BE your OWN BRAND!!!!!!!!

books:


	• The Brand You 50 : Or : Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an 'Employee' into a Brand That Shouts ... Tom Peters Knopf, 1999 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 60 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Well Worth a Read.

"Take control of your career by standing out as your unique self" is the point of this book.

If you're going to read anything on personal branding, start with this book as Tom was the first to ever use the term "Personal Branding." His books are always worth reading despite his annoying endless upbeat optimism, foo!ish use on end!ess !!!!!!, TOO MANY CAPS, and font mania.

A short book, but not a short read, at least not if you think about what you're reading.

In Tom's words, "Everyone has a chance to stand out" -- in my and many other's words, if you don't stand out you're a commodity, and receive commodity pay and treatment.

"What is it that my product or service does that makes it different? Give yourself the traditional 15-words-or-less contest challenge. Take the time to write down your answer. And then take the time to read it. Several times."

Gee Tom, that's tough. YOU try it! But the bottom line is, ya gotta lead with something.

Tom suggests "Go back to the comparison between brand You and brand X -- the approach the corporate biggies take to creating a brand."

Now Tom also mentions that "you still have to market the bejesus out of your brand."

Now I'm in 100% agreement with Tom, as what he says applies to me, but I think he may misunderstand how most of the corporate world wants people that just "fit in" and most people just want to "fit in" and be left alone." If you just want to be left alone at work, Dilbert style, this book isn't for you -- go crawl back into your cubicle!

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What's your brand?

I love this book (and the other two Reinventing Work Series books: The Project 50 and The Professional Service Firm50).

The Brand You 50 is a tiny little book that's a very quick read. It's chunked up into really short chapters. EVERY chapter has a wealth of information.

Tom Peters brings his passion and wisdom to the concept of your own personal brand. Each of us really should have our own brand. None of his ideas are hard to understand. Many require courage. Most take a real investment of your self. Isn't this what we want though? Don't we want to be / deserve to be / the very best we can be?!?

Best of the Book: Chapter 4 which includes four very practical Brand You assessment tools. I personally love the practical stuff. Give me a theory and I'm happy. Help me understand how to apply it and I'm thrilled. Let me help someone else apply it and I'm ecstastic!

Pick up a copy of The Brand You 50 today! Order it and have it sent right to you or go to your local bookseller and buy a copy. I'm a big fan of the library but you're going to want to have a copy of this one on your own bookshelf.

I hope you use The Brand You 50 to start your own Brand You. I did.

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BE your OWN BRAND!!!!!!!!

A lot of the advice within this book is sound: Be proactive. Sell yourself. Define yourself. Network. Take responsibility for your career success. As a junior professional, it's very important for someone like me to realise how these elements support and leverage one's actual capabilities in the workplace.

However the author seems hard pressed to develop these into 50 distinct points. It becomes repetitive, which is why I would recommend dipping into the book as opposed to reading it cover to cover.

The written style and tone becomes irritating. As other reviewers have noted, it's full of PHRASING like THIS!!!! HYPERBOLE!! INSPIRATIONAL CLICHES!! I wish instead of 5 word sentences the author had also offered more explanation and insight into the issues he raises.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Michael Goldhaber, writing in Wired, said, "If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either. In times past you could be obscure yet secure -- now that's much harder."

Again: the white collar job as now configured is doomed. Soon. ("Downsizing" in the nineties will look like small change.) So what's the trick? There's only one: distinction. Or as we call it, turning yourself into a brand . . . Brand You.

A brand is nothing more than a sign of distinction. Right? Nike. Starbucks. Martha Stewart. The point (again): that's not the way we've thought about white collar workers--ourselves--over the past century. The "bureaucrat" on the finance staff is de facto faceless, plugging away, passing papers.

But now, in our view, she is born again, transformed from bureaucrat to the new star. She works in a professional service firm and works on projects that she'll be able to brag about years from now.

I call her/him the New American Professional, CEO of Me Inc. (even if Me Inc. is currently on someone's payroll) and, of course, of Brand You.

Step #1 in the model was the organization . . .a department turned into PSF 1.0. Step #2 is the individual . . .reborn as Brand You.

In 50 essential points, Tom Peters shows how to be committed to your craft, choose the right projects, how to improve networking, why you need to think fun is cool, and why it's important to piss some people off. He will enable you to turn yourself into an important and distinctive commodity. In short, he will show you how to turn yourself into . . . Brand You.

See also the other 50List titles in the Reinventing Work series by Tom Peters -- The Project50 and The Professional Service Firm50 -- for additional information on how to make an impact in the professional world.

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