Over the years, I have encountered quite a few people who claim they are valuable because they are a brand. The brand Me, which can be valuable to your company simply by existing. Sometimes that may be true, but it is far from always someone you want in your organization.
No company stands or falls with a single person. Not everyone can be replaced, but neither does everyone need to be. Of course, it can also be the case that some companies collapse when key personnel leave, but in my view those companies fail because of poor organization. The right organization manages without celebrities in its ranks.
I am aware that this may sound somewhat naïve given that I have become relatively well known in our industry, but I would like to stick my neck out and say that personal brands have very little value—other than for those who want a job they will likely struggle to perform.
Everyone I have encountered who has told me that they are a brand—and they are more numerous than one might think, and many of them I had never even heard of before—has underperformed when it came time to deliver. It may be that we differ from other companies, but by and large, at our place you are what you do. If you perform well, you are good; if you cause problems, you are a problem.
It may well be that in a job interview you can gain advantages from having built a personal brand—perhaps you can negotiate a higher starting salary. Maybe you can even gain more respect than you otherwise would have, at least initially.
In the long run, assuming you do not plan to jump between employers every year for the rest of your life, coming in on an inflated high horse will be a disadvantage. In my view, that is exactly what self-promotion leads to. If you gain an advantage in the hiring process simply because you are recognized, then someone more competent has, of course, missed their chance—much like gaining an advantage because of your gender or your age.
Of course, recognition does not mean that you are bad at your job, just as little as one’s gender does (whatever that may be). But the trend of engaging in self-marketing is directly harmful in this regard, just like the trend of hiring only men as managers—or, for that matter, enforcing quotas. You create a situation where someone else might have been a better fit, and in the long run (at least in healthy companies) it becomes uncomfortable for everyone involved.
Disclaimer
I understand that I may have written things in this article that could provoke some irritation. My hope is that you can take it as an attempt to provoke thought rather than as an attack.
