Tom Peters is a popular post-industrial management theorist. Way back in 1997 he wrote an article about workers seeing themselves as a product with a brand. At the time it was fashionable to speculate that employees were old-meme and soon we’d all be consultants hired for project work. But the idea applies almost as well to employees working their way up a corporate ladder.

One book I’ve read on personal branding is Soaring on Your Strengths, which emphasizes that a brand must fill a market niche. The “best overall” niche is hard to fill, it’s better to focus on what you’re good at and, just as importantly, what you like. Rather than try to correct your weaknesses, get better at your strengths.

The key trick here is to go from a list of previous jobs on your resume to a brand. Since mission statements were the fashionable strategic planning tool at the time, Peters suggests:

Start by writing your own mission statement, to guide you as CEO of Me Inc. What turns you on?…What’s your personal definition of success?…However you answer these questions, search relentlessly for job or project opportunities that fit your mission statement.

Soaring on Your Strengths guides you through a list to get at your brand essence:

• equity (mostly education)
• talents & core competencies
• image & reputation
• passion
• values

Once you’ve got your brand, the idea is that it guides your resumes, cover letters, elevator pitches, professional associations, wardrobe, etc. Soaring on Your Strengths gives a bit of advice on that, but I think the basic idea is pretty obvious (and SoYS won’t help you master it).