BRAND NEW START

A manual offers advice on how to market your brand.

Prolific novelist Dhar here turns to the motivational section of nonfiction in order to advocate something he calls the ADDA method of creating and maintaining a personal brand. He knows perfectly well how off-putting even the concept of a personal brand can be, particularly for people who have no connection to the world of marketing. These individuals may see personal brand management as arrogant or artificial. In what the author calls “a hangover of our education system,” they may shy away from “selling themselves,” preferring instead to let results “do the talking.” Dhar addresses several of the most widespread myths about personal branding, including that it’s all about networking and selling or, more centrally, that it’s an attempt to be someone you’re not. He insists instead that personal branding is much closer to self-awareness than it is to conceitedness, and he elaborates on this through the four sections of ADDA: “Authentic and Purpose-Driven,” “Differentiated and Playing to Your Points of Difference,” “Delivering at Moments of Truth,” and “Adapting As You and the World Around You Changes.” He acknowledges that the sheer amount of highly structured introspection necessary to recognize, shape, and extend a personal brand requires a good deal of time, but he intriguingly reminds his readers of how many moments they currently waste on less valuable exercises for strangers and employers. In a very real sense he insinuates that the time and effort needed to shape a personal brand are the most important professional investments a person can make—particularly if that individual wants to start any kind of business. Dhar’s extensive experience in writing both fiction and nonfiction distinctly pays off here. No matter how audiences may feel about the whole idea of a personal brand (the author never quite manages to make it seem authentic rather than soulless), they will find these pages effortless, entertaining reading. And many of the sentiments are universally applicable.

A lively and very approachable call to readers to manage their own brands.