Learn To Duck - Latest Comments in When Being Me is About Being You

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:08:57 -0000

Thanks. I appreciate the words.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Tiko — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:13:56 -0000

I stopped reading comments on the internet, but i'm guessing not many agree with you point - if they even got the point. Or am i wrong? But i agree with you. If you try to hard building personal brand, you can quickly lose your authenticity - especially if your goal is to appeal to a large audience. I think that majority of people that talk a lot about pesonal branding don't have a clue about what they're talking about. I think that the most important thing is to be true to yourself and if you do that you'll have a strong brand, But that doesn't necessarily mean you will appeal to people.
Read two posts of you and you earned my respect - so you must be doing something right.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Chris Kauza — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:38:06 -0000

"Yes, I believe doing the right thing and being open and honest is not normal."

I disagree.

Doing the right thing, being open & honest - these things are normal. Letting one's insecurities prevent this - not normal. It is, however, pervasive; and in my book, "pervasive" does not equal "normal".

Is it hard? Sometimes. Does it impact your personal brand? I guess...I think one's personal brand isn't really in their control, much like their reputation. Only thing I can control are my character & my actions. And those things can sometimes serve to reinforce a reputation or personal brand.

Don't believe me? Contrast hotmealer with Pistachio, above...you haven't changed who or how you are to either of these people. You put yourself out there & look what came back. Is it good or bad? Did it change or reinforce your "personal brand" with either of them? Are you going to change who you are or how you behave with either of them or w/others?

That's your call...

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

paulmerrill — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:03:12 -0000

Al I know is that you are a voice of honesty to who you are. That came out very clearly at the Thin Air SUmmit. (I enjoyed meeting you there, even though it was briefly.)

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

jimCTC — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:05:56 -0000

being without a job for sometime makes this concept easier for me to digest. going into interviews with a monkey suit on and trying to please the interviewer with what they want to hear just isn't me. i would like to go into these situations being my true self, but that's probably not a good idea if i'm really looking to land the job. you have to bullshit yourself sometimes (and i did see you do a good amount of bullshitting in the past- you were damn good at it too). to me, there is something fundamentally wrong with that.

i think we should all strive to be in situations where we can be unique, ourselves, and provide value at the same time. then, after some time you develop a reputation (like geoff says)- and then this personal branding thing will seem pointless.

i'm happy for you that you landed in a spot where it's working for you... it definitely makes your professional life more fun, huh?

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:46:37 -0000

Laura, you are certainly who you are. But I would argue that you carefully select what you will say or do (maybe not always, but certainly sometimes) based on if its a business situation or a personal situation.

Again, I use you as an example only because you (and by your own admission) went from zero to sixty extremely fast with Twitter. You are an amazing person, and its all well deserved, but you have a personal brand that you protect, project and craft. That personal brand, to some degree, helps shape how people view you. Do you not agree?

Perhaps, I also have a personal brand, only I dont call it that. Perhaps my personal brand and my personal persona are closer than yours because I have less to protect (no kids, I am not a woman, I am not a consultant, etc.). Who knows.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

kevin cawley — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:26:51 -0000

just go out and do something great for others - teach, learn, listen, build, create, lead, heal, help.

thinking about your personal brand... waste of time

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:09:50 -0000

For your pilot example, whats more concerning the beer or the jeans?
Personally, I could care less about the jeans. Also, thats not
branding. Thats wearing a uniform.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

John Lewis — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:02:59 -0000

Is it personal? Is it a brand? Is it you? What is in a name?

It seems that we all have different "faces"/facets; even the Beatles sang about it in "Eleanor Rigby". But, underneath, it is the same person.

Surely, we put on different behaviours and fronts depending on the role that we are taking at the time? As you point out, this is appropriate behaviour and, yes, in a sense it is about "fitting in" or being "similar"; it is also about being effective in that role.

Is this something new, or specific to online interaction? I don't think so. For centuries, some people have specific occupations where they are either "on duty" or "off duty", and their behaviour differs accordingly. Even if their roles are less delineated, many people's behaviour differs between the environments of the home, the office, and the pub.

Most people would be fairly horrified if they were boarding a scheduled flight and noticed the aircraft captain in his jeans with a beer in his hand and talking to an air traffic controller without conforming to normal aviation phraseology. But in a couple of hours time, that might be exactly what he will be doing!

The same applies to most (all?) professionals: doctors, police officers, fire fighters, and many others. But is applies no less to people in any other job. It is called "doing your job"!

Now, let's forget all that. Let's go to the pub! Actually: let's set up a "pub forum", ...

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Laura "@Pistachio" Fitton — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:55:36 -0000

in a very real sense, i don't even know what you all are talking about. i'm just over here dancing around in a slightly erratic manner, genuinely mystified by the ripple effects it is triggering. and trying to make myself useful.

others can - and will - project upon it what they feel a need to project, and make the arguments with it (such as this post) that they feel a need to make. and what anyone makes of it says more about them than it does about me.

i yam what i yam. i'm just this girl. no, really. really.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

pinglaura — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:22:05 -0000

Here's a perspective:

"The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" by Erving Goffman opens with an illustration why everybody is consciously or subconsciously adjusting their presentation to others, based upon context. It's the one book I saved from psych 101. I'll type in a paragraph:

"When an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire information about him or to bring into play information about him already possessed. They will be interested in his general socio-economic status, his conception of self, his attitude toward them, his competence, his trustworthiness, etc. Although some of this information seems to be sought almost as an end in itself, there are usually quite practical reasons for acquiring it. Information about the individual helps to define the situation, enabling others to know in advance what he will expect of them and what they may expect of him. Informed in these ways, the others will know how best to act in order to call forth a desired response from him."

Malcolm Gladwell in Blink points out how we can do all these things in an instant. And even if we ignore that person, we are behaving in a way to elicit a desired response (don't bother me, ignorable person you).

Is everybody "branding"? Or is it just life? When I lived in New York, for example, I walked fast, avoided eye contact, always moved with purpose, etc. This generated the desired response from others, which was to leave me alone -- very important on the streets. When I'm working out, I wear sweats, but when I go to the office or meet with clients, I dress professionally. They're all "me" but all convey very different impressions. In the business context, I would call this "branding" but it's not something so different from the rest of life, just an area that can have profound effects financially and in career.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:56:43 -0000

I dont know if I agree. Those with personal brands carefully built
them. Perhaps not by changing things, but by excluding pieces of their
actual personalities that they feel dont help them achieve their
business goals.

We all do this to some degree (I swear less for example), but Chris,
Laura (its interesting you refer to her by her twitter name), and
Aaron have become trapped by their decisions around personal brand and
have to select how they act online/offline depending on the group.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:51:55 -0000

Thats not true. You talk about your personal brand, and you are
different (although not completely) in business situations. Its not a
bad thing, certainly for you it has worked, but you do have two
different personas.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Dan Schawbel — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:40:24 -0000

Instead of defending "personal branding" like I do every single day of my life, I'd rather just comment that many of the people you named (brogan, pistacio, etc) didn't purposely create "personal brands." The reality is that everyone has a brand and they were doing what they loved and it ended up building an audience and therefore building a business.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Trendsetter — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:52:53 -0000

U have a strong personal brand and a grandiose Hollywood act, the only difference is U put effort into creating a negative one - "Douchebag." Troll. Flamebaiter. Hostile strength.

Recent industry trends suggest that professional "douchebags" will be unemployed or irrelevant within 3 months.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

chelpixie — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:34:53 -0000

I've been struggling with this bad taste in my mouth when I say personal brand because it just doesn't set well with me.

I am not a brand.

I am a person.

chel, chelpixie, Michelle, pixie. I answer to all of these because they are all me.

Putting a fancy web 2.0 word on it. Meh.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

hotmealer — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:27:43 -0000

buuuullllll ssshhhhhhhiiiiiiiittttttt

fuck off

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

technosailor — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:11:23 -0000

Damn, he threw me under the bus. :-)

You see two personas and that makes me bristle! Why? Because I am the same person on or offline. What you are seeing is actually me exposing less of me online than offline. That's not two personalities. That's seeing me, or seeing me partially obscured.

Minor difference.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

whatsnext — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:08:00 -0000

"Brand You" and the idea of personal branding was coined by Tom Peters way before it became a social media buzzword. He wrote about it in 1997. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou...

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Geoff Livingston — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:32:44 -0000

My take away is be yourself! Besides you don't have to remember to be someone else when you do that. I, too, writhe in pain when people discuss my personal brand, and I reposted on the topic today, including a few paras on why my "personal brand" is non existent.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

tedr — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:36:57 -0000

Read all these comments and face it, you're already a brand =) AND.. it's not the lame crazy uncle you suggest. It's the avuncular mentor brand ;)

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

Melissa Hourigan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:28:52 -0000

I guess it depends, if you are providing a service, having a bit of a personal brand isn't a bad thing. I look at people like Brian Solis etc.

In your case, I for one was very intrigued to meet you in person after following your Tweets etc. Being unique and "personal branding" are different in my opinion. The ordinary must market themselves to be marketable for employers etc. But those that are unique, have a difference of opinion, or wear a pink hat in public attract interest without worrying about the brand that they are pushing. I love it when people resist the temptation to put themselves into a category, it brings interest and if the halo effect means more attention to your company, than cool. But being the number 1 douchebag is pretty damn funny.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:25:36 -0000

i never indicated that its insincere, just measured and built. I would surprised if one assumes they "have" a personal brand, that they also "built" a personal brand. Certainly, we all dont allow all of our personal quirks to be displayed publicly.

But the construction of how people "view" you, with the intent to create apparent value, is absolutely personal branding...

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:21:29 -0000

If it doesnt get you in trouble, you are more than welcome to quote anything...although, I cant believe any of it would be useful...LOL.

Re: When Being Me is About Being You

micah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:20:10 -0000

the crazy uncle brand? Perhaps we need a crazy uncle meetup? A facebook page? a twitter account?