RANT: Personal Branding

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Heather is talking about Personal branding -- I think this is particularly interesting, but I'm not a believer in the phenomenon (I mean, search Google for “Personal Branding” -- it is ridiculous).

I had the “good” fortune of hearing William Arruda  speak about building your own Personal Brand.  William is a great speaker, but his message was a joke.  The movement is an iteration on common sense.  Someone decided to put some formal rules and processes around this concept that has become popularized as EQ...  William gave it a new metric, but I can't recall...

Here is my opinion -- Personal Branding is important.  How you represent yourself to your peers, friends, co-workers, etc. is incredibly important.  It is a key attributer to individual success -- what I don't understand is how people can pay exorbitant amounts of money for Personal Brand consulting.  Come on people -- as Dickie V would say, “are you serious!”  -- By all means, make sure your social skills are top notch -- realize that first impressions are very important, how you present and differentiate yourself are key.  I think Heather qualifies it well - you are a product, market yourself at all times... what is a Personal Brand?  A name given to you so they can charge you for consulting.  Just represent yourself well...

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