On July 7th, 2008 I wrote an article for Ad Age titled "What's Your Brand U.0?". Several months later, I gave a presentation at th Chicago New Media Summit titled "Brand U.0". Only days after uploading the presentation, it had already been viewed thousands of times. So I thought I might be on to something and of course I'm not the first.
Tom Peters describes the personal brand phenomena in his POV on "The Brand Called You". The fact is that managing your own personal brand is way more important than you may fully comprehend. It could get you hired, or fired—give you influence, or simply help you stand out in a sea of sameness. It's not easy to build an extraordinary personal brand and yet, we now have the technology and tools to do so more than ever before.
At this point, this blog is an experiment, but it could possibly turn out to be much more. I'm going to explore this topic as someone who's spent years doing it. It's helped me in my career, and given me opportunities I would never have anticipated. Some of it was luck, much of it was by design—and it's NOT EASY.
I'll be exploring personal experiences as well as reaching out to others who have done this as well. This is an important topic. Many of us grew up with parents who committed themselves to one company only to be "retired" before the company could return the favor of their loyalty. Many of us work for large corporations where it's not uncommon to rotate jobs and departments regularly. In either situation, there is only one thing you take with you—your personal brand equity. Having one that matters may be one of the most important things you can do in an in increasingly uncertain world.
I'm not sure where this will end up, but you're welcome to come along for the ride.
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