I want to cancel the “Personal Brand” and apparently you do, too!
In my recent article for Fast Company, I addressed a common challenge many professionals face: crafting a personal brand. Through my experience helping hundreds of professionals, I’ve come to realize that the term "personal brand" is unhelpful and even counterproductive.
Why? The term “personal brand” encourages us to commoditize ourselves. When we are trying to imagine ourselves as a sneaker or a bag of sugar, it is unnatural and restrictive.
Do This Instead
Instead, I propose a shift towards developing a “professional perspective” or “professional point of view”—something authentic, rooted in our passions, and aligned with our values.
You’ll “Build Your Personal Brand” By Not Focusing On Your “Brand”
By putting yourself out there more, and showcasing more facets of your personality, including your professional perspective, things you’re passionate about, and springing in some hobbies, people will connect with you. And yes, do sprinkle in some hobbies: there is another person obsessed with sourdough baking or video games or birding. Seriously.
You Also Hate the Term “Personal Brand”
This article sparked a lot of engagement and feedback. Many readers resonated with the idea of shedding the pressure to build a static brand for “marketing” and instead embraced posting about our evolving professional perspectives. By focusing on what genuinely excites them and sharing real-life insights, readers told me they are finding it easier to connect with their audience and build meaningful relationships.
The article’s popularity shows how ready people are to rethink outdated concepts of branding and embrace authenticity in their careers.
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Meet Kim: Kim Rittberg runs an award-winning company that helps real estate agents & business owners grow their leads, income and credibility with video and podcasts. Before that, Kim was a TV news producer for a decade and trained thousands of people to be calm, cool and collected for live TV interviews. She also launched the digital video unit for Us Weekly leading to its $100 million sale, and was a video marketing executive at Netflix & PopSugar. She ditched corporate once she found herself working in the hospital delivery room as she gave birth (seriously!) and now she is committed to helping business owners, coaches, agents & consultants find your own balanced path and build a thriving business!