Personal Branding. A Useful Friend. A Demanding Boss. By David D’Souza Build your personal brand. Do it with honesty. Do it with clarity. But also remember this. The person behind the brand must keep growing. Keep learning. Keep stumbling. Keep rising. Your brand is only a reflection. The real you is the substance. Neither should swallow the other. I have seen both happen. People talk about personal branding today as if it is oxygen. Everyone seems to be fixing it. Every consultant claims expertise. Every young MBA student I meet in GE/PIWAT interviews wants to discuss it even before they talk about the curriculum. I understand the urgency. We live in a world where you are Googled before you are greeted. That part is fine. What worries me is that very few pause to read the fine print. We jump straight to the shiny bits. Before the downsides, let me acknowledge the strengths. Personal branding does help. I spent decades in journalism. In those years your reputation came from the accuracy of your story, the quality of your reporting, and yes, sometimes the sanity of your editor. When I moved into PR and communications, I realised something else. Personal credibility can travel faster than any pitch you type out. People remember you long after they forget the presentation you struggled over. The first advantage is visibility. Without it you simply disappear in a noisy professional world. Silence is no longer seen as humility. It is just missed. Another advantage is clarity. Many young professionals have never sat with themselves long enough to answer basic questions. What are your strengths. What pulls you down. What do you want your name to remind people of. These questions can be uncomfortable, but they sharpen you. Trust is another quiet benefit. A consistent presence builds reliability. People begin to sense your worldview. They know, roughly, what to expect. Many founders I meet tell me they have read my work before meeting me. That familiarity makes the first conversation easier. You skip the unnecessary dance. A final advantage is reach. After spending nearly three decades across countries, I realised something odd. Your name can enter rooms long before you do. A clean digital trail and a few honest ideas open doors that effort alone sometimes cannot. Now for the other side. Personal branding has its own dangers. They do not arrive with a drumroll. They slip in quietly. The first danger is getting trapped in your own label. I have seen this everywhere. Media houses, PR teams, boardrooms, classrooms. Once the world decides you are the strategy person or the leadership voice, you start performing that role even when it stops feeling natural. Reinvention slows down. Curiosity begins to look suspicious. Another danger is performance. Many people build their online persona with more enthusiasm than they build their real skill set. In the name of authenticity, they overshare. Breakfast plates, hospital bracelets, jet lag updates, half-processed pain. Life starts to look like content. Transparency becomes theatre. Then there is the applause trap. A few compliments and reposts and suddenly the person stops listening. Sentences become heavier. Shoulders rise a little. Humility takes a quiet walk. Once someone starts speaking like a motivational poster, you need a crane to bring them back to earth. The internet adds its own danger. It forgets nothing. A clumsy joke, a midnight irritation typed too fast, a lazy comment. Everything returns with interest. Personal branding rewards the careful and punishes the impulsive. And then there is plain distraction. Personal branding demands time, attention and emotional energy. Young professionals sometimes spend more energy polishing their online personality than improving the work that is meant to support it. It is like decorating the shopfront before stocking the shelves. So where does that leave us. Is personal branding a blessing or a burden. As usual, the answer is somewhere in the middle. Personal branding is useful. It amplifies your voice, clarifies your purpose and occasionally surprises you by opening a door you never expected. It helps people understand your values without a long introduction. But it must never become the boss. Real work has to stay bigger than the profile describing it. Real relationships must matter more than the audience applauding them. After all these years in journalism, PR, teaching and just watching people, I have come to a fairly simple thought. Build your personal brand. Keep it clean. Keep it honest. Keep it at a pace that feels natural to you. But remember that the person behind the brand must keep moving. That movement is where your real story is. If you can hold that balance, you will have a personal brand worth respecting, not just one worth viewing.

Build your personal brand. Do it with honesty. Do it with clarity. But also remember this. The person behind the brand must keep growing. Keep learning. Keep stumbling. Keep rising. Your brand is only a reflection. The real you is the substance. Neither should swallow the other. I have seen both happen.

People talk about personal branding today as if it is oxygen. Everyone seems to be fixing it. Every consultant claims expertise. Every young MBA student I meet in GE/PIWAT interviews wants to discuss it even before they talk about the curriculum. I understand the urgency. We live in a world where you are Googled before you are greeted.

That part is fine. What worries me is that very few pause to read the fine print. We jump straight to the shiny bits.

Before the downsides, let me acknowledge the strengths. Personal branding does help. I spent decades in journalism. In those years your reputation came from the accuracy of your story, the quality of your reporting, and yes, sometimes the sanity of your editor. When I moved into PR and communications, I realised something else. Personal credibility can travel faster than any pitch you type out. People remember you long after they forget the presentation you struggled over.

The first advantage is visibility. Without it you simply disappear in a noisy professional world. Silence is no longer seen as humility. It is just missed.

Another advantage is clarity. Many young professionals have never sat with themselves long enough to answer basic questions. What are your strengths. What pulls you down. What do you want your name to remind people of. These questions can be uncomfortable, but they sharpen you.

Trust is another quiet benefit. A consistent presence builds reliability. People begin to sense your worldview. They know, roughly, what to expect. Many founders I meet tell me they have read my work before meeting me. That familiarity makes the first conversation easier. You skip the unnecessary dance.

A final advantage is reach. After spending nearly three decades across countries, I realised something odd. Your name can enter rooms long before you do. A clean digital trail and a few honest ideas open doors that effort alone sometimes cannot.

Now for the other side. Personal branding has its own dangers. They do not arrive with a drumroll. They slip in quietly.

The first danger is getting trapped in your own label. I have seen this everywhere. Media houses, PR teams, boardrooms, classrooms. Once the world decides you are the strategy person or the leadership voice, you start performing that role even when it stops feeling natural. Reinvention slows down. Curiosity begins to look suspicious.

Another danger is performance. Many people build their online persona with more enthusiasm than they build their real skill set. In the name of authenticity, they overshare. Breakfast plates, hospital bracelets, jet lag updates, half-processed pain. Life starts to look like content. Transparency becomes theatre.

Then there is the applause trap. A few compliments and reposts and suddenly the person stops listening. Sentences become heavier. Shoulders rise a little. Humility takes a quiet walk. Once someone starts speaking like a motivational poster, you need a crane to bring them back to earth.

The internet adds its own danger. It forgets nothing. A clumsy joke, a midnight irritation typed too fast, a lazy comment. Everything returns with interest. Personal branding rewards the careful and punishes the impulsive.

And then there is plain distraction. Personal branding demands time, attention and emotional energy. Young professionals sometimes spend more energy polishing their online personality than improving the work that is meant to support it. It is like decorating the shopfront before stocking the shelves.

So where does that leave us. Is personal branding a blessing or a burden.

As usual, the answer is somewhere in the middle. Personal branding is useful. It amplifies your voice, clarifies your purpose and occasionally surprises you by opening a door you never expected. It helps people understand your values without a long introduction.

But it must never become the boss. Real work has to stay bigger than the profile describing it. Real relationships must matter more than the audience applauding them.

After all these years in journalism, PR, teaching and just watching people, I have come to a fairly simple thought. Build your personal brand. Keep it clean. Keep it honest. Keep it at a pace that feels natural to you. But remember that the person behind the brand must keep moving. That movement is where your real story is.

If you can hold that balance, you will have a personal brand worth respecting, not just one worth viewing.