Author: Erik Deckers

is the owner of Professional Blog Service, a newspaper humor columnist, and the co-author of Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself, No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing, and The Owned Media Doctrine.
Brand Yourself AsRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation Management

Response to People Who Hate the Term “Personal Branding”

I’m always surprised at the vehemence with which people say they hate the term “personal branding.”

“I’m not a brand, I’m a person!” they demand.

Except you are. As Kyle Lacy and I said in Branding Yourself, “A brand is an emotional response to the image or name of a particular company, product, or person.”…

Job SearchLifestyle & Habit BuildingPositioningRelationships & Personal Growth

Hiring Opposite Keirsey Temperaments to Grow Your Company

The problem most people have when hiring new employees is the tendency to hire people just like themselves. Engineering firms that need a marketer look for engineering-types with marketing experience. Creative types who need someone to manage the office look for other creatives who have operations experience.

It’s a problem for many leaders — they …

Brand Identity & Self-DiscoveryBrand Yourself AsLifestyle & Habit BuildingRelationships & Personal Growth

Spotting Keirsey/Myers-Briggs Temperaments at a Glance

Last week, I wrote about how knowing the different Keirsey Temperaments, could help you interact with different people you encounter. This week, I want to give you a basic understanding of how you could spot these different types.

There are four basic Keirsey Temperaments — SJ, SP, NT, NF — created by psychologist David Keirsey, …

Brand Identity & Self-DiscoveryLifestyle & Habit BuildingPositioningRelationships & Personal Growth

Using Myers-Briggs Temperaments to Help With Hiring and Selling

As you’re sitting in your next job interview, work evaluation, or sales call, knowing the Myers-Briggs temperament of the person sitting across from you can be extremely beneficial.

If you’ve ever heard of Myers-Briggs, you’re familiar with the 4-letter classification that each personality type has — ENFP, ISTJ, ISTP, ESFJ, and so on. There are …

Brand Yourself AsLifestyle & Habit BuildingRelationships & Personal GrowthReputation Management

Don’t Look Desperate During The Job Search

When you’re desperately looking for work, that desperation screams to hiring managers during your interview. You’re eager in your answers. You stress that no problem is too big for you to handle, no request too crazy. You even try the occasional Jedi mind trick, just in case.

It can be a little off-putting. So do …

Brand Yourself AsLifestyle & Habit BuildingRelationships & Personal Growth

Personal Branding is Not Personal Bragging

You have permission to talk about yourself in pleasant, glowing terms. You have permission to tell people about your accomplishments, and that you’ve done great and wonderful things that helped your employers or people who work for you.

Too many people hesitate to talk about themselves, because they’ve been taught that to talk about their …