“Dissolve Your Identity” Part 3: The Personal Brand Myth

“Never sell yourself, only prostitutes do. Just be yourself.” - Anonymous UCLA professor

In a recent episode of animated comedy series South Park’s 26th season, the idea of the personal brand was parodied. The dividing line between hyperbole and accuracy, however, is frightening because of the lengths some people will go in order to fit into an image that reflects their personal brand. The personal brand is often criticized for turning an individual into nothing more than a product, and while this is problematic on its own, it ends up transforming your identity and becomes difficult for not just you, but others to separate the brand from the person.

Prior to social media, this was something that celebrities dealt with when they became victims of their own success. There are some places such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines where people have a longstanding strategy to begin cultivating an image through specific roles that they take in the entertainment industry before transitioning to politics. One such example was former Philippine president Joseph Estrada, who was elected in a popular vote partially because of the image he had portrayed as being akin to a Robin Hood-like character due to his heroic and romantic roles in his filmography, and was the platform he chose to run with for his campaign. As history shows, he failed to live up to this image, and was removed from power several years into his term, though not for lack of trying. 

In the professional world and our personal lives, we are constantly creating images of ourselves for others, whether we realize it or not. In the nonprofit and social enterprise world, this is especially true because of the loaded ideas people have for better or for worse with their understanding (or lack thereof) of how these niches work. Part of creating a personal brand involves creating a personal mythology, especially to address people who have little to no understanding of what your work entails, particularly in development, nonprofit, and social enterprise. For example, certain buzzwords and jargon may resonate with someone familiar with them due to how often they are used in a CV or LinkedIn profile, which makes more sense to them than the actual details of your job duties. These are, however, almost platitude-like in nature. 

When your personal brand is an image meant to sell something, especially to people who might not buy that idea or image until it becomes appealing to them, your motivations and mental state end up revolving around pleasing others. When you live based on others approving and validating you, you lose sight of both yourself and your potential. Another way to think of it is an old joke from comedy news site The Onion’s popular headline to the article, “Six-Day Visit to Rural African Village Completely Changes Woman’s Profile Picture”. While many people are sincere about wanting to make a difference, we can’t ignore that there are people more interested in presenting a particular image of themselves and using humanitarian-like work to convey that they are good and kind people. 

The exact opposite of this are the kinds of people who do good because not only is it a core part of who they are, but they do so regardless of any attention that they may get or whatever attention they will never get. Esteemed actor Keanu Reeves, for example, has a reputation of riding public transportation and making anonymous donations, or giving up his seat for the elderly and the disabled instead of living a lavish life of excess as many might expect of a wealthy Hollywood celebrity. By focusing not on what we look like or trying to impress others, we convey a specific kind of message that is the most powerful one: sincerity and authenticity. To call yourself sincere and authentic is to invite scrutiny when people think self-aggrandizing yourself is a good indicator that you are the exact opposite of what you claim to be, much like a liar tries to insist that he is an honest person, or a couch potato insists she’s not addicted to television and Netflix. 

When you are focused on creating an image of yourself, your quality of work suffers not because you are lazier, but because you are self-focused instead of process, people, and principle-focused. The most successful people in philanthropic endeavors are people who are true believers of what they do rather than who they are. In other words: if your goal is to raise $20,000 for bicycles for children in Sri Lanka to be able to bike to school instead of walking a minimum of 5 kilometers each way every morning and afternoon, the material you release will not be about your efforts, but your appeal for all of us to participate in improving other people’s lives, making it a shared dream and responsibility instead of a vanity project. 

Here’s this week’s question: if people looked solely at the quality of work you have done and would never know it was you or give you any recognition for it, would you feel any pride, regardless of how highly praised or heavily criticized your work was?