Referencing Paul Ricoeur’s idea of narrative identity we can think of a personal brand as the story you tell about yourself to others. It’s a way of organizing and presenting your actions, values, and goals in a way that makes sense and is easy for others to understand and connect with.
In this sense, your personal brand becomes the medium through which you express who you are, allowing you to communicate your self-understanding to the world in a coherent and relatable way. A personal brand is not something you can touch or possess like a physical object; rather, it’s more like an abstraction, a collection of ideas, impressions, and meanings that others associate with you.
In this sense, it exists in a kind of “intersubjective space”—it’s not purely subjective (existing only in your mind), nor is it purely objective (existing independently of human perception). Instead, it is formed in the interplay between your identity and how others perceive you.
Your personal brand, then, is both an invitation and a challenge: it’s an invitation for others to engage with a version of you, and it’s a challenge for you to navigate the tension between authenticity and performance, between who you are and how you are seen.
Whether we like it or not, everyone forms judgments about others, especially in the digital ecosystem that we contribute to as knowledge workers. Personal branding is about crafting the narrative that shapes those judgments online and offline. By investing in your personal brand, particularly in the digital space, you're consciously influencing how you want to be seen and understood by others.
Many people believe they are clearly conveying who they are to the outside world, but in reality, few succeed in doing so effectively. They are left feeling misunderstood. This gap between intention and perception is precisely why personal brand agencies have emerged—to help individuals craft a more deliberate and impactful representation of their identity.
In the end being able to articulate and communicate your brand for others will help you build relationships, accomplish your career objectives and ultimately serve as a process for understanding who you really are as well.
It's time to quash the myths of personal branding and invest in your future.
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