Liberate yourself of your personal brand

The relevance of every expression, scheme and trend is limited to a period of time. It cannot be assumed to be eternal. Is the same tenet applicable to your ‘personal brand?  This topic is widely contested by those in human resource management and career branding fields and it is so not sans any rationale.

Personal branding has been advocated as an effective apparatus to let people feel about themselves. Such reflections are conducted in a manner that is conceptual and also in a language that is in line with the principles and standards of business practices. However and regrettably, it has also created a divide between men and their impressions of individual self-esteem. If you happen to be a style or kind of your own, that brand is yours to stay.

People tend to suffer from a fallacious impression about their own importance and value when they do not regard themselves as conscientious per sons and instead think of themselves as an individual label of sorts. In the light of the foregoing, there is immense significance attached to comrades at work, genuineness and traditions.

The society and various workplace fraternities act like bonding fibres that allow genuine people to chip in their best in work centres with diverse customs and traditions. There is no system that does not require outlays, partaking and group effort. It is only if you are loyal to yourself rather than have faith on a singular concept like a personal brand that you will gain an insight into the importance of workplace and working in a group.

When we talk of genuineness, it is your faithfulness and realism that is implied. These qualities contribute immensely to your workplace and career success. You should not wear a cloak of sincerity and pretense. And if you do, your uprightness and accountability takes a beating. The crux of the matter is that you should always be fully yourself and not subscribe to two-facedness.

Workplace traditions have a different plane. If the workplace environment is upbeat, the credit for creating it goes to genuine people who work there. And an environment that is redolent of optimism, encouragement and affirmation will invariably invite people who regard truthfulness and accountability as prime considerations in their life. 

The concept of personal brands is a sham and smacks of a restricted mental outlook. You have to get out of it only if you remain:

·   Honest to yourself:  Remember that you are first and foremost an individual and then a kind. Discerning what is significant to you, recognizing your principles and reciprocating respect are actions that you should take. 

·   Concerned about you:  You should not focus much on your body and appearance. You should be concerned more about what noshes your brains and spirit. Remember that other than you, nobody ever will do that for you. 

·   Attached to your principles:  Doing this is a Herculean task because many among us do not know what we stand for. Your principles are your values and standards; and you have to always uphold them

·   Mindful of your actual persona:  You could be a hopeful or skeptical   individual; and inclined to deal with people sanguinely or suspiciously. Whatever be your attributes, you should know and realize their fallout on your surroundings.

·   Alert to your career objectives:  You should know what you seek to achieve in life. In case you trim yourself down to size of a personal brand, your aspirations and objectives will be automatically decrease, much against your desires. The idea of maintaining a brand is a sham and you should not get ensnared by it.

You will wonder about the relevance of the above to your job hunt. Don’t you want your dream job? Don’t you want to join an organization of repute with a good work culture? And lastly, are you prepared to wait endlessly to settle down in life?

If you focus on building and preserving your brand image, you will hamper your prospects as a contender for a job. Resultantly, you will lose out on your genuineness, moral fibres and principles. And you will eventually regret your inability to put in your best to uphold the ethos of the company you land up with. Hence, you should be authentic. You should be a genuine human being.