You don’t have to be a marketer to be familiar with the term “personal brand.” These days, the phrase seems to be thrown around everywhere; at the office, on social media, even in real life with friends. It’s such an epidemic, in fact, that I know people who have two different accounts for each social media platform: a public one for their personal brand, and a private one for their authentic self.

…are you kidding me?

Do you not see what’s wrong with that picture? Real talk: if you feel like you need to have a whole separate account where you put on a face to the external world, you need to take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why that is. What do you dislike about yourself so much that you’d hide it from the world?

This is a pet peeve of mine, not even as a marketer, but as a person who’s trying hard to bring their authentic self to everything they do. I actually wrote about it once before, almost two years ago to the day. See here’s the thing: you might able to fool the world for a little while. But sooner or later, someone is going to catch on that you’re full of crap, and then no amount of “branding” is going to be able to undo the damage that follows.

Now this isn’t a knock against all personal branding. I’m actually fan, when it’s done well. But a good personal brand doesn’t mean “faking it to the world.” It means asking yourself how you want to show up each day, having a real talk discussion with yourself on whether you’re doing that or not, and then changing the things that don’t align with your vision.

You want to be seen as authentic? Great, start by getting clear on who you are, and bring that with you wherever you go.

You want to be seen as confident? Right on; start by working on your self-esteem. Practice affirmations, or join a martial art. When you love yourself, you’ll naturally project that out.

You want to be seen as a team player? Awesome, then be one. Don’t just say it publicly, and then backstab people privately every chance you get.

Wrapping it Up

Look, I’m just tired of people work so hard to ignore the fact that actions speak louder than words. The reality is that nobody cares what you say; they’re watching what you do. And if those two things are ever at odds with one another, then you’ll be adding the word “fraud” to your personal brand, no matter how hard you work at it.

Be real, be vulnerable, and most importantly, be you. As the famous poet Oscar Wilde once said, “…everyone else is already taken.”