When a hot piece of iron singes through the fur of a cow’s hide and then hisses as it boils off the moisture in its flesh, it leaves a permanent scar.

Putting aside for a moment the barbarism of it, the fact that the scar is permanent is OK. A cow doesn’t change. A cow is a cow until it becomes a steak or a jacket.

However, for a person, the moment a ‘personal brand’ is applied, it becomes a lie. This is because people are constantly evolving.

I am NOT suggesting that we don’t speak out about who we are and what we do.

What I am saying is that the idea of a brand carries with it an essence of static-ness. This essence is what causes conflict for many people when trying to figure out their ‘personal brand’.

People aren’t permanent and deep down we know it.

To make it easier, and to stay in integrity, what we ‘speak out’ about who we are and what we do should be free to always evolve.

Also interesting is that many people (unconsciously) reference their past when speaking out about who they are and what they do. Not only are they singeing hot iron into their own flesh, but they are doing so with the mark of who they were instead of who they are becoming.

Forget branding yourself.

Speak out about who and what you are becoming and do that differently every day.

COACHING QUESTIONS:

• What if instead of speaking out with the story of your remembered past, you spoke out with the story of your created future?
• And if you allowed that story to evolve every day, what would that story be today?