A 2:1 ratio from Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding. For every two steps that grow the brand side, take one that grows the personal side.
Identity Positioning™ splits the phrase in two: the personal side holds who you are, and the brand side holds what you do. A personal brand built only from the brand side reads like a resume and gives strangers no reason to care. The Skyline Strategy keeps both sides rising together.
It rests on a simple observation: all consumed media does four things. It educates, entertains, inspires or motivates, and connects. Content that only ever educates never connects, and a skyline of one building is not a skyline.
For every two pieces of business content produced, i.e, what helps progress your business or profession, you publish one personal piece of content for a 2:1 ratio.
Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, 4.7
The moves ISIA, the engine behind the Brand Audit, draws from this part of the doctrine. Each one is something you can do this month, and the reason it matters.
This page is a summary. The subchapter itself goes further, with the reasoning, the stories behind it, and the exercise that closes it.
A 2:1 ratio from subchapter 4.7 of the Manifesto and the Identity Positioning™ essay: for every two pieces of business content, publish one personal piece.
Yes. For every two actions that help your business or career, take one for yourself and your personal interests: a hobby, your family, your community. Speaking and other professional work count on the business side.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews on this subject, from the same library MCG consultants work from. Each one keeps the words he said it in, and links to the transcript where there is one.
Before you post, name what it is for: to educate, to entertain, or to inspire. Drop any piece you cannot name a purpose for.
“educate somebody, entertain somebody or motivate and inspire somebody”
Unrivaled Results with Mashman Ventures, “UNRIVALED: Personal Branding Training”, April 13, 2022
Identify what about you is most entertaining or memorable and feature it. Let your expertise follow.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“people are always going to pay attention to the, to what's entertaining about the person”
DoubleB Creates Podcast, “Creating An Unrivaled Personal Brand With Isaac Mashman”, December 21, 2020
Build a library of content that answers the questions people ask you for free. Send those who cannot hire you there, and keep one on one time for clients.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“this is where you go and provide value with your content”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “No Free Handouts | Friday Fire #8”, February 5, 2021
Your company has a brand. So do you, and the two should grow together. A founder's personal brand opens doors the company cannot open alone.
More executives are becoming the public face of their companies. The ones who do it well build a presence before a crisis or a stock price asks them to.
In finance, trust is the product. A personal brand is how a client decides to trust you with their money before they have ever met you.
Sharing stories from your own life is one of the best ways to build rapport. People who only hear about your profession only stay for what they can get.
There should be no doubt who you are when someone introduces you, on or offline, and no question that you are the right person to follow.
Chapter 2 of the Manifesto sets out four laws that build in order. Without familiarity there is no connection; without fame and influence, a personal brand has little reach or weight.
Engagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
