Comments on: Don’t Let Personal Branding Stifle your Authentic Voice

By: Personal Branding: It's Different for Girls

Personal Branding: It's Different for Girls — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:36:08 +0000

[...] also: Don’t Let Personal Branding Stifle your Authentic Voice Defend Your Personal Brand. Barbara Boxer shows how. Authentic Twitter: Are exclamation points [...]

By: Why business do not collaborate « Fredzimny

Why business do not collaborate « Fredzimny — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:08:43 +0000

[...] Don’t Let Personal Branding Stifle your Authentic Voice (AuthenticOrganizations.com) [...]

By: David Zinger

David Zinger — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:29:22 +0000

CV:

I am still nodding. I think voice is key. It is interesting that I recently wrote about becoming your own Inner Voice coach at http://www.joyfuljubilantlearning.com/joyful_jubilant_learning/2009/06/learning-a-voice.html.

I think there is room for fusion of voice and branding. Perhaps that is partially what I am after: a re-branding of personal branding inclusive of voice. I think personal branding has captured many people’s attention and just like you have shown the problems inherent in the commodity approach I think this can also be done from inside branding concepts.

Perhaps I will change my Personal Branding Formula to (Strengths + Voice + Visibility + Value) x Engagement. I can almost see you shudder at contributing to a personal branding formula. I always liked Walt Whitman’s line: “Do I contradict myself, very well I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.”

I also remember the old TV show Branded: Here is a snippet of the lyrics —
Branded, scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you’re branded, and you know you’re a man.
Wherever you go, for the rest of your life
You must prove, you’re a man.

David

By: CV Harquail

CV Harquail — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:40:03 +0000

Hi David,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and generative comment. It sounds to me like your experience with personal branding has been more like a focus on authentic voice and less on the branding part. Especially given your definition, you’re already outside the box of branding as a marketing, mercenary construct and practice.
Based on what I ‘know’ of you from your own writing, I would expect that your approach to personal branding really isn’t about branding at all. So, I wonder if you would find any additional power in the process (for yourself and your clients) if you were to replace the language of branding” with the language of voice. I wonder if this switch might also help clients etc. surmount or even avoid some subliminal objectification that might otherwise be in the way.
My gripe is with personal branding is with (1) treating the self like a product to be sold, and (2) with focusing on what “the market” wants over who we know/can learn ourselves to be.My gripe is not with the idea of clarifying, focusing on and offering who we really are… I love that process and advocate for it.
I personally would prefer if “personal branding” fans started first with finding and strengthening their personal voice. I probably should write more about the political implications of taking a ‘voice’ approach over a ‘branding’ approach, so that I can spotlight this contrast more effectively.
As another colleague has commented, there is a middle ground, and I am not recommending that folks reject the clarifying processes. I do want folks to reconsider (and okay, I admit it) to *reject* the frame of self-branding and all of its baggage. (Important caveat: If you actually ‘sell’ yourself as a consultant or coach or similar, branding is (1) less harmful, and (2) slightly different). So these are all important points for me to clarify and articulate as I keep working through these issues. David, I really appreciate your head moving in agreement and resistance. I’ll keep working at it so that I can offer more ‘value’ to you.

By: Robyn McMaster

Robyn McMaster — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:35:46 +0000

My thought is that in personal branding we make personal choices based on our authentic voice. If we slip over into being what others expect us to be it is no longer personal branding because then we let others make choices that should be ours. In making these choices ourselves from our own framework, then we are creatively expressing who we are. I think these go hand in hand since they are truly interconnected. We need to be tapping into both the logical and creative sides of the brain to show our inner person in the public wrapping that truly exemplifies who we are.

By: Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:56:06 +0000

Like David, I’m moved to comment that there may be a viable middle ground here between the inner-focused authentic voice and external-focused personal brand.

I’m a solopreneur and business anthropologist who consults with organizations on building online communities. And whether I like it or not, I have a brand that I project to the outer world. But this is where I have a choice to pursue authenticity in my own voice. Actually, I’d argue that any individual must begin inside before they can even attempt to project themselves outward (as much as it often pains me to say it, Chris Brogan wasn’t too far off the mark). But I also know that when it comes to telling people about my services, I better have my brand fully in their mind. So yes there is that degree of selling myself, but I’m not selling something that I’m not…rather I’m selling a focused idea of exactly who I am.

I will argue that a personal brand isn’t fixed and locked in stone. Because we’re not fixed, we grow and change. And so as we change inside, we can make similar changes in our outer projections.

Like David, I’m highly appreciative of your writing and this particular post. It has spurred a new avenue in my own thoughts about how to make my own personal brand more true and authentic to who I am. There is still middle ground to explore here.

By: David Zinger

David Zinger — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:16:17 +0000

CV Harquail

I really appreciated this article. I need to go away and think about this as I find myself nodding yet I also find myself seeing some value for myself in personal branding. Thank you for the invitation to speak my personal truth.

At least for me, some focus on personal branding does not stifle my authentic voice it has contributed to and heightened my voice. I define personal branding as (Strengths + Value + Visibility) x Engagement. When I think of value I think not only of economic but social value, etc.

As I said, I will have to go away and think about this because I feel a sense of authenticity when I work on personal branding, it is much less of a marketing mechanism and much more of a focus tool. I believe there is the potential for authentic personal branding and for some people it connects them to a wider community as they think about their voice AND their impact on others.

For me at least, it may be ironic that I found my voice in a stronger way through the lens of branding. I found a deep strain of poetic expression. So as I read your find article I found myself nodding my head up and down and also left to right.

Thank you so much. I so much appreciated a blog post that can get me thinking on a Saturday morning.

David

By: Ryan Jones

Ryan Jones — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:09:17 +0000

Well written piece! I am reading Life, Inc. by Doug Rushkoff at the moment. Doug really rails on the corporatization of everyone & everything…especially in the US. He mentions that we live in a landscape of corporatism: a world not merely dominated by corporations, but one inhabited by people who have internalized corporate values as their own. It is one thing to work for a corporate; it is another thing to adopt the mindset lock, stock & barrel.

I have to admit that when I return home (to the US) I feel that our people are, sadly, on the bleeding edge of this trend. It is scary (and weird).

By: Graeme

Graeme — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:19:13 +0000

Beautifully argued piece that could also stand as a riposte to much of the employer branding material pushed out by organizations. I’m going to use this as an exemplar tomorrow with a group of HR people – as an argument and as an example of what web 2.0 can do for them.

By: CV Harquail

CV Harquail — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:19:51 +0000

Thanks Miss Unconventional for your comment…Voice *is far more liberating! Something that I think artists understand better than marketers (or academics) do. Even though being ‘yourself’ can encourage a wider range of behaviors than being a ‘brand’ might allow, they are all still connected to the same foundation (you) and ultimately make it easier for people to trust you, I think.
Joseph, I’m tickled that you’d think of that Venn Diagram, which I saw and retweeted last week, because I was wondering how to do something similar to identify the sweet spot of overlap between authentic voice, what others want, and what others need. Or maybe there is another /different space to include? you’ve got me thinking more, as per ususal.