Me? You? Us? Community is the key to a personal brand.

I have been online for the past few months, analyzing how many people like Dan Schawbel, Chris Brogan and Guy Kowasaki have developed their personal brands. The key common thread I have observed in each of their successes stories is; all of them make everything about the people they are connecting with and not about themselves.

In re-reading that second sentence, it’s easy to see the true paradox in developing your own personal brand. In the end, it’s not about you, but rather what you do for others that will help you share, grow and learn. If I have to highlight one common mistake I have observed within the blogosphere by people developing their personal brand is making it all about themselves. They focus on how they can leverage people they know and what they can extract from those people to accomplish their own goals. They seem to talk at people, broadcasting their message instead of answering questions and addressing other people’s needs.

It is not about me. It is not about you. It is about us… the community

A personal brand is truly defined when like-minded individuals congregate and form a community and they look to you (and your personal brand, your reputation) for help or guidance. The amazing thing is that we don’t need a physical location anymore for this to happen. That is the true power of the social networks that we are all gravitating towards these days. Suddenly, like-minded individuals can socialize, share and connect free of geographical limitations. It doesn’t matter if you share your thoughts via your Blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. If you are sharing your ideas with the intent of being recognized as an guru in your niche and perpetuating your personal brand, do it from the perspective “it’s all about you.” not “it’s all about me” . Real thought leadership and guru or expert status is attained when others look to you as and describe you as such.