Following the last post, I was asked to provide some thoughts on the idea of companies encouraging their employees to engage in "personal branding". Not knowing what that meant, I had to ask for clarification. It is, as was explained to me, the act of projecting an appearance, managing your image, and other such rot, all for a specific purpose. A quick internet search confirmed this, while simultaneously setting off a gag reflex. I imagine that the purpose is strictly career related and involves "getting ahead". I won't go much into detail here other than to say unequivocally that it is the absolute worst form of branding. Not that it does not work for its intended purpose, but that there is nothing good in its intended purpose. It validates the corrosive and dehumanizing aspects of a sterile corporate environment. I have to ask, as before, can the full scope of one's being be contained within a slogan? The obvious answer is no, and those who believe that theirs can be are, again, artificially reducing themselves to a fake, 2D version of their full human self. As a final note on this idea, I do think the previous post applies to this particular form of branding even better than the specifics I mentioned.
What I think may be better to explore is the question of why employers find it necessary to direct employees in actions outside their purview. In a healthy economic model, employees are hired to perform a function in the business, not a commodity to be managed by the employer. Employees agree to sell their time and talents in return for compensation, they should not be asked to sell anything else. This problem points to a disordered system. Work, rightly considered, is a necessary fact of life, not the core. Its place is properly found alongside sleep and brushing your teeth, though I do love a good sleep far more than a day at work. So maybe alongside taking out the trash. You get the point.
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