A personal brand is a mind impression someone gets when they see or hear you or your name. That impression is set by all of the input received by that person regarding you. Throughout your life, you build your personal brand by all things you do and say as well as things other say about you. In cases where people have truly grown to know you, your brand is well defined by consistent actions over time. In cases where relationships are more distant or casual, your brand is defined by perception and small points of reality. And in cases where your brand is established in people who have never actually had direct interactions with you, you brand is set by others impressions rather than by any reality. So, it is clearly possible to have multiple brands by which others see you – some strong and rooted in facts, and some weak and rooted in conjecture and perception. But in all cases, each person believes the brand impression they have is real.
The scary thing about personal brands is that they are difficult if not impossible to manage. If you were able to see a list of what everyone that hears or see your name thinks is your brand, you would probably be mortified and start a campaign to “fix” the misconceptions. In todays’ digital world the number of misconceptions that can be generated far exceeds those generated by those that truly know you, and as such it is possible for the majority to carry an improper brand impression of you on a day-to-day basis. Just think about how many times over the past two years you have developed a brand impression of people in the news – people you have never meet and yet because of what was reported, you yourself stamped a brand on them. This is not good or bad and certainly not something you can fix. It is however something you can consciously manage by taking the time to really know people and check facts before jumping to conclusions and by challenging others to support perceptions with reality.
