Your 'Personal Brand'

Do you know what a "personal brand" is? Hint: It doesn't involve a "Golden Palace" tattoo on any visible parts of your body. Rather, your "personal brand" is a combination of professional, communications and self-marketing skills that enable you to stand out in an IT crowd. Over at CIO Update, there's a good piece on the importance of your personal brand and how to develop it. It's by Rajesh Setty, chairman of CIGNEX Technologies. Setty says personal branding:

...requires more than communication skills. You need to be working on something that is remarkable or be remarkable yourself. A large majority of IT professionals ... are typically victims of commoditization. While you have a lot of company in the commodity crowd, your value erodes. People don't pay top dollars for skills that are available in plenty.

There's a lot more to personal branding, which is no overnight project. Indeed, Setty's guest column is but the first part of his exploration of this valuable career skill and strategy. It's a must-read for any IT pro who wants to break out of the commodity box.