Performance earns attention. A personal brand decides whether that attention is still yours when the season, the contract, or the playing career ends.
The Manifesto's example is the college athlete who compiles highlight reels and uses a personal brand to get scouted. Talent earns the first look, and the Manifesto is just as plain that talent alone does not make a person successful: height does not make a basketball player. What an athlete compiles, shows, and says is what scouts, sponsors, and fans come to know.
A playing career is one chapter of an athlete's personal brand, not the whole of it. The Law of Personal Branding holds that a personal brand cannot be destroyed, only forgotten, and the Manifesto's subchapter on Pivoting names the college athlete who carries the same story into nonprofit work for young people. Teams, sponsors, and contracts change. The name is the asset the athlete keeps.
The college athlete wanting to land a spot in the big leagues compiles highlight reels and uses their personal brand to get scouted for multimillion-dollar contracts fresh out of their senior year.
Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, 8.5
Most athletes who compete in public are known in one community: a school, a club, or a city. That is The Local Hero. The State Representative, known across a region with accomplishments on the public record, is the tier where the Manifesto says larger opportunities become available.
Where most stand: Tier 3, The Local HeroBuild toward: Tier 4, The State Representative
The tier measures how large a position is. How good it is, is measured by The Five Personal Brand Pillars. Read more about the six tiers.
The moves MCG starts with for athletes, grouped by pillar, in order. Each one cites the subchapter of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence it comes from.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews that applies to athletes, 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.
If you doubt that personal branding matters, look at how much people pay for a famous signature or follow a leader's name. Decide to direct yours on purpose.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“personal branding is a concept”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “Personal Branding; Fact or Myth?”, September 1, 2021
Write what you want your name to stand for in twenty, thirty, and forty years. Use it to judge the short term choices that build or erode it.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“20, 30, 40 year vision”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Fundamentals of Personal Branding”, August 19, 2020
Treat attention as an asset you are accumulating. Decide now what you will eventually point it at: a company, a product, a cause.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“social equity”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Fundamentals of Personal Branding”, August 19, 2020
Before any decision with lasting public consequences, ask whether you are willing to carry it for the rest of your career. Some marks on a reputation do not wash out.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“it follows you for the rest of your life”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Fundamentals of Personal Branding”, August 19, 2020
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | One drill or habit from training, explained. | How you recover on a rest day. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | The pre-game routine nobody sees. | A hobby that has nothing to do with your sport. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | The setback that cost you a season, and the way back. | Who first put you in the game. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Ask fans which moment of the season they remember most. | Your hometown, and the people still cheering there. |
Draw a Week
Two posts about your work, one about your life, drawn from the ideas above.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
The team's channels belong to the team. Keep a site, a contact list, and profiles of your own.
Research the makers and the history of anything you put your name to, and keep other income so you can walk away from a deal.
A personal brand cannot be destroyed, only forgotten. Keep a minimum presence through the off season, an injury, and retirement.
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Other on the intake, name your field, and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
The firm’s topic guide on the subject, with the doctrine, terms, tips, and interviews in one place: Personal Brand Strategy.
Every athlete already has a personal brand; fans, scouts, and sponsors form an impression either way. Building it on purpose is the choice, and the answer is yes. It is what an athlete carries beyond the season, the team, and the playing career.
Before it is needed. The Manifesto's college athlete compiles highlight reels before the scouts arrive, and its child who sets out to become a football star communicates that intent all through childhood, which is how parents and coaches know to help.
It continues, as long as it stays relevant. The Manifesto's subchapter on Pivoting describes the college athlete who carries the same story into nonprofit work for young people: the career becomes the building blocks of what comes next.
A large audience is fame. Whether it buys, believes, or follows you to a new platform is influence, and that is the part a creator has to build on purpose.
The work is the art. The personal brand is why people wait for the next release, share it when it arrives, and still know your name in between.
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.
Be transparent about what you want and why. Letting your intent be known creates advocates out of the people around you.
Every endorsement is an extension of your good faith and your influence. Research before you attach your name to anyone or anything.
Who you are today differs from who you were a decade ago. A pivot is not something to fear; it is an opportunity to promote something new.
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.
How MCG measures the quality of a personal brand. Five pillars, always in this order, weighted into one composite out of 100.
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.
Consultations are virtual or in person. See what each includes, and what is asked of you: Virtual or In Person.
