I wanted to learn more about personal branding, so I read this book.
Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success by Dan Schawbel is about personal branding for the Millennial generation. Yeah, I am Generation X, so I knew going into this book that I wasn’t the target audience. The last time I read a book that focused on the Millennial generation, I gave a scathing review.
Fortunately Me 2.0 provides solid advice in a friendly conversational writing style. Because of my branding problems with Coffee Hero and this site, I wanted to take a step back and reassess things. This book helped me do that, but I fully expect this to be an ongoing process. Me 2.0 begins with a Brand Discovery process that I found very helpful. The second half covers more of how to execute that brand strategy.
Even though Me 2.0 is directly speaking to the Millennial generation, I think most of the advice can transcend generations, especially if you are currently out of work and need to re-brand yourself in a competitive job market.
One of the exercises in the book is to ask this question to friends and co-workers:
What are the top 5 personality attributes others use to describe me?
If you want to help me with branding, feel free to leave a comment answering that question. If you wish to be anonymous that is fine. For SPAM filtering reasons, anonymous comments can take longer to show up on the site.
Dan Schawbel
May 7, 2010 — 1:01 pm
Thanks for the review Michael. It means a lot!
TigerAl
May 7, 2010 — 4:47 pm
Interesting topic, Michael.
From Dan’s blog, I would say you have a couple of attributes in common:
• Resourceful
• Creative
I would add:
• Disciplined – you tend to like to push your limits
• Intellectually curious
• Adventurous – probably a function of the other attributes
MAS
May 8, 2010 — 8:01 am
@TigerAl – Thanks! BTW, I bought some truffle salt and now use it on my eggs. I *love* it! Great tip.
Joe Crawford
May 9, 2010 — 8:54 am
MAS personality traits:
* Inquisitive vs curious
* Critical / thoughtful
* Observant
* Enthusiastic
* Caffeinated* (okay that’s a cheat)
* Open-minded
MAS
May 9, 2010 — 6:46 pm
@Joe – Thanks!