You can't build a personal brand if you don't know what it is.

Equally, you must know what a personal brand isn't.

Here are 5 false beliefs about what a personal brand is:

❌ A false and puffed up image divorced from reality
While you can present an inflated picture of your skills and achievements, in the long run, the fiction will be unsustainable, and you will be exposed.

❌ Blatant self-promotion and impression management
It is important to project the right image and promote your contributions. However, if you overdo this, it will shape perception negatively

❌ A comprehensive account of your capabilities and achievements
You have to be selective in what you highlight. People may never know all your capabilities and achievements. You have to accept this.

❌ A true measure of your potential
If people do not see your true potential - it does not mean your potential is limited, just that your brand falls short.

❌ A guarantee of career success
Personal branding is one of the 9 accelerators of career success - all of which are important. Focusing only on your personal brand is unlikely to give you the career success you desire and deserve.

To build an effective Personal Brand, you have to know what it is, and what it isn't.