Be Your Own Brand—A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd

Strong vs. Moral

Brand building is not the same thing as morality in the spiritual sense—though there are, to be sure, a lot of common elements. Everyone knows people who have clearly defined brands as well as character traits and behavior patterns we (or others) may find anything from mildly distasteful to absolutely horrifying.

Think, for example, of convicted mobster John Gotti. Strong brand? Absolutely. People who knew him knew exactly what he stood for, what his values were, how he could be counted on to act in a given situation. Did that make his brand attractive? To some people (those to whom his distinctive actions and values were consistently relevant), yes. To most, no. In essence, it was strong for all the wrong reasons. But in selected ...