The Dalai Lama said that the root of all suffering is thinking about yourself. In Tibetan, the word for pride is literally translated as, “Me, the King” (nga gyal). In contrast, your happiness is proportional to the thoughts you have for other people.
It seems the internet would agree with the Dalai Lama. In a recent study done by Dan Zarella, the more someone uses words like, “I”, “me” or “my” the less followers they have (see below). Another study also suggested that “you” is the most retweeted word.
http://danzarrella.com/data-shows-that-self-reference-does-not-get-followers.html
To Give is to Receive
The idea that a personal brand is an act of narcissism is entirely false. The idea that personal branding is generational or age based is also false.
Everyone has a brand, like it or not.
And finally, the idea that personal branding is simply talking about yourself a lot is completely wrong. As we saw from Dan’s research, talking about yourself actually hurts your brand.
So what exactly is Personal Branding?
Align Who You Are with What They Need
People walk around all day thinking about their problems. Right? And in order to get your next job, you are trying to find a way to provide value by solving a target company’s problems.
So step 1 with personal branding is knowing what you can do, what you are good at, what you like to do.
Step 2 is knowing what your target company needs, what your hiring manager cares about.
Step 3 is aligning the two previous steps.
Simple.
Tell them how you can help them. And if you are not sure, ask.
