experience that defies branding. My brand is the Unbrand. Who else is with me, let me know so I can follow your stack.
i am with you.
Applying the golden rule, being authentic, continuous trying to learn, and to improve is the only “brand” needed.
From a small, regular online writer who can get overwhelmed with the need to market myself I say thank you💕 This message needs to be sung from the rooftops.
It’s one of the reasons I love Substack where I can simply show up and try to do my best work, interact with truly cool people doing interesting things, and leave all the rest.
As Maximus41 said in the comments this message packs punch coming from a marketing heavyweight.
Thank you!
I love this. I always thought the personal brand BS was so phony. I worked for a big company and the entry level HR presentation included a pie chart with the Personal Brand section BIGGER than the job performance/mastery chunk! My department pushed back because even the entry level people would say things like, so how you present yourself is more important than how you do your job?
In the last 10-15 years this concept has been popular because it’s more fun to read about them the old boring standby of really, really digging in and learning your job.
Branding is not new. Anyone remember the "MARLBORO MAN"? That was certainly a form of "branding". There are many others from decades ago. But the BIG difference is that the internet was not around back then. That simple invention has made branding THE major way of selling yourself, which is THE product, aside from all others, after all the word "inluencer" would never have any meaning without the invention of the internet.
Exactly, branding turns individuals into products.
Love, love, love this piece, Jennifer! At the conference last week, while in line to meet Michael Shellenberger at his book signing, I met another author who during our conversation advocated that rather than spending money on traveling sports or traveling band performances, I should invest in a Virtual Assistant (VA) for my 14 year old son through his high school years so that my son could build his brand and number of followers online. The VA would quickly learn all about him and follow his interests, his experiences, successes, etc. and would generate posts, responses to posts and so on, advancing his brand and following. He explained to me that this would make my son more valuable to future employers because he would be seen as someone who could bring a following to the employer/corp/organization. I guess the VA would automatically make my son an influencer by default. The whole idea of an influencer has also always rubbed me the wrong way. His proposal sounded strange but his logic made sense in today's online world, and naturally I wouldn't want my son to be at a disadvantage when competing for limited employment opportunities. I had to consider it. But seriously, has it really come to this?
Exactly! I find authentic and genuine people are those that I seek out. They are way more interesting and comfortable to be around. Those that act as brands, and there are many, often seem shallow. It is often apparent that what they say and do are solely to make others think a certain way about them. I find it a turn off. Thank you for a great piece!
I think this post contra personal branding pairs well with Jen’s post of May 14 on the potential impact of Linda Vaccarino’s hiring on Twitter’s corporate brand. If you read both posts you get the difference between expressing the identity of a human soul and crafting a corporate brand that appeals to customers. And how to do each well.
But isn't branding a person like type-casting? Wouldn't it be more difficult for an individual to grow, change, and expand if their identity had to always be tightly aligned with their "brand"? Sounds counter to a soul's development.
Jen, it strikes me how the idea of "branding yourself" preys on the tendencies of high-functioning autistic people to mask. Basically, seen through this lens, an encouragement to "branding oneself" is appropriating a feature of disability.
I wonder if I said that correctly and in a way people can understand...? Anyway, one look into "Autistic Masking" on YouTube and you'll understand how it could be really harmful to autistic folks, like me.
Nice story.
It explains political tribalism as well. “I am a democrat” becomes a personal brand statement, devoid of thinking through whether one agrees with a policy or not. It’s an association not a thoughtful analysis.
Unless you have the iconoclasts like Matt Taibbi, Michael Schellenberger, Eric Weinstein, Bret Weinstein, Joe Rogan, Alex Berenson, Glenn Greenwald, and we can't forget Bari Weiss.
And, like you, I think many of these folks became more well-known with Covid. (Thank goodness.)
I don't know if you have read or watched Jordan Peterson, but his number one rule, if I remember correctly, is always tell the truth. He also had a long podcast with Bari Weiss that is worth listening to.
Goes along nicely with what you said.
You will be able to live with yourself after this hysteria is over and done with. Hopefully, we will all have gained some spine to not go along with the next one to get along.
Well said!