Isn’t The “Personal Brand” … Inherently Inauthentic?

We bemoan this stuff a lot, but in reality I think most people are totally comfortable with “personal brand” being somewhat fake.

Do it for the Gram!

A rallying cry of the last 10–12 years, at least for some. But as far back as 2014, the former CEO of Ogilvy was saying this:

Here’s the thing: I hate it when people talk about personal brand. Those words imply that people need to adopt identities that are artificial and plastic and packaged, when what actually works is authenticity. One of the fabulous things I’ve enjoyed about my career is collaborating with so many leaders across different industries and countries, and without exception the successful ones have been comfortable in their own skin.

Indeed. There’s a lot to unpack in that one, however. Before we do that, we need to bring in this recent (yesterday, I believe) New York Times op-ed from someone named Tish who I hadn’t heard of before yesterday:

In a recent Times article, the reporter Emma Goldberg wrote about how the rise of social media and influencer power has made it such that young people, in particular, find their livelihood, success and sense of self inextricably entwined with an online presentation. She wrote, “With personal branding, the line between who people are and what they do disappears. Everything is content.” A strange, exhausting new twist in being human is that each day, each of us must decide how much of ourselves, our family life, thoughts, work, photos and feelings we will share with strangers online. Goldberg…