A few years ago the concept of personal branding would have seemed silly. Sure there were people who could get away with it–the Donald Trumps and Bill Gates of the world. But that was only because they had worked hard to build a business in a traditional way that gained them notoriety.
Nowadays it seems like everyone is talking about personal brands–and everyone is trying to build one.
As a recent article by Tom Peters in Fast Company puts it:
You’re branded, branded, branded, branded.
It’s time for me — and you — to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that’s true for anyone who’s interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.
Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.
It’s that simple — and that hard. And that inescapable.
Peters is probably right. But as pastors and Christians, the concept of personal branding brings up some prickly problems. Here’s just one question I’ve thought of lately:
Would Paul have participated in self-branding? Did Jesus self-brand?
I’ll argue the answer is unequivocally no. Both continually pointed to God the Father and sought to give him glory. Paul, after all, wrote this to the Corinthians:
1And I, when I came to you, brothers,a did not come proclaiming to you the testimonyb of God with lofty speech or wisdom.2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (I Corinthians 2:1-5).
The biblical admonition is to find your identity in Jesus and to count yourself as nothing. I’m guilty of falling into the trap of the personal brand (after all, my blog is named after me…). Are you? How do we reconcile the world’s continue pressure to self-brand with the Bible’s teachings? Or do we at all?
I feel like it’s my duty to try to bring up the original definition of branding. Yes, branding is often equated with advertising or promoting oneself… but that’s not what branding actually is.
“Branding” is the set of beliefs and ideas an onlooker has about the person, service, or company in question. Branding is how people see you, not how you try to make people see you (that’s advertising).
Branding is actually a word that describes the current beliefs a population holds about something/someone. So, you would be able to say that Jesus has a brand. For some people his brand is being loving, caring, and merciful… for others Jesus’ brand is being mighty, sovereign, and just… for others it is a mix of any/all other characteristics. For some, his brand is that he’s a delusion, for others his brand is that he is the truth and reality of the universe and all creation.
And there it gets tricky.
This brand is all about the perception one has of Jesus, not necessarily the truth about Jesus. The same can be said for my brand as a designer, Justin’s brand as a pastor, Nike’s brand as a shoemaker… we are all perceived in different ways, and that is our brand.
Stephanie, I agree with the technical definitions of branding, but as you know personal branding has less to do with technicality and more to do with manipulating the way the world sees you.
Though it may not be correctly applied the term personal branding is about self-promotion for self-gain. Many times this means creating an alternate or highly modified version of yourself. In fact, I’d argue that is the central draw of social media for many.
Central to all personal branding is to draw attention to yourself…is that compatible with Christianity? I’d say no. So, how does one self-brand in a way that honors God?
I’d say that looking in it in that way, self-branding has to reflect the characteristics of God in a humble way. It’s hard to be humble, I mean, even trying to be humble kind of defeats the purpose…
But branding honestly and with integrity often gives people enough room to notice that you’re different from the others out there who push for nothing other than self-gain. When people notice that difference, they note that who you are and what you do isn’t just about you. Some may start to realize it’s about God, which I think is pretty glorifying.
I don’t think you have to explicitly write about Jesus, make art about Christianity, or embroider pillowcases with bible verses to glorify God with your branding… but we should strive to have our brands reflect the character of God.
Stephanie,
You are right but those pillows won’t embroil themselves.
The question is perhaps flawed in that Christianity does not always (sadly) represent Christ. So yes it exists often idolatrously in every age of Christianity. If not in everyone of us at least in moments where our sin nature pulls us into ourselves and away from God.
Paul once said something that has long troubled me. “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives with in me.” I wrestle with this constantly. How do I live yet not live and how does Christ live in me. He is humility, power, and divinity all wrapped in human form. Paul realized this. I believe he was trying to get us to see that while we live we must do it a state of dying to the sinful self centered self. Paul was a sinner. He was not Christ. Yet he certainly lived out Christ in his life. His thoughts were different than Christ. His delivery remarkably different. His vocation and talents. All though were given in to the service of representing Christ.
So for the true Christian there should be no personal branding in and of ourselves. Yet in another sense we are to be Christ brand in our distinct humanity as we become what he has for us. Paul also said “Imitate me.” We are told to imitate our leaders assuming that they are good. We are to be the brand (object or icon) that the world can look upon to see Christ on this Earth. We more often are our own brand. We often co-opt Christ brand for our selfishness. Yet nevertheless God in his glory expects us to carry God’s brand into the Earth.
God in his love for diversity has created humanity as a hybrid of the divine image in glorified vessels of dirt. Beyond ironic. The uncreated in the image of the created. He chose to incarnated himself most fully in Christ. Yet in his offer of redemption to us he offers us the unification with the Father and all of God. He promises to recreate himself in countless different vessels. Each vessel is a brand of Christ or at least is suppose to be.
As we represent Christ more our vessels are glorified in Him. The Church Fathers saw this as being conformed to the Imago Dei (image of God) in our souls/spirit as our flesh awaited redemption and even the eventual total glorification of ourselves.
We are to be the brand of Christ in that our persons are transformed in to new creatures uniquely made of who God is and who we are to become and are becoming as we grow in relation and conformity to Christ.
Now stop asking thought provoking questions.
I agree that our personal brand is to be a reflection of who Christ is. Yet, practically speaking that’s difficult to pull off in the online forum where the goal is to draw attention to oneself.
I like what Stephanie said above about branding really being about how people perceive you, not marketing. I think the challenge for Christians is to not get wrapped up in the rat-race of trying to create an online presence by somehow altering who they are in real life. And if they do gain notoriety, it’s imperative that their brand is a reflection of Christ, not themselves and their strengths.
That is easier said than done I think.