The best of 2016 in Personal Branding

Today we leave behind 2016 And it's time for balance. The staff branding follows their momentum in Spain and LATAM, but it's still in the growth phase and with big prospects, especially in its application in the company (executive branding, employee advocacy…).

Below I detail the 15 articles that have made me more deeper (order is not relevant), four recommended books, an essential event and also the 10 most read posts in this blog.

15 essential readings in the key of personal brand

1. Your employees are your culture. Branzai. Ivan Diaz. An extraordinary plea about the strength of the human component in brand culture. Ivan holds (and I share) that the Culture of your Brand is the Culture of your employees. And not the other way around. And it concludes with a masterful reflection: “people are everything and everything is people”.

2. Your story is your brand. Neus Arqués. Neus' readings do not leave indifferent, and less so if it presents us with a dilemma… Do you want your stories to heal or hurt? And for this he gives us a splendid video about an anecdote in the story of Francine Cristophe that gives us back the faith in the human being. More than recommended, reading and viewing the video (Notice, the video can tear you some tears of happiness).

3. It's not just YOUR dream. DoctorBrand. Enrique Rueda. My weakness for the story can me. And few like the great Henry (literally and metaphorically) narrate with Victorian elegance an everyday fact that leads to a lesson in branding, and in this case of personal branding. If your dream does not match that of your customers, no brand, company only.
4. Do you want to know how to leave a personal brand? Read biographys s. Andres Perez-Ortega. Andrés, the most prolific author in personal branding (two posts a week) hits the nail on the head with this insight: a brand, a footprint, it only exists if there is someone in whom to leave it. Nothing could be further from the truth. And as an example, suggests reading biographies to see how exemplary characters knew how to leave that mark. The truth is that I would have placed a list of 10 Andrés's essential posts in 2016, but there is good material from other authors that is worth analyzing.
5. The cry of our identity. Jordi Collell. It is difficult to stay with a single post from my partner in Soymimarca, but this one left me mark. Agrees with Andres on one approach: the imprint is left on people. And so he says.: “The management of our personal brand begins with the awareness that we are with other people in a world that we can change because we have a mission to fulfill, a vocation, that makes us transcendent”.
6. Personal branding is not about gurus. Arancha Ruiz. Arancha starts this reading with a reflection on that I share that “at the blacksmith's house, wooden spoon”, referring to a guru who did not practice what she herself preached. But in addition to this story, the post contains a TED talk by the same author of obligatory vision and review.
7. Professional maturity, the best time to develop personal brand. Alicia Linares. Again a story, a hopeful text with a moral of “it's never too late” and with high-value tips on four stocks to invest in your SELVES, Inc.
8. The network, people and personal branding. Eva Collado Durán. If anyone has understood the potential of the network as a connection platform, engagement and personal brand transmission vehicle, that's Eve. The way you use the network is the same as in real life, and that's their brand.. After the publication of “Brand is you” In 2015, starts this post with a sentence that is not by logic less shocking: “If you want to grow and advance in this medium, you can never forget, not a single second, that networks are inhabited by PEOPLE”.
9. Personal Branding or Personal Selling? Ricard Pons. From the blog Soymimarca. A Ricard we owe the introduction of the sales factor in personnel management brand. Although some authors have insisted that this is not going to sell, Ricard takes the mask off the goodism and advocates for the medium-term results of our actions through actions Pull and not the classic and aggressive ones Push.
10. Coherence, self-delusion and acceptance. Fran Segarra. If someone needs to understand the connection between personal branding and psychology, should read Fran frequently. This post, published in Soymimarca, is a good example of that link. From a Aesop fable, arrives at the concept of cognitive dissonance, and from there to a series of valuable tips for making thoughtful decisions.
11. What importance do you give to the footprint left by your personal brand? David Barreda (from the blog Manage your Brand). I must start by saying that Enrique F. Brull is doing an excellent job with this blog, in which it has included authors such as Sylvie Fernandez, David Barrera, Henry himself, Miguel Angel Garcia, Ylse Roa, Ileana Caschi, Paco Yañez… David Barreda tells us in the post that with your eyes on your ass it is impossible to realize the opportunities you have in front of you. A little humor for a good reflection.
12. Off heel and tie! Paula Fernández-Ochoa. This post, published in Soymimarca, is brief but intense, and tries to connect the profession with passion so that our life is aligned and we get closer to utopian happiness.
13. Managing your personal brand is not the most important thing. Xavi Roca. A Xavi likes to argue with their reflections, but it always hits the nail on the head. With his book “Get out of here” (2015) breaking records, in this post the author tells us about excellence, in doing things well as a prelude to any personal branding strategy. And it's true., I usually say that without product there is no brand (and yes in reverse), so this text opens our eyes and warns about our priorities.
14. 365 personal brand days. Cristina Mulero. Interesting summary of what he has given of himself 2016 in key of personal brand seen from the perspective of Cristina, an essential voice that also this year has published the ebook “Jumping out of the fish tank“, which I do not include at the moment in the recommended books section because I have not yet read it.
15. TALK TEDX and Personal Branding: be yourself the change. Mireya Trias. Mireya is one of the best content curators I know. Their event summaries are excellent, and your vision of personal branding, especially in its online dissemination, is inspiring. In this post, inspired by the TEDxGracia talk that took place in Barcelona, Mireya details the idea of change present in all the speakers.

Four recommended books

1. The challenge. Paul Adam. Perhaps Paul's most ambitious project, this book is an excellent treatise of personal brand raised from the possibilism of the I and oriented towards the VALUE. As Paul himself says, “the challenge is yourself”, and in front of you is a path full of opportunities.
2. Your visibility plan 40+. Neus Arqués. A little gem focused on those people who think they are moving away -by age- of the labour market. The claim of the book is “If they don't see you, they don't buy you, neither hire you nor promote you”. Clearer, Water. But it's not theory. The book includes 24 practical exercises to lose the fear of being visible.
3. Personal Brand Territory. Several authors. Soymimarca. The ebook published every year by Soymimarca this year is well put together. With a foreword by Nilton Navarro (Infojobs), has the best 40 blog articles from 15 different authors. I highlight the epilogue of the Professor Vladimir Estrada “Personal Brand: Build with your own voice and express yourself from it“, a must-read gem.
4. New digital narratives. Cristina Aced. It was the first ebook I read this past year, and although it is not strictly personal branding, it affects you deeply. In fact, the subtitle of the ebook is “PR applications, journalism and personal branding”, and in each of the tools it presents details the applications for these three fields.

An essential event

1. Personal Branding Lab Day 2016. This event already arrived in June 2016 to its 2nd edition with Luxury speakers, and it has already been consolidated in the panorama of personal branding as an essential event. Sponsored by La Facultat Blanquerna Comunicació i Relaciones Internacionals (Ramon Llull University), PBLabDay is linked to the Graduate in Personal Branding which is studied in the same faculty. The edition is already underway 2017.

The 10 most read post in guillemrecolons.com

1. How they analyze your CV based on the generation of the recruiter Published in July, this article is the most read not only in 2016, but in the 10 years of life of this blog. To do so, interviewed several recruiters from different generations. Following this post, Expansion published in December 2016 an article titled Tell me the age of your interviewer and I'll tell you if you'll get the job.
2. And you? Have you discovered your superpowers already? #TEDxLleida16 Published in November, the article exposes the video of the TED talk that I gave in Lleida talking about the Superpowers as a metaphor for the strength of our values. The talk talks about the positive influence that these values can bring to organizations and corporate brands.
3. 11 keys to what you should never do to find a job. Published in February, the post summarizes the chapter of the same title of the ebook “The employment route” that launched Infojobs, and in that I share authorship with friends as Alfredo Vela, Eva Collado Durán, Maria Luisa Moreno, Antolin Romero, Iñaki Gonzalez, Helena Huerga, Elena Gomez Pozuelo, José Luis Orihuela, Alfonso Alcántara And Jaume Gurt.
4. Who to follow on social networks. Published in February, the post defines a 4 in my opinion, we owe the public to whom we owe- follow closely: who brings us value, who helps us to spread our content, nethunters and recruiters and to whom we want to return courtesy. As well as detailing the types of networks.
5. Personal Branding and Plan B: the keys to the transition Published in February, it is an itinerary based on real cases on how to deal with a change of department in a company or a change of company. In addition, includes a practice Infographic.
6. Anti-branding also works, what if we do it all the other way around? Published in April, it is about the need no longer to fling the rules but to create our own rules.. It goes beyond the need to differentiate, it's about rebelling against certain protocols that enslave us..
7. Useless words and personal branding Published in September, the post led to some controversy by questioning the use of words “Worn” in our profiles. Words like Passionate, Creative, Motivated, Strategic, Specialized, Leadership, Multinational, Responsible, Expert, International experience… Following the post, Macario Andrés made an always useful Infographic.
8. #Personal Brand and the Stupidity of Stereotypes Published in June, the post is a personal manifesto against the rigidity of stereotypes that are continually used to define models of person, and that they are usually exclusive, i.e. one cannot be a % of one and one % of another, what irrationally pigeonholes.
9. The manager's personal mark Published in September, the post is a value of the needs of managers in terms of their personal brand management / Professional, and lists a series of advantages associated with a good management model. It also announces the workshops of the collaborative project Get in Valor with Eva Collado and Fran Segarra.
10. 5 ways to make my YO known as a product Published in October, the post collects my collaboration with the Personal Branding Academy of Guudjob. It presents five original and different ways in which we can make ourselves known to our stakeholders.

Dear readers, welcome to 2017!

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Guillem Recolons

Convinced that everything leaves a mark, I help companies better connect with their stakeholders through personal branding programs (personal brand management) and employee advocacy (programs of branded internal ambassadors).

Socio of Soymimarca's Integra Personal Branding, Brand Directory of Omnia Branding, I also collaborate with Ponte en Valor, Brandergizers, MoreThanLaw, Noema Consulting and Quifer Consultores.

I participate in various programs at IESE, ISDI and EAE, among others. Collegiate advertising, Master in Marketing. Humanities Degree Student.

My advertising DNA comes from 20 years in agencies: Time/BBDO, J.W.T., Bassat Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, Altraforma and TVLowCost among others.

Want to see my TEDx talk?

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