The Brand You 50
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
If Dilbert and Tom Peters ever attended the same party, they'd probably find themselves in opposite corners. The cynical cartoon character would have a hard time in Peters's upbeat, high-energy world of "Cool-Beyond-Belief." The Brand You 50 is Peters's manifesto for today's knowledge workers. It joins his Reinventing Work series, which includes The Projects 50 and The Professional Service Firm 50.
In The Brand You 50, Peters sees a new kind of corporate citizen who believes that surviving means not blending in but standing out. He believes that "90+ per cent of White Collar Jobs will be totally reinvented/reconceived in the next decade" and that job security means developing marketable skills, making yourself distinct and memorable, and developing your network ability. His list-filled prescriptions cover everything; for example, "You are Your Rolodex I: BRAND YOU IS A TEAM" (no. 22), "Consider your 'product line'" (no. 25), "Work on your Optimism" (no. 35), "Sell. SELL. SELL!!!" (no. 47). While the book is overwhelming at times--its hyperactive typography pretty much shouts at you--any baby boomer thinking about his or her career will find much to consider. --Harry C Edwards, Amazon.com
Product Description
Michael Goldhaber, writing in Wired, said, "If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either. In times past you could be obscure yet secure -- now that's much harder."
Again: the white collar job as now configured is doomed. Soon. ("Downsizing" in the nineties will look like small change.) So what's the trick? There's only one: distinction. Or as we call it, turning yourself into a brand . . . Brand You.
A brand is nothing more than a sign of distinction. Right? Nike. Starbucks. Martha Stewart. The point (again): that's not the way we've thought about white collar workers--ourselves--over the past century. The "bureaucrat" on the finance staff is de facto faceless, plugging away, passing papers.
But now, in our view, she is born again, transformed from bureaucrat to the new star. She works in a professional service firm and works on projects that she'll be able to brag about years from now.
I call her/him the New American Professional, CEO of Me Inc. (even if Me Inc. is currently on someone's payroll) and, of course, of Brand You.
Step #1 in the model was the organization . . .a department turned into PSF 1.0. Step #2 is the individual . . .reborn as Brand You.
In 50 essential points, Tom Peters shows how to be committed to your craft, choose the right projects, how to improve networking, why you need to think fun is cool, and why it's important to piss some people off. He will enable you to turn yourself into an important and distinctive commodity. In short, he will show you how to turn yourself into . . . Brand You.
See also the other 50List titles in the Reinventing Work series by Tom Peters -- The Project50 and The Professional Service Firm50 -- for additional information on how to make an impact in the professional world.
Again: the white collar job as now configured is doomed. Soon. ("Downsizing" in the nineties will look like small change.) So what's the trick? There's only one: distinction. Or as we call it, turning yourself into a brand . . . Brand You.
A brand is nothing more than a sign of distinction. Right? Nike. Starbucks. Martha Stewart. The point (again): that's not the way we've thought about white collar workers--ourselves--over the past century. The "bureaucrat" on the finance staff is de facto faceless, plugging away, passing papers.
But now, in our view, she is born again, transformed from bureaucrat to the new star. She works in a professional service firm and works on projects that she'll be able to brag about years from now.
I call her/him the New American Professional, CEO of Me Inc. (even if Me Inc. is currently on someone's payroll) and, of course, of Brand You.
Step #1 in the model was the organization . . .a department turned into PSF 1.0. Step #2 is the individual . . .reborn as Brand You.
In 50 essential points, Tom Peters shows how to be committed to your craft, choose the right projects, how to improve networking, why you need to think fun is cool, and why it's important to piss some people off. He will enable you to turn yourself into an important and distinctive commodity. In short, he will show you how to turn yourself into . . . Brand You.
See also the other 50List titles in the Reinventing Work series by Tom Peters -- The Project50 and The Professional Service Firm50 -- for additional information on how to make an impact in the professional world.
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The defining Brand You idea: "They" aren't in charge of our careers-and by extension our lives-anymore Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The defining Brand You idea: "They" aren't in charge of our careers-and by extension our lives-anymore Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A fun, scary, enlightening, positive, dynamic, work book. I've read it, scribbled everywhere on it, read it again and started my own MB brand development programme. The best advice I can give is to read the whole thing once through. Scare the pants off yourself with the utterly compelling work change ideas. Then go through the exercises that strike a cord (and the ones that at first glance seem most difficult). Anyone feeling stuck in a rut will be galvanised to action. Anyone even vaguely motivated to succeed in life will spread their wings a little wider, smile a little more and achieve a whole bundle in the next 10 to 15 years as the world of work transforms beyond recognition. While there will be parts in here that just don't fit for you, ignore them and move on, because over the next page or two will be another mind blowing opportunity to do something meaningful for yourself. This is an optimistic book positioned in a realistic and frightening way. If you feel like exerting your own ideas, living by your own values, but feel a little scared, you'll come away from the book feeling more prepared and confident for the tough plateaus and challenges that lie ahead. I'm very glad I've read this before I've taken the plunge into my own business, I'm now excited about success rather than in fear of failure. Tom Peters has justified his place as one of the leading workplace thinkers of our times. Thank you Tom for saying exactly what I needed to hear!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very good book. It builds on Peters's previous approach to managing yourself as a brand, not an employee, and also draws on similar works by proponents of the same basic ideas. It could be a revelation to anyone who hasn't read similar works by other authors, but is well worth keeping to hand for those of us who have. The "Things To Do" ("TTD") sections are particularly useful.
However, you have to be prepared for the annoying style in which it is written. It's as if his thoughts have gone straight into print without having gone through the process of translating into written English.
Four stars.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was going to call this review 'irritating style, great content', but then I saw that someone else had used exactly the same title. It's hard to walk away from this book without exactly that impression, though.
Tom Peters has been for a long time one of the leading management thinkers in the world. He is also (as we discover in this book) someone who wants a high proportion of his ideas at any one time to be new ones. This means that this book is absolutely fresh, with plans, suggestions, exercises and philosophies that apply to today's business world, not one from ten years ago. The content of this book is intensely valuable, whether you do all the exercises or just mull over applying a little of it.
However, in his quest for being new, he has adopted a consciously anti-Dilbert style (he references Dilbert quite a lot as what he is trying not to be). This style is not just positive and buoyant, but actually jumping all over the page. I like the positive side (though I'm also a fan of Dilbert) but the bizarre typography actually slows down reading and reduces credibility. If it was any author I would probably have abandoned it, but Peters is so good (and so credible) that the content breaks out of the format.
There's not much more to say: I've never actually seen a book before where the gap between content and style was so intense. However, in a world where style is so often victor over content, it is perhaps refreshing to find a book which is a triumph of meaning in an ineffective wrapper.
Just in case I'm not being clear: I do recommend this book, and I recommend anyone who is put off by the style to stick with it. It IS worth it.
Tom Peters has been for a long time one of the leading management thinkers in the world. He is also (as we discover in this book) someone who wants a high proportion of his ideas at any one time to be new ones. This means that this book is absolutely fresh, with plans, suggestions, exercises and philosophies that apply to today's business world, not one from ten years ago. The content of this book is intensely valuable, whether you do all the exercises or just mull over applying a little of it.
However, in his quest for being new, he has adopted a consciously anti-Dilbert style (he references Dilbert quite a lot as what he is trying not to be). This style is not just positive and buoyant, but actually jumping all over the page. I like the positive side (though I'm also a fan of Dilbert) but the bizarre typography actually slows down reading and reduces credibility. If it was any author I would probably have abandoned it, but Peters is so good (and so credible) that the content breaks out of the format.
There's not much more to say: I've never actually seen a book before where the gap between content and style was so intense. However, in a world where style is so often victor over content, it is perhaps refreshing to find a book which is a triumph of meaning in an ineffective wrapper.
Just in case I'm not being clear: I do recommend this book, and I recommend anyone who is put off by the style to stick with it. It IS worth it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Terrible
I expected a great book from Tom Peters, but was dreadfully disappointed. The writing style makes it impossible to get through the book; it is truly dire. Read more
Published 10 months ago by P. Forsyth
Dreadful dont waste your energy
what a terribly written book, its all over the place, impossible to read. Stay away from this book at all costs, I had expected so much more from Tom Peters
Published 19 months ago by John D
It's Everything the Other Reviewers have said
Can't add much more. Everyone has said it. I had the chance to meet Tom for twenty minutes after a conference years ago. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2010 by C. R. Downing
Useful even after 7 years
I first picked up this book at the beginning of my career, being a TP fan ( Liberation Management rocked my world back in the early 90's!). Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2007 by Matthew Lloren
Guide for the Free Agent Employee (Contractor) Universe-Wow!
There has been a lot written and said about how white collar employees will start acting like free agents in sports. Read more
Published on 29 May 2004 by Donald Mitchell
Trancends even dumbed-down.
Tom Peters seems to believe that bold letters, large fonts and exclamation points can take the place of concise ideas and well-constructed sentences. Read more
Published on 23 April 2000
The best book to read for the new year!
You begin another year, perhaps in the same job, knowing there has GOT to be something better and this book turns up. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2000 by JP RUSSEK
Guide for the Free Agent Employee (Contractor) Universe-Wow!
There has been a lot written and said about how white collar employees will start acting like free agents in sports. Read more
Published on 8 Dec 1999
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