Have you ever read one of those ”How-To” personal branding articles? You know, the ones that say something like, ”Think back to your core values and list those words that represent who you are to the world,” or something like it. I'm not sure why it popped into my mind this morning but I thought about it seriously.

These are six “values” I came up with:

• Kind
• Humble
• Grateful
• Measured
• Clear
• Not-to-be-fucked-with I realise a better way to describe what I meant was, perhaps, the word “steadfast.”^[1]

I'm sure you can spot which one probably wouldn’t end up on a list of the most commonly shared attributes. That said, I tried coming up with something more accurate, but I couldn’t. It just works for me and my braaand.

I really do mean it. I will do everything I can for you because you’re another human being, regardless your stripes, viewpoints, or whatever. You deserve that and I recognise it, that empathy is a big part of who I believe we are as a species. There is, however, a point where I will be pushed no further. I’m not sure where, but I suspect if you take my sincerity as naïvety, or worse, then that’s where you’ll find it.

While I don't get the point of a personal branding exercise, I am interested to hear if you come up with anything unexpectedly honest. So, if you would, share your hyphenated phrase-as-an-attribute with me here: @TRST_Blog.

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1. It's tough to define yourself using only a handful of words; tougher still, if those defining words are limited by your nascent vocabulary. I ought to think harder before I publish such a definitive list in the future. ↩︎