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Personal Branding—Most Important Thing You Do. Full Video AdobeMAX 2023

The Futur・57 minutes read

People fall in love with personalities, not corporations, leading individuals to sanitize their content while corporations strive to appear more human, creating a paradox. Personal branding, storytelling, and authenticity are crucial in building a successful personal brand, as seen through various examples and lessons on balancing effort and avoiding harm.

Insights

Personal branding involves understanding your origin story, community, defining attributes, and identifying enemies, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and self-awareness in building a strong brand that resonates with others.
Crafting a unique personal brand involves intentional choices in style, symbols, and naming elements, as exemplified by the speaker's advice to experiment with naming elements before and after your name to create a distinct identity that fosters recognition and engagement.

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Recent questions

How can personal branding impact opportunities?
Personal branding can increase influence and attract opportunities.
What is the importance of storytelling in personal branding?
Storytelling is crucial for engaging a broader audience.
How can individuals transform their weaknesses into strengths?
Individuals can transform weaknesses into strengths through self-empowerment.
How can individuals create a unique personal brand?
Individuals can create a unique personal brand by using initials, icons, phrases, and names.
How can mentors influence personal storytelling and growth?
Mentors can shape personal storytelling and growth by imparting values and beliefs.

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Summary

00:00

"Personal Branding: Emulating Corporations, Humanizing Brands"

People fall in love with personalities, not corporations, leading to a trend where individuals try to emulate corporations by sanitizing their content.
Corporations, on the other hand, are striving to appear more human, creating a paradoxical situation.
The distinction between a nerd, geek, dork, and stalker is based on intelligence, social awkwardness, and obsession.
Personal branding is crucial, exemplified by the impact of Aaron Draplin's authenticity and charisma.
Building a personal brand involves understanding one's origin story, community, defining attributes, and the enemy.
Storytelling should encompass facts, feelings, and fun to engage a broader audience effectively.
The Ugly Company successfully turned a weakness into a strength by addressing food waste and scarcity through their product.
Personality is essential in branding, but not a guarantee of success, as illustrated by a Venn diagram of personalities people dislike.
The diagram categorizes personalities based on trying too hard, not trying hard enough, and crimes against other celebrities.
The overlap in the diagram showcases interesting insights into public perceptions of various personalities.

12:53

Balancing Personal Branding for Success

Kanye West, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Brown are discussed as celebrities who either try too hard or not enough and commit crimes against others.
The lesson learned is to strike a balance in life between trying but not too hard and avoiding hurting others.
The concept of personal branding in the 21st century is introduced as a means to become more influential and attract opportunities.
Marty Neumeier's definition of a brand as a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or organization is highlighted.
Brands are built in the hearts and minds of people, emphasizing the importance of creating a positive perception.
The idea that every interaction shapes people's opinions about you is presented, leading to the formation of your personal brand.
The difference between the old rules of brand awareness and the new rules is explained, focusing on understanding the customer's story and creating brand affinity.
Performance marketing is contrasted with long-term brand building, highlighting the importance of building brand value over short-term revenue.
Reese Witherspoon's success in leveraging her social following to create a book club and production company is discussed as an example of effective personal branding.
The importance of being self-confident, self-aware, and vulnerable in building a personal brand is emphasized, with a call to self-discovery rather than creation.

26:54

Personal growth through conflict

In EO, it's advised to share the 5% of your life that includes high highs and low lows, leaving the rest to the world.
An's self-confidence struggles stem from societal pressure due to her Swedish background and the Law of Yante.
Analie's insecurities include seeking approval and being overly emotional.
Workshops encourage participants to reveal their Shadow word, representing hidden fears or vulnerabilities.
Tom admits to being a people pleaser, leading to a transformation into a proud people pleaser.
Analie's Shadow word, attention seeker, prompts her to reflect on the lessons learned from it.
Transforming Shadow words with a Transformer word can empower individuals, like Tom becoming a proud people pleaser.
Embracing criticism and transforming it can lead to self-empowerment, as seen with Phyllis reclaiming the term "gold digger."
Crafting a concise two-word brand can simplify personal storytelling and engage others, inspired by Marvel's character creation process.
Spider-Man's origin story highlights the importance of personal growth through tragedy and conflict in storytelling, emphasizing the necessity of conflict for a compelling narrative.

40:31

"Heroes, villains, and personal branding storytelling"

Many fictional heroes have tragic backstories, such as Black Panther losing his father in a terrorist attack, Clark Kent's planet being destroyed, and Tony Stark's parents being killed.
The difference between heroes and villains often lies in how they handle trauma; heroes overcome and grow stronger, while villains remain victimized and seek revenge.
Crafting a relatable story involves tapping into adversity, making characters more authentic and engaging.
Personal storytelling can be enhanced by identifying a unique brand, like being a "loud introvert," and incorporating it into posts for increased engagement.
Mentors can shape individuals, with examples like Batman's mentor being both a teacher and an enemy, highlighting the impact of such relationships.
Understanding one's values and beliefs, shaped by mentors and experiences, can lead to powerful storytelling and personal growth.
Embracing stereotypes about one's city or background can add depth to storytelling and personal branding, as seen in examples from Los Angeles.
Villains play a crucial role in stories, often defining heroes' actions and beliefs; identifying enemies can help galvanize communities and create engaging narratives.
Style, including icons, language, and symbols, is integral to personal branding and storytelling, with examples like Da Punk's iconic wig and Steve Jobs' signature turtleneck.
Developing a personal brand involves intentional choices in style, color, and signature, which can enhance recognition and storytelling impact.

55:00

"Creating Unique Brand Identity Through Naming"

The speaker emphasizes the importance of personal branding, suggesting creating a unique identity by using initials, icons, phrases, and names to build a strong foundation. Naming elements like issues, products, and concepts is highlighted as a way to take ownership and create a distinct identity.
Practical examples are provided, such as naming super fans "the donuts," an office space "the dojo," and a software company "Adobe," encouraging the audience to experiment with naming elements before and after their own names to discover unique brand identities. The speaker also shares personal resources, including book recommendations, and invites attendees to visit their booth for further interaction.

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