Professional vs. Personal Brand: What’s The Right Mix?

I’ve been managing the mix between professional and personal before social networks became mainstream. Whenever I talk to someone who’s looking for advice in this area, I usually say something like…

See what Gary Vee does? Don’t do that. 

Well, let me take a step back because there’s a huge caveat here. Gary’s got a near perfect professional/personal brand model if you’re one of the following:

- An entrepreneur/business owner
-CEO
-Full time digital influencer
-Your only job is to be an Internet personality for your company 

For everyone else—Specifically employees of companies who expect your focus to be on building value for the company NOT building your personal brand, you can follow something of the 80/20 or maybe 70/30 rule:

Bring some of your personality into what you do professionally and do it purposefully to build equity for both you and your company. It’s not easy and gone are the days of the traditional employee so some personal brand building is now expected by employers. But a good rule of thumb is that you should never shine brighter than your company and what benefits you should benefit them. 

It’s not a perfect mix, but if it’s not your name on the check, it’s a decent guideline.