Michael Jackson, Personal Branding & Daniel Vasella

MJ is no more, long live brand MJ.

Even before the Tweets had quietened, there were blogs about MJ’s childhood, his Moonwalk, his music and his life, and the brand he chose to live.

There! While you were not looking, I slipped in that weasel word, “ brand” just to check if you recoiled with surprise;-)!

Call me old-fashioned, but just how does a human being become a brand?

Apparently, there is a thriving business around a concept called Personal Branding.

Is this just one more way of adding zing to a jaded word thus drawing attention to (and creating revenue for) the author? Or is there something valuable in this idea?

As I start digging into the history of that word, I discover conflicting data.

Dan Schwabel, the resident guru on the subject, describes Personal Branding as “how we market ourselves to others.” Then, he pulls back a bit later and explains that it is not really marketing as we understand it. He explains the difference between image management and personal branding thus: “Image management is how to shape perceptions by changing who you are on the outside. In this way, you are deceiving, while pleasing others. Personal Branding is how we market ourselves to others by revealing who we are on the inside. In today’s world, tricking people doesn’t work in the long-term.”

The Chartered Institute of Marketing, apparently the world’s largest organisation for marketing professionals (also one with one of the most forgettable logos in the business; they lose marks in self-referentiality, don’t you agree?) defines marketing as, “The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.”

Inherently, marketing is about fulfilling someone else’s requirements…so how the hell can you market yourself if you are true to what you are on the inside?

In fact, this definition of Personal Branding exposes the lingering divide between the old-fashioned definition of a brand and the emerging truth about brands in the 21st century.

The old-fashioned view of a brand is about ‘positioning’ and ‘making it competitive’ vis-a-vis others, while the emerging truth about a brand is very simple: it is based on an idea that stays true to itself.

Half-truths cause more harm to brands: it’s like Ferrari CEO asserting in the Paris Motor Show that his cars produce fewer emissions than Priuses. Which is true on an absolute scale (emission from total number of Ferraris compared to total number of Priuses), but a lie on a per-car comparison.

Whether you are a looking at a brand in a business sphere or a human being in a personal sphere, both need just two simple words to be themselves, “Be honest.”

I believe those two words end the contradiction far better than the twin commandments of “market yourself to others” and “market yourself by revealing who you are from the inside.”

Unlike Schwabel, here’s someone who doesn’t misuse the word brand.  He seems to have internalised a far simpler meaning of a Personal Brand…and its relationship to a corporate brand. His name is Daniel Vasella.  As Chairman & CEO, Novartis, here’s what he said:

“I truly believe that my ability to keep shareholder faith in our company depends in the end not on whether I make the quarter but on who I am, what my guiding principles in life are, and my behaviour.  What counts is who you are personally.”

Moral of the story? MJ made music like no other, and the music may be a brand of music, but MJ was no brand. MJ was a human being like any of us.

Of course, if you don’t buy the argument, feel free…to be yourself.  And write to me.