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Guide

developinG your perSonal Brand

The Security Guide (on the previous two pages) missed the point. But if Kierkegaard has something interest-
discusses ways to avoid making mistakes with social media ing to say about the ethics of the latest business scandal that
that will interfere with your ability to obtain a job. Follow affects your professional interests, many readers who share
that guide to minimize the long-term effect of the errors and those interests will want to know. And they will then have a
indiscretions of your college years. Now consider the other way to approach you on a common interest. That common
side of that coin. Instead of attempting to minimize the bad, interest may lead to an exciting new job opportunity, or
suppose we ask: How can you use social media to maximize maybe it will lead to a fulfilling new relationship, or maybe it
the good? will go nowhere. You just don’t know.
Leading professionals use social media to build their Be aware, however, that maintaining a professional
personal brand. You may be too young, too inexperienced, brand can become all consuming. Just like personal Facebook
and not yet unique enough to have a personal brand, but,
then again, maybe not. And even if now isn’t the right time
to build a personal brand, you will need to have, build, and
maintain your personal brand at some point in the future if
you want to be a business leader.
So, what is “building a personal brand”? It’s not embar-
rassing self-promotion. It’s not self-advertising, and it’s not a
resume of your recent experience. It is, instead, the means by
which you conduct authentic relationships with the market
for your talents and abilities. That market might be your pro-
fessional colleagues, your employer, your fellow employees,
your competition, or anyone who cares about what you care
about.
As a business professional, how do you create authentic
relationships that are less transactional and more personal?
You start by realizing that the people who consume your
services are not just bosses and colleagues, but rather full-
fledged human beings with the rich stew of complexity that
all humans have. With this idea in mind, can you use social
media to transform your relationships from being transac-
tional in nature to being more personal?
Such a transformation is possible but difficult. You
don’t want to share every detail of your personal life on your
professional blog; few readers will care about your vacation
in the Bahamas. However, they might want to know what
you read while lying on the beach, why you read it, and
what you learned from it—or perhaps how disappointed you
were about what you didn’t learn. But your report has to be
authentic. If you’re reading Kierkegaard or Aristotle for the
purpose of showing erudition on your personal blog, you
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