The Golden Age of Individualism

William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson have written a great op-ed about the rising value of personal brands in business. They also offer a handy calculator that helps assess your online profile.

Personal branding isn't a new idea. As the two say, Tom Peters wrote about this 10 years ago. It's hard to believe it has been that long.

Of course, even before it became a popular online, personal brands dominated the sports world. Think Aaron, Namath, Jordan, Marino, Montana, Navratilova, Reggie, Nicklaus, Comaneci and it conjures up famous images - e.g. number 12 walking off the field at the Orange Bowl shaking his finger with a "we're number one."

The difference between then and now is that it's easier than ever before to become a micro celebrity. It still takes talent and hard work, but really anyone can do it. The benefits are certainly nice, yet it certainly does come with challenges - usually in the form of external detractors (whom I call distractors).

Beyond "micro fame" if you will, the rise of personal brands really reflects something deeper in society that's changing. In American culture in particular we have always been proud of individualism and expression. Before Web 2.0 we might dress a certain way or do something to stand out. Nowadays, that happens online and it's being driven in large part by the maturing of the Net Generation - Gen Y.

Individualism today means so much more than having a micro brand. For most it's about using the web to flatten the playing field so they have the freedom to chase passions and live their lives, their way. Sometimes this comes even as one continues to work inside a ginormous company. Hence the rise of corporate blogging, The Four Hour Work Week, Web Workers, 20% time and a workplace that need not have a place.

Individualism is as old as American ideals, though it's certainly not a global phenomenon. However with the Net Gen taking over the work force, the value of personal brands will continue rise and perhaps be a prickly force to be reckoned with. This means big changes in the workplace and a critical importance for everyone to be team players even as their stars rise online. It also means that personal brands will become unofficial spoksepeople at times (perhaps involuntarily).

Still, something big has changed. It's ok if you're not vanilla. Maybe more of that will rub off on more companies too that have big brands under their roofs. Taking chances can be good. As Richard Edelman, my CEO, says, you can only learn by skiing downhill.

Comments

[OpenSourceMarketer]

Personal branding is somewhat of a false state of mind. The idea that we are collectively trying to be individuals is like some sort of high school popularity contest where the real winner is the nerdy kid who eventually goes on to own a billion dollar software company. But there is no denying that we like to stick someone out front as an icon for a business or idea. We call them underdog, or golden child, or even scape goat, but in most cases they are really no more than the lead singer of a trend band that gets lost when a new hot song comes out. The Web 2.0 crowd knows that no individual achieves alone without the help of those around them. It still takes more than one person to make things happen and the individual who knows this can make great things happen.

[Chris Rossini]

I think the rise of video and live streaming make it even easier for a person to achieve "micro fame."

Sites like Ustream and Stickam (and the many others in this space) allow a person's true personality to come across. And if the person is interesting enough, they can generate a following.

In a world that's awash with text-only blogs, building a personal brand using video is quite an opportunity.

[Vikram Rajan]

Politicians, musicians, writers, graphic artists, and fashionistas have been using personal branding for millenia.

Now it's time that the rest of us catch on. However, unless the brand is built to create a lifestyle (purpose), community (fan base), or endorsements (leverage)... then the 'personal brand' is just a hyped-up buzzword for a 'reputation.'

Indeed, a personal brand from Mother Theresa to Howard Stern is an icon, a symbol for a whole way of life, a fan community, and can knight future leaders.

That's why a personal brand is much more valuable to a self-employed professional (like the lawyers, accountants, financial planner, real estate, and health experts who are my clients), than even an upwardly-mobile career executive. Productizing our expertise enables us to cash-in on our competency, character and charisma.

Great blog, I read it often.
~ Vikram

[Valeria Maltoni]

Hmmm... Charles, you make some interesting points. I still think that personal branding matters in light of finding like-minded people to partner with on a project basis. Yes?

You talk about being an open source marketer, I talk about open source marketing. In fact I will this coming week at blogPhiladelphia. I'll be visiting your blog, now it's late ;-)

It's also important to know thyself and finding what you stand for -- that is what I call personal branding. Organizations encouraged that by making your job less than secure for decades now.

[Wayan Vota]

Wow, I just took this test and my online identity score is 10 out of a possible score of 10 - I am apparently "digitally distinct".

Of course as my name is unique to begin with and I am in the press often for work, the results are grossly skewed making this test reminiscent of those found monthly in Cosmo or Glamour.

I expected more from you, Steve.

[Dan Schawbel]

Steve this is a great post. Personal Branding has taken the concepts of marketing that are used to sell products and build corporate value to a more individual level. We do business with people and not businesses anymore, so it's important to understand who you are and be able to drive that into customers.

If you have time, you should check out my blog on this subject.

Dan Schawbel
www.personalbrandingblog.com

[William Morris]

My score, of course, is 0 -- what with the talent agency and the 19th century poet/designer/socialist. Does that mean I should engage in a personal rebranding/identity project?

[Ray Podder]

Great post! You might find what I'd written about this topic sometime back interesting:

http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=1282

[Rachel Clarke]

With a score of 10, I, too, am digitally distinct. A couple of years ago I did this exercise and had only one entry in google top 30, (it was for a fun blog post - looking at all my namesakes on the front page of google to see what they did). Now, through the nature of multiple social networks, most of their sites have dropped down and my various online accounts fill the slot.

But take a look at your presence in other search engines though. I have 17/30 on Google, 9/30 on Yahoo and 7/30 on Live search. Google is definitely prioritising the social networks over more longterm content.

[Kirsten Dixson]

Thank you for the kind words and the link to our online identity calculator, Steve. You have an excellent blog that extends your employer's brand and your own at the same time.

It's also great that you pointed out the 10th Anniversary of Personal Branding. We are actually planning a global telesummit for it to be held Sept. 18th. Mark your calendars, and please stay tuned.

Addressing some of the comments to your post ... The primary purpose of this assessment is to get people thinking about their online identity as it relates to their professional goals. With 14 people using it every minute, we've certainly raised awareness of this new career management competency.

[teknicks]

interesting outlook!

[Ken]

The guys at the Evolving Excellence blog had some good comments on Ferriss' book as well, from a manufacturing and outsourcing perspective. Typically they are very anti-outsourcing, but "personal outsourcing" is just a tad different! Unfortunately they didn't mention the effective time savings from having an assistant on the opposite side of the globe. Nice post.

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2007/07/personal-waste.html

Ken

how can we be individual in a world surronded by ourselves