I made an interesting acquaintance today, a co-author on Careerhub. He called after reading my recent diatribe on personal branding.
Mark Hovind is author of JobBait.com, and he's a seasoned veteran at helping senior executives manage their careers and job hunts. And as I learned today, he's gotten pretty disgusted at the hype surrounding "personal branding."
Readers of my blog know that I'm actually a fan of the principles of personal branding — snaps to Wendy Terwelp, my favorite expert in the field. But I agree with Mark that some people have over-hyped personal branding. To quote Mark, "Branding is dripping with 'get rich quick' hype." Reminding us that brand is a noun and not a verb, Fast Company Magazine said, "In a brilliant twist, the experts have bottled an end and sold it as a means."
At the pinnacle of personal branding, IMHO, is Brandego.com. Depending on where you stand on the "personal branding: hype or powerful juju?" spectrum, Brandego is either the ultimate tool or absolut overkill. (Absolut ... haha ... get it?) To be sure, Brandego can pimp you like nobody else ... but is that really a good thing?
Don't get me wrong, I firmly agree with all the principles of personal branding, and so does Mark. But the hype has exceeded the substance. I like Mark's take on things — back to basics, back to value — and I look forward to hearing more from him.