Personal Branding Terms and Doctrine.
88 personal branding terms, from the Manifesto, Identity Positioning™, and the way MCG works, each defined in a few lines and linked to the page that covers it.
One Vocabulary, Defined Once.
Personal branding borrows words from marketing, public relations, and psychology, and uses many of them loosely. This glossary fixes the meaning of each term the way MCG uses it: the language of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, the Identity Positioning™ methodology, the Brand Audit, and an engagement with the firm.
Every entry is short enough to quote. Where a term is the Manifesto's own, the entry names the subchapter it comes from and links to the page in the Wiki that sets it out in full, from The Hierarchy of Personal Branding to The Five Personal Brand Pillars. For the terms buyers meet when they hire an agency, the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) goes further.
Every Term, A to Z.
A
- Aggressive Patience
Full intensity applied on a long timeline. A personal brand is a lifelong commitment that cannot be won with one swing, and MCG structures its engagements accordingly.
See also Done With You
- Answer Engine Optimization
AEO: making accurate information about a person easy for AI assistants to find, understand, and cite when someone asks who they are. Answer engines draw on what is published, consistent, and cited by others, which makes AEO the newest part of Omnipresence.
AEO, in the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) See also Omnipresence
- Audience Fatigue
What happens when a personal brand promotes too many things, repeats the same material too often, or lets its network run dry. Offering too many endorsements dilutes a personal brand's value.
See also Endorsement
B
- Band
One of the five ranges a composite falls into: Unstructured (0 to 39), Exposed (40 to 59), Competent (60 to 74), Consolidated (75 to 89), and Institutional (90 to 100). The band measures quality; the tier on the Hierarchy measures scale.
What each band means See also Composite, The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
- The Bespoke Personal Brand Consultation and Strategy
MCG's consultation, virtual or in person. It begins with a pre-consultation questionnaire and a Brand Audit completed with the consultant, and ends with a custom-tailored strategy document.
Virtual or in person See also Strategy Document, Consultant Access
- Branding and Marketing
Two different jobs, in the Manifesto's definition: branding is what people know you as, whereas marketing is how you get more people to know about you.
See also Marketing Message
C
- The Cap Rule
If Reputational Health & Risks falls below a threshold, the composite cannot be reported above 59, and the report shows what the other four pillars would have returned.
See also Reputational Health & Risks
- Company Brand
The brand a business is given when it launches: its traits, its colors, and what it offers. A person is never given a personal brand, because one already exists, so the Manifesto treats the two as separate entities to be built side by side.
- Compiling Wins
Building a record that speaks for you, so each future success is easier to obtain. Once appearances and results exist, they do the convincing you once had to do yourself.
Compiling Wins See also Media Kit
- Composite
The Brand Audit's single score out of 100. Each answer is worth 0 to 4 points, dimensions roll into pillars, and the pillars combine at their published weights. The score is calculated by a fixed, weighted model, the same way for everyone.
The Brand Audit See also Band, Dimension
- Consultant Access
Support between sessions to refine the strategy and keep momentum: up to three contacts a week, answered within 24 hours or one business day, for 30 days after a virtual consultation or 90 days after one in person.
- Controversy With Purpose
Taking on a genuine flaw in your field: educating your audience on what to look out for, justifying why it is wrong, and proving what to do instead. Controversy with no intent is rage bait, and it does nothing for a personal brand.
- Credibility
The second pillar, weighted 25 percent: trust that your claims are accurate and your word holds, built through third-party edification rather than follower counts.
Building Credibility See also Edification, Trust
- Crisis
A negative spotlight on something that happened to you, something you did, or someone you are associated with. The Manifesto sets out five ways people respond, and favors addressing it head on, followed by real change.
Dealing With Crises See also Defamation
D
- Defamation
The intentional spreading of rumors, words, and other things about a person or business that results in harm such as financial losses, lost opportunities, and unjust damage to a reputation. Its exact definition varies by court system and country, and open criticism is not the same thing.
See also Crisis
- Delegation
Others producing, posting, and reporting for a personal brand under its owner's direction, in their voice, with their judgment on what goes out. The Manifesto expects more of it as a brand grows; a brand run wholly by someone else, where its owner no longer decides or recognizes what is said in their name, stops being theirs.
Your team, in an engagement See also Personal Brand Team, Done With You
- Deliverables
The four things people look for in what they consume, in the Manifesto: to be educated, entertained, motivated or inspired, and connected to the creator. They are what a personal brand delivers, and the Skyline Strategy asks for all four over time.
See also The Skyline Strategy
- Dimension
One of the 25 specific things the Brand Audit measures, five under each pillar. Each question maps to one dimension.
See also Composite
- Distribution
How work reaches the people it is for. Distribution partners carry it to the platforms and stores an audience already uses, and lend it authority by association.
- Done For You
The model in which a provider does the work on the client's behalf. MCG does not offer it, with one exception: Mashman Publishing produces and publishes a client's book on their behalf.
Done For You, in the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) See also Done With You, Delegation
- Done With You
The engagement model in which the client does the work with a consultant behind every decision: the firm brings the strategy, the audit, the guidance, and the accountability, and the client brings the execution. Mashman Consulting Group is a Done With You consultancy.
How a Consultation Works See also Done For You, Delegation
E
- Earned Media
Coverage a journalist, editor, producer, or host chose to give: an article, an interview, a podcast invitation, a speaking slot. It is distinct from paid placement and from newswire distribution, which can support the work but are not features.
Earned media, in the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) See also Pay-to-Win Press, Newswire Distribution
- Edification
The endorsement of an individual: supportive statements about another person's accomplishments, character, and overall being. The Manifesto calls it an exchange of influence, credibility by association as opposed to guilt by association.
Giving Endorsements See also Influence, Credibility
- The Elevator Pitch
How you would describe yourself in less than a minute. The Manifesto's version sells you as someone to get to know or follow, not your products or services, and it opens with something personal.
The Elevator Pitch See also Marketing Message, Lasting Impression of Increase
- Endorsement
Attaching your name to a product, a review, or another person. Every endorsement is an extension of your good faith and your influence, so research comes first, and a withdrawn endorsement needs its reasons.
Giving Endorsements See also Edification, Audience Fatigue
F
- Fame
The result of accumulated attention, in the Manifesto's definition. It is relative: a person can be famous to everyone or famous only inside one industry. On its own, it is a measure of vanity.
Fame and Influence See also Influence, The Law of Fame and Influence
- The Five Personal Brand Pillars
How MCG measures the quality of a personal brand: Omnipresence, Credibility, Seamless Branding, Reputational Health & Risks, and Marketability, always in that order. They are weighted 25, 25, 20, 15, and 15 percent into one composite out of 100.
The Five Personal Brand Pillars See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, Composite
- FORM
The Manifesto's four questions for getting to know someone: Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Motivation. The answers help with rapport, with thoughtful gifts, and with knowing how to serve the other person.
Networking and Introductions See also Rapport
- The 4 Laws of Personal Branding
The four laws of Chapter 2 that explain why personal branding works at all: Familiarity, Connection, Fame and Influence, and Personal Branding. They build in order, and each depends on the one before it.
- The 4 Pillar Questions
The four questions the firm asks before any strategy, in this order: why do you want to build your personal brand, what do you want to be known for, who are you, and how do you get to where you want to be.
- Friends and Family
Tier 2 of the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Known only within an existing personal circle, which rarely exceeds 100 people.
See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
H
- The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
Six tiers that measure the scale of a personal brand, from Unconscious Incompetent to The International Icon. Everyone starts at the bottom, and each tier above asks for more effort, time, and resources than the one before it.
The six tiers, explained See also The Five Personal Brand Pillars
I
- Identity Positioner™
An AI personal brand consultant trained on MCG's resources, the Identity Positioning™ methodology, and Isaac Mashman's body of work. In development, 2027, with access limited to premier clients. It is a separate product from the Brand Audit.
- Identity Positioning™
MCG's proprietary personal brand strategy and philosophy, developed by Isaac Mashman with Eric Chow. It merges the personal identity of the individual with their professional career, so a person crafts public authority, demonstrates competence, and develops a loyal following.
Identity Positioning™ See also The Identity Positioning™ Essay, The Personal Side and the Brand Side
- The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit
MCG's free, scored diagnostic, taken on identitypositioning.com. It measures a personal brand across The Five Personal Brand Pillars and 25 dimensions, and returns a composite out of 100, a band, a risk register, and three priority moves.
The Brand Audit, the firm's view See also Composite, Band
- The Identity Positioning™ Essay
Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding, the paper Isaac Mashman published in 2024 as a standalone, academically published thought piece. It is included in full in the Second Edition of the Manifesto, before Chapter 8.
Where the personal meets the brand See also Identity Positioning™, The Skyline Strategy
- Identity Quest™
MCG's free, browser-based personal branding simulator. The player builds a personal brand week by week on the road to Brand City, whose six towers are the six tiers of the Hierarchy.
- Influence
Trust, and the ability to get someone to take action or change the way they think. It is established with action and service, and validated through edification.
Fame and Influence See also Fame, Edification
- The International Icon
Tier 6 of the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Global fame and influence, largely one-directional: known by millions the person does not know in return. Out of every 1,000,000 people, maybe 1 is on this level.
See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
L
- Lasting Impression of Increase
When the person you engage with leaves the interaction better or more knowledgeable than they were going into it, in the Manifesto's definition. It is the goal of every elevator pitch.
See also The Elevator Pitch
- The Law of Connection
The second law: shared commonality gives people a genuine reason to care. The more you connect emotionally with someone, the deeper the resonance.
See also The 4 Laws of Personal Branding, Rapport
- The Law of Fame and Influence
The third law: fame, the reach, and influence, the emotional sway, accelerate whatever is being pursued when they work together. Either one alone is limited.
- The Law of Familiarity
The first law: familiarity, built through repeated exposure to the senses, naturally produces trust. It is how strangers become acquaintances, and acquaintances become supporters.
See also The 4 Laws of Personal Branding
- The Law of Personal Branding
The fourth law, in the Manifesto's words: “A personal brand can only be created with the introduction of new life. A personal brand cannot be destroyed, regardless of the death of the person it belongs to. A personal brand can, however, be forgotten.”
See also The 4 Laws of Personal Branding
- Leaning Into Your Name
Treating your own name as an asset: the domain, and the same handle on every relevant platform. A common name calls for a distinguishing mark, such as a middle initial used everywhere.
- The Leaning Tower
The Manifesto's warning that no matter how far a personal brand reaches, it is always a single misstep away from crashing down. The size of a reputation is not a shield.
- Leverage
What another person could use against a growing name: a recording from years ago, an unpaid debt, a dissatisfied client, or a lifestyle that overstates reality. The Manifesto frames knowing who holds it as proactive, not paranoid.
- The Local Hero
Tier 3 of the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Recognized within a community through deliberate, conscious effort: 500 or more people.
See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
M
- Marketability
The fifth pillar, weighted 15 percent: whether attention converts. It asks for a clear offer, and somewhere for interest to go.
See also The Five Personal Brand Pillars
- Marketing Message
The phrase front and center in your elevator pitch, your biographies, and your profiles: a personal hook with a professional punchline. It is adjusted for length, never for substance.
The Elevator Pitch See also Seamless Branding, Branding and Marketing
- The Mask and the Mirror
The two ways to build a personal brand: behind a mask that covers the true self, or by displaying the person you actually see in the mirror. The Manifesto closes on the mirror.
- MCG Certified Partner
A design agency, designer, or specialist MCG works with and invites into its ecosystem, with the confidence to refer its clients to them. Certification is by invitation only, and every partner adheres to the MCG Code of Ethics.
Certified Partners See also The MCG Code of Ethics
- The MCG Code of Ethics
The five principles MCG, its consultants, and its Certified Partners are held to. The first: “Perfection isn't necessary, honest communication is.”
- Media Kit
A ready package that tells journalists, hosts, and event organizers who someone is: biographies, approved photographs, topics, and past coverage. The Manifesto's advice is to keep it current, so a new biography and new photos go in as soon as they exist.
MCG's Press Kit See also Compiling Wins
N
- The National Personality
Tier 5 of the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Recognizable nationally, and represented by agents, teams, and professional support. Out of every 100,000 people, maybe 1 is on this level.
See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
- Newswire Distribution
Paid distribution of a press release through a wire service. It is a legitimate support to organic effort and never a substitute for it: coverage produced by a wire pickup is not an editorial decision.
See also Press Release, Earned Media
O
- Omnipresence
The first of The Five Personal Brand Pillars, weighted 25 percent: visible and discoverable, whenever and wherever possible. Today that includes search results and AI answers.
Online, offline, and in AI answers See also Answer Engine Optimization
P
- Pay-to-Win Press
Coverage, a feature, or an award bought and presented as earned. The Manifesto calls pay-to-win tactics representative of the fact you are not good enough, and the Brand Audit flags paid placement presented as earned coverage.
Pay-to-play media, in the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) See also Earned Media, Risk Register
- Personal Brand
You: who you are, what people know you for, and the distinctive combination of characteristics and personality traits that only you possess. Everyone has one from birth, whether or not anyone directs it.
The definition, in full See also Personal Branding, Reputation
- Personal Brand Consultant
A professional who measures a personal brand, writes the strategy for it, and holds its owner to that strategy. The Manifesto puts the choice plainly: hire a personal brand consultant, or come up with a firm strategy of your own.
How a Consultation Works See also Done With You
- Personal Brand Team
The contractors a growing personal brand brings on, such as an assistant, an agent, copywriters, designers, photographers, and videographers. They carry the production; the voice, the face, and the decisions stay the owner's.
Your team, in an engagement See also Delegation
- Personal Branding
The practice of consciously directing a personal brand: determining what you want to be seen as in the public's eye, and making decisions that contribute positively to your overall reputation. It is continual work, not a campaign.
What Is Personal Branding? See also Personal Brand
- The Personal Side and the Brand Side
The two halves of the phrase personal brand, as the Identity Positioning™ essay splits it. The personal side holds characteristics, interests, hobbies, passions, and life experiences; the brand side holds accomplishments, credentials, career, testimonials, and results. Most people build only the brand side.
- Pivoting
Changing what you promote as who you are changes. The Manifesto treats a pivot as an opportunity to promote something new, and an audience connected to the person, not the profession, stays through it.
- The Power of 3
Introduce yourself to three strangers every day for a year, starting with 90 days to build the habit. Thirty days produces 90 new connections and a full year produces 1,095, before any compounding.
The Power of 3 See also FORM
- Press Release
A written announcement of news, issued to journalists and the public. MCG publishes its releases in its newsroom.
News and Releases See also Newswire Distribution
- Priority Moves
The three highest-priority moves a Brand Audit returns, each traced to the exact subchapter of the Manifesto that explains it.
- Public Figure
A person whose name is known beyond their own circle. The Manifesto describes the label as one that becomes justifiable with growth and achievement, and to be a public figure is to be watched.
Who Has Leverage Over You? See also Leverage
- Public Relations
The professional management of a reputation, usually through the press. MCG is not a public relations firm, though every personal brand has a reputation that public relations can protect.
- Purchased Followers
Accounts bought to inflate an audience. In the Manifesto's words, bots are fake accounts that do little more than contribute to your follower count, and the Brand Audit raises a risk flag for them.
Credibility cannot be bought See also Risk Register, Vanity Metrics
R
- Rapid 25 and Unrivaled 50
The Brand Audit's two depths, both free. The Rapid 25 is 25 questions, about seven minutes, with no code, always. The Unrivaled 50 is 50 questions, about fifteen minutes, available by referral code while it is in limited release; a code is not guaranteed.
- Rapport
A harmonious relationship, in the Manifesto's definition: the path from stranger to acquaintance, to friend, and beyond. It is built through shared interests, time spent together, introductions from trusted sources, and the media.
The Art of Storytelling See also The Personal Side and the Brand Side
- Reputation
The consensus about you, relative to an audience. It is one part of a personal brand, never the definition of it: a surgeon can have a fine reputation with patients and none at all outside the hospital.
- Reputational Health & Risks
The fourth pillar, weighted 15 percent, and the foundation under everything else: a position is always one misstep from falling. When it falls below a threshold, the cap rule holds the whole composite down.
The Leaning Tower See also The Cap Rule, Risk Register
- Risk Register
The risk flags in a Brand Audit report. A flag is raised by a specific answer, not by a low score, and it is not a deduction: it marks what must be addressed before anything else is built. Purchased followers and paid placement presented as earned coverage are two examples.
See also Purchased Followers, Pay-to-Win Press
S
- Seamless Branding
The third pillar, weighted 20 percent: the consistent and maintained portrayal of one person, on and offline. There should be no doubt who you are when someone introduces you.
Seamless Branding See also Marketing Message
- Self-Promotion
A tactic, and an overused one. Personal branding is the conscious direction of the whole: what you say, what you show, who vouches for you, and what you decline to do.
- Self-Reported Score
The Brand Audit scores the answers given and does not verify them. A self-reported score is an honest diagnostic and a poor citation, which is why an MCG consultant checks a result against the public record.
- The Skyline Strategy
A 2:1 ratio from the Identity Positioning™ essay: for every two pieces of business content or action, one piece of personal content or action. It keeps the brand side and the personal side rising together.
The Skyline Strategy See also The Personal Side and the Brand Side, Deliverables
- Social Proof
Evidence that other people trust, follow, or vouch for someone, which a stranger reads as a reason to trust them too. It only counts when it is real: in the Manifesto's words, thinking that you can buy your way into a positive reputation is a fool's way of thinking.
Social proof, in the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) See also Purchased Followers
- The State Representative
Tier 4 of the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. A well-established authority known within a region: 100,000 or more people.
See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
- Strategy Document
A client's written roadmap, rooted in Identity Positioning™, with the Brand Audit built in and designed for completion at the client's own pace.
See also The Bespoke Personal Brand Consultation and Strategy
T
- Trust
The understanding that a person has good intentions, will follow through, and makes claims that are accurate. Follower counts only get you so far; what matters more is how much the people who follow you trust you.
Building Credibility See also Credibility
U
- Unconscious Incompetent
Tier 1 of the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Unaware they have a personal brand at all, and not yet directing it: they do not know what they do not know.
See also The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
- UnrivaledMCG
MCG's training platform for consultants and clients, holding guided programs in the Identity Positioning™ methodology and an evergreen Resource Library. Every MCG client receives access to the Resource Library.
V
- Vanity Metrics
Numbers that look impressive and say little on their own, such as a follower count. The Manifesto warns against letting them drive a rash purchase that artificially bolsters credibility.
Vanity metrics, in the PBA Glossary (opens in a new tab) See also Purchased Followers
- Vanity, Mission, and Money
The three reasons people build a personal brand, in the Manifesto's account. Most people are driven by a combination of them, and the mix can change over time without undermining the brand.
The ROI of Personal Branding See also The 4 Pillar Questions
W
- The Workplace Audit
MCG's audit for companies: how employees use their personal brands and, through them, represent their company. It asks 50 questions on the same 25 dimensions and five weighted pillars as the Brand Audit, and leadership sees trends across participants, never individual answers.
For Companies See also The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit
No term matches that. Try a shorter word, or browse the Doctrine Library.
The Terms, by Category.
10 Terms
Personal Branding Basics
What a personal brand is, and what it is not.
22 Terms
The Doctrine
The named methods of the Manifesto, from the Hierarchy to the Power of 3.
- Deliverables
- The Elevator Pitch
- FORM
- The 4 Laws of Personal Branding
- The 4 Pillar Questions
- Friends and Family
- The Hierarchy of Personal Branding
- The International Icon
- Lasting Impression of Increase
- The Law of Connection
- The Law of Fame and Influence
- The Law of Familiarity
- The Law of Personal Branding
- The Local Hero
- The Mask and the Mirror
- The National Personality
- Pivoting
- The Power of 3
- The Skyline Strategy
- The State Representative
- Unconscious Incompetent
- Vanity, Mission, and Money
20 Terms
Identity Positioning™ and the Brand Audit
The methodology, The Five Personal Brand Pillars, and how a score is read.
- Band
- The Cap Rule
- Composite
- Credibility
- Dimension
- The Five Personal Brand Pillars
- Identity Positioner™
- Identity Positioning™
- The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit
- The Identity Positioning™ Essay
- Identity Quest™
- Marketability
- Omnipresence
- The Personal Side and the Brand Side
- Priority Moves
- Rapid 25 and Unrivaled 50
- Reputational Health & Risks
- Risk Register
- Seamless Branding
- Self-Reported Score
13 Terms
Reputation and Credibility
How trust is built, protected, and lost.
10 Terms
Media and Visibility
Coverage, messages, and how work reaches people.
13 Terms
Working With a Consultant
How an MCG engagement works, and the words it uses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Personal Branding Terms and Doctrine?
A reference of the terms used across the MCG Wiki, the Manifesto, and an MCG engagement, each defined in one to three sentences. Where a term has a page of its own, its entry links to it, and every entry has an address of its own to link to.
Where do the definitions come from?
From Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, and the Identity Positioning™ essay, both by Isaac Mashman, and from how Mashman Consulting Group works. An entry drawn from the book names the subchapter it comes from.
What is the difference between a personal brand and a reputation?
A personal brand is you: who you are, what people know you for, and the distinctive combination of characteristics and personality traits that only you possess. Your reputation, the consensus about you relative to an audience, is one part of it, never the whole of it.
Which of these terms originate with the Manifesto?
The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, the Identity Positioning™ essay, the Skyline Strategy's 2:1 ratio, and the Power of 3 are the constructs that originate with the Manifesto. Identity Positioning™ was developed by Isaac Mashman with Eric Chow.
Measure It First: The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. 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.
Keep Reading.
What Is Personal Branding?
The definition, the four laws, the six tiers, and how to direct your own, on one page.
The Doctrine Library
The core methods of the Manifesto in short form, each with its method and its place in the book.
Personal Branding by Profession
Every profession on the Brand Audit, with the moves MCG starts with across The Five Personal Brand Pillars.
Your name is already being interpreted. The question is who are they, and what are they thinking?
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.