From humans to highlight reels: The exhausting circus of personal branding
'I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as...' Vikas Gupta's LinkedIn post was just one of many. Day after day, my feed floods with job change announcements , endless certifications deemed worthy of public knowledge, boss-praising posts, and inane 'discoveries' presented as Nobel-level insights.Social networks - from LinkedIn to every other platform under and beyond the sun - have transformed themselves from places to (re)connect with people into arenas for audience-building and self-promotion. Personal branding , and those who peddle its importance, have only exacerbated this trend.Of course, you can't entirely blame personal branding experts. They have bills to pay, and getting paid to massage egos is a temptation few can resist.Posting what you deem a professional win on LinkedIn, or a fun-filled holiday on Instagram - think about it. Is that truly your authentic self? Or is it the persona you want the world to perceive you by? 'Don't post that photo! I look horrible in that one!' is a line, or variation thereof, that you have told yourself often enough after another selfie spree?Those 'not-so-good' photos are also you. This constant presentation of your 'best self,' a flawless life curated to project an image you don't fully embody, leads others to compare themselves and feel inadequate. 'Why can't I dance like her in her Instagram reels?' 'Why can't I string up a stanza or two and pass them off as beautiful poetry?' So, honestly, how often have you had that kind of thought, feeling like an underachiever who now needs to achieve - and show it?The balance between doing something and publicising it is heavily skewed towards the latter. 'Do less, tell everyone more' seems to be the prevailing mantra. You can earn certifications and add them to your profile without having to request 'likes' from a network that's, most of the time, responding out of politeness anyway. Users/scrollers perhaps harbour a touch of jealousy, sometimes even impacting their mental wellbeing.Personal branding experts have promoted the idea of using the internet as a billboard to showcase how you want to be perceived, rather than focusing on real achievements, like, say, a boring research paper in a high-impact journal. Ultimately, beyond the facade of a glitzy personal brand, you'll be judged by your tangible contributions, not 'nuggets of wisdom' you spam your network with.When you keep talking about yourself to seek validation with 'likes' and comments to, well, build your personal brand, you're turning into an self-obsessed, empathy-less human, with no sense of community. Your actions and focus descend into an endless cycle of self-promotion. This self-absorption has created an environment where the lines between 'person' and 'brand' have become blurred.Personal branding, sold to us as more vital than necessities, has led us to mistake the fabricated self for the authentic one, fostering a distorted sense of identity and a superficial culture. I've found it difficult to convince seniors at the workplace of the importance of building a personal brand tied to the employer brand. In hindsight, I don't blame them. That tied-to-company executive voice with which they speak on LinkedIn isn't even their real voice. They just amplify their corporate voice on social media.While brands strive to humanise themselves, we're getting desperate to turn ourselves into brands, genuine human connection be damned. It's time to prioritise authenticity, real substance, and genuine connections. It's absolutely okay for your posts not to have a key takeaway. You don't have to get into that desperation act to come across as whatever you're trying to come across as.Humans, at least among you, those who are nice and civil, loosen up a bit, will you? You have nothing to lose but your pose that isn't helping anyway.The writer is a Bangalore-based marketer
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