Page 360 - Using MIS

Guide

developinG your perSonal Brand

The Security Guide (on the previous two pages) purpose of showing erudition on your personal blog, you
discusses ways to avoid making mistakes with social media missed the point. But if Kierkegaard has something interest-
that will interfere with your ability to obtain a job. Follow ing to say about the ethics of the latest business scandal that
that guide to minimize the long-term effect of the errors affects your professional interests, many readers who share
and indiscretions of your college years. Now consider the those interests will want to know. And they will then have a
other side of that coin. Instead of attempting to minimize way to approach you on a common interest. That common
the bad, suppose we ask: How can you use social media to interest may lead to an exciting new job opportunity, or
maximize the good? maybe it will lead to a fulfilling new relationship, or maybe
Leading professionals use social media to build their it will go nowhere. You just don’t know.
personal brand. You may be too young, too inexperienced,
and not yet unique enough to have a personal brand, but,
then again, maybe not. And even if now isn’t the right time
to build a personal brand, you will need to have, build, and
maintain your personal brand at some point in the future if
you want to be a business leader.
So, what is “building a personal brand”? It’s not em-
barrassing self-promotion. It’s not self-advertising, and it’s
not a resume of your recent experience. It is, instead, the
means by which you conduct authentic relationships with
the market for your talents and abilities. That market might
be your professional colleagues, your employer, your fellow
employees, your competition, or anyone who cares about
what you care about.
As a business professional, how do you create authen-
tic relationships that are less transactional and more per-
sonal? You start by realizing that the people who consume
your services are not just bosses and colleagues, but rather
full-fledged human beings with the rich stew of complexity
that all humans have. With this idea in mind, can you use
social media to transform your relationships from being
transactional in nature to being more personal?
Such a transformation is possible but difficult. You
don’t want to share every detail of your personal life on your
professional blog; few readers will care about your vacation
in the Bahamas. However, they might want to know what
you read while lying on the beach, why you read it, and what
you learned from it—or perhaps how disappointed you
were about what you didn’t learn. But your report has to be
authentic. If you’re reading Kierkegaard or Aristotle for the
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