I know what you're talking about. It's difficult to talk about your Personal Brand without sounding shallow or totally full of crap. I only know of a few people who consistently blog about the topic and do it well.

The bloggers that I know who write about Personal Branding well would never suggest that you have to "fake it to make it" but instead would suggest that you bring more of your own personality into your brand for people to see. I think that's just as stupid as you do.

These are definitely the same hang ups that most of us have with Personal Branding. I don't think the term is going away anytime soon thought, so hopefully we can just find better people to represent it.

I completely disagree with the idea that personal branding implies you should fake or be dishonest. A true personal brand should be a reflection of who you are. And, it's not just about reputation. The problem is that the "branding" gurus and bloggers tend to borrow too heavily from the marketing world not realizing the approaches to product and personal branding are vastly different.

A brand is a promise. When we present ourselves in ways that are inconsistent with the promise we truly deliver, we create confusion and mistrust. Developing a personal brand is really routed in introspection. You have to know yourself, before you can effectively project yourself in a way that others will get.

I COMPLETELY agree with you about the connotation of the "personal brand". I also agree with Dr. Woody about what the term should mean-- but for me, the phrase does not connote that promise, or that reflection of your true self. I also have no idea where the term came from-- just one day, out of the blue, I started hearing the term thrown around like a new trend everyone pretended they were on top of.

Personally speaking, I do not have a personal brand. I do not want to be thought of as a "brand"! Does anyone else find the concept of being thought of as a brand a little demeaning and annoying?

Let me attack this from my perspective as an Art Director.

Personal Branding doesn't necessarily have to be such a negative thing, and you don't have to be a schmuck to pull it off.

Lets take a more abstract example, think about the branding for Coke. What does it's branding really have to do with the product itself? Not much, they don't feature imagery of someone having to clean the sticky gunky mess it leaves behind the day after a party.

What Coke's branding does so effectively is that it conveys the best aspects of the product in an overall visual style that reinforces that. What's the message? Fun. Coke = fun.

So what your branding can do for you is to convey in the most positive way the best aspects of your personality/career image. Think of it as an overall package. Your business card, resume, online postings etc can all be geared in one overarching cohesive fashion in order to put your best face forward. It doesn't need to be entirely removed from who you are, and in fact, it shouldn't be. I'd much rather work with a more interesting personality than a super effective robot.

Maybe it's time to rethink that plain format Word resume, Times New Roman isn't helping you tell anyone anything about yourself. Special note - any resume I see that uses Papyrus or Comic Sans goes straight into the junk bin.

Hate the term all you want (and I completely understand your dissatisfaction of how some people apply i), but it is around to stay and the concept is extremely important no matter how real or fake some people are.

I think that a personal brand is a combination of your skills, passions and reputation.

My take: If you have done anything to position yourself (personally) online as an authority on a subject or to succeed in business, you've engaged in personal branding. It isn't a demeaning term or akin to being fake, it's a culmination of your interactions online and off. You choose to make it whatever you want.

I think there are actually two categories of objection to "personal branding" - A)taking issue with the name and the connotation it brings to mind for you and B)disagreeing with the underlying concept and its relevance/necessity/merit. I think it's useful to differentiate between them. Simply reframing or renaming won't do anything to sway those in the latter group (where I count myself, obviously).

Think ESSENCE: In my book "The YOU Plan" I use the term "essence" instead of brand to describe the broader concept of the self-aware individual. I view your essence as your Values, Intrinsics (which includes personality, contributions, experiences...), and Passions or your VIPs.

I discuss the notion of brand as a means for conveying your true self (essence) in a way that it makes sense to others. Your "brand" when in the career marketplace should be a manifestation and positive representation of your essence.

Well said. I think being human and genuine is going to help your "personal brand" a lot more than have it be so well-planned and calculated.

I love it, thank you for this! I just shared this on twitter. :)

I just left a comment on another blog about this exact topic. Here is the gist of what I wrote:

The problem (in my opinion) is unscrupulous people selling these services as a “cure all” for a jobseeker who can’t seem to find a job. Those are the “branding experts” I have a problem with. I still say it’s just a way for people to charge their customers more money — by adding “branding” packages.

If you are a good resume writer or career coach, this is automatic. The jobseeker will know what sets them apart and they will communicate their ROI naturally without force.