According to Julie, work in this area is completely unmapped because no one has yet navigated the market. “You can’t purchase syndicated reports that give market specifics such as the number of patients or other drugs available. We literally have to build the market from the ground-up.”

Due to her unique position, Julie has learned a few lessons about how to best manage talent in these types of life-science start-ups. Whether you’re seeking a position in a start-up or you’re an aspiring employee in one, you’ll benefit from Julie’s hard-earned wisdom.

Susan Hodgkinson: Julie, how is talent recruited for a life-science start-up like yours and how is this different from a more established life-science company?

Julie Anne Smith: This is a very good question and before I answer it, I have to give a glimpse into a life-science start-up such as Enobia. When you pull the curtain aside, you see a chaotic and fast-paced environment that constantly changes.

Because we’re in uncharted waters, it takes a special type of person willing to work in this type of environment. Blueprints don’t exist. You need a double dose of self-motivation and curiosity to operate in a life-science start-up. Introverted people who want to sit and mull things over won’t survive.

And, because start-ups run on shoestring staffs, job descriptions can be very loose and fluid. One day you may find yourself doing something you did four or five jobs ago – and the next you’re pitching an idea that can move the company forward. People who want a steady career progression won’t find it in a start-up.

So to answer your question, we recruit talent using standard recruiting methods but we look for people who have spent time building their careers on the outside track. Working in a start-up, you have to be comfortable with a little rubble and mess here or there. You need people who combine the grace to operate in chaos with the strength to execute on their own.

SH: It sounds like you need very special people who combine many characteristics, skills and talents.

JAS: Exactly. Because the growth opportunities are so huge in a start-up, you need people who can move things forward and get stuff done. If you’re not doing this, you won’t get funded. And if you are VC-funded, investors demand results. Working in a life-science start-up is not for the faint of heart.

As I said, you have to be comfortable with doing your day job plus identifying business drivers that haven’t yet been explored. You can’t wait for someone to tell you do this – you either bring the opportunity to the attention of management or you drive it yourself.

SH: Given your experience, what are some of the best ways life science start-ups can manage and develop talent in the early-stage environment – especially when you may not have a formal HR function?

JAS: Start-ups can do themselves a service by recruiting an executive team who has thought about managing people and talent – versus hiring people who have never developed people management skills.

Second, investors need to focus on succession planning by considering who is hired for the tier directly beneath the management team. Executives need to be focused on this as well, especially because, as you pointed out, the HR function may not yet exist.

Developing talent starts with hiring the right people in the first place. I want to hire people who are very aware of the reason they’re coming to work for me. For example, I want to hear from a candidate, “I want to learn the nuances of getting a strategic alliance done” versus someone who simply wants to come in and run Business Development.

For people reading this who are hiring, I recommend that you listen to the signals people are giving you and then make sure you can provide what people are asking for. This is where I’ve made mistakes in the past; I wasn’t sensitive in matching what the candidate wanted with what I, or the company, could provide.

And finally, you need to define annual objectives with each person on the team. We use status updates and attach annual objectives to them. We’re constantly tracking career objectives.

SH: Julie, thank you for your insight. If you have questions for Julie, please leave them in the comments below and I’ll be sure to forward them to her.

Barbara’s feedback is insightful in that she talks about the general behaviors that get in the way of advancement for female executives – and it’s information aspiring senior women need to know.

Successful candidates treat the workplace like a playing field

On a soccer pitch, elite players don’t just dive for the ball and try to get it into the net. They consider the entire playing field: how will a player advance the ball the to net; which fellow team members will help and which opposing team members will hinder the player’s progress? To whom can the player pass the ball, and who will pass it back – and who will play dirty? Successful players know the impact players and how to leverage relationships with those players.

Successful executives apply the same approach to the workplace. Rising female executives understand the game being played and see the entire field. They recognize who or what stands in the way of achieving their goals — and who or what can help them reach their goals. They aren’t surprised nor take it personally if the game gets rough or some of the calls are bad.

A simple message is better

Crockett notes that unsuccessful candidates have a tendency to over-explain things. CEOs favor candidates who don’t get lost in complexities but deliver clear and concise messages. When female executives spend too much time explaining a decision or action, they look unsure, as if they need validation from others to feel secure in their decision-making. Better to keep explanations short and clear so that you don’t open yourself up to endless debate.

Likability can get in the way

Unlike male executives, female executives worry about their likability and work to be on good terms with their managers, colleagues and staff. This is natural, of course. You spend a lot of time with these people and getting along with them can make work more enjoyable.

But problems arise when wanting to be liked gets in the way of the job. Focusing on likability can lead to indecision (e.g. not wanting to take a decision that will lead to hard feelings or unpopularity) or incorrect decisions (e.g. where concerns about likability lead to the wrong decision entirely).

Nobody wants to be the social pariah of the office, but hard decisions often aren’t popular or well-received. It’s better career-wise, says Crockett, to be respected at the office, especially for making sound (if unpopular decisions), and to cultivate friendship elsewhere.

(Susan notes: “Likeability” is extremely tricky territory flush with double standards for women, and frankly, depending on the unwritten rules and preferences of the senior leadership team, it may be a doable task – or an impossible challenge. Likeability for women leaders is tremendously complicated, and those who succeed always have, often in concert with the CEO, explicitly thought this through and found a way to make it work.)

Success in your current job isn’t always enough

The Human Sigma principles developed by Gallup are being applied and rewarded everywhere, yet senor women don’t always understand how to apply these principles to their own careers/brand. It’s crucial that you do, however, because applying these principles reduces the variability of how you come across with regard to:

• Maintaining a consistent method of communication
• Developing a disciplined process for self-evaluation and subsequent improvement
• Regular tweaking or improving upon how you’re delivering yourself to your workforce and/or clients.

The Human Sigma principles simply state that there isn’t a single best way of doing things as a professional . . . but there is a single best outcome. For executive women, that means successfully moving up the corporate ladder to the desired position — and beyond.

The successful executive sees the whole field, understands the players and patterns, finds her own way to navigate through the game by utilizing her own personal best practices and thus, to some extent, consciously managing – and at times manipulating — the desired results.

IBM hasn’t always been successful, however. The company, which began as the C-T-R Corporation (Computer-Tabulating-Recording), was flailing when CEO Tom Watson took over in 1914. He renamed the company International Business Machines in order to “one up” competitor National Cash Register and began molding it into the company that it is today.

The company’s heyday was in the 1960s; by the 1980s it was suffering due to competition from Microsoft and Intel. By the 1990s it was unprofitable and bloated. According to the Time article, “Big Blue Turns 100,” IBM survived by reinventing itself from “a company selling large expensive machines to a global software and consulting company that offers bespoke solutions that allow companies, governments and large organizations to operate more efficiently.”

The bottom line speaks for itself: according to the Fortune article, “5 Lessons from IBM’s 100th Anniversary,” IBM’s net income was $14.8 billion in 2010.

IBM continually looks to the future

In an essay for its 100th anniversary, the company discusses how it confronted relentless commoditization. The lesson learned: “You have to keep going to the future.”

When it became clear that the PC wasn’t central to its future, IBM got out of the PC business – “a move that scratched almost $11 billion in annual revenues.” This move, which cost money in the short-term, is one of several that IBM has made in the last 10 years to continually build higher-value businesses.

And, as the IBM essay writers state, moving toward the future also means redefining what you have. Although it’s easy to snicker at any company still in the computer mainframe business, IBM has increased its “installed mainframe capacity over 1,000% over the past 13 years.” Due to economic pressures, the company has had to redefined productivity, a process which has lead to major innovations and $6 billion productivity savings over the past five years.

Applying IBM’s practices to your personal brand

As a leader building your own brand, you can take lessons from IBM and apply them to yourself – lessons that are even more important today as markets, industries and corporations change and evolve. And one reason for IBM’s century of success is that they manage for the long-term versus the short-term.

Are you passively waiting for your company to tell you what to do? Or do you understand and anticipate where you and your company is headed? Do you think only in the short-term (i.e. the next week, the next trip, the next project), or are you part of the future of your company? If you’re not part of the future, why not?

IBM epitomizes a well-managed brand: an extraordinary track record, innovation built into its mindset, and evolved products and people to meet new market opportunities.

In fact, the IBM mindset is why this brand still exists, and why it continues to rank as one of the world’s top three brands globally, year after year. According to the IBM mindset, change is an opportunity to be embraced, not a threat to be denied. That’s why IBM can celebrate its 100th anniversary – despite sloughing off businesses and product lines – and have over $14.8 billion in revenue.

Persona

Persona is the emotive, emotional connection and reaction that you elicit in other people as a result of your personal energy, attitude, style and worldview. Persona is all about your ability to effectively connect with other people and build constructive relationships with other people.

In building your Leadership Brand, this means that you know how to negotiate and compromise to get things accomplished. If you never compromise because you think it’s a sign of power, think again. It’s really a sign of a huge ego and a liability – one that can get you fired or laid off (Reason #5).

No matter where you are in your career, building relationships is incredibly important, especially in today’s shaky job environment or during an M&A (see my blog post, Survive an M&A: Sell Yourself to Management and Your New Boss).

Hang out with people who complain and gossip – and you’ll make it easy for management to let you go when budget cuts occur (Reason #8).

It’s also important to respect the chain of command. Even if your boss or management is really stupid, keep your opinion to yourself – or risk losing your job (Reason #7).

Product

Product is the sum of your professional qualifications, experience, technical and/or functional expertise. It includes both positive and negative: your home runs, your failed efforts and the results you’ve delivered over time.

Just as Apple builds its brand on delivering exceptional products – including the retail experience and the packaging – you, too, must ensure your Leadership Brand is sterling.

This means you don’t do anything to compromise your reputation, such as calling in sick before a huge project is due (Reason #1), lying on your resume or job application (Reason #2) or covering up dumb or costly mistakes (Reason #9).

Part of being a leader is taking risks and of course not all risks play out. You will fail sometimes. Failing or making a mistake isn’t bad – it’s lying about your mistakes or covering them up – that gets you into trouble and possibly fired.

Packaging

Packaging is how you appear to others. It includes everything from the clothes and accessories you wear to your manners. (I love this post from About.com about nightmare interviews and how a job candidate picked her teeth during a business luncheon!)

It also includes your personal hygiene and how your office and desk appear to others. It sounds self-explanatory, but not bathing (Reason #3) or wearing soiled or worn clothing is one reason you can be let go during a downsizing.

Promotion

Promotion is the heart of the Five P’s of the Leadership Brand. You can be an excellent leader but if no one knows, you’ll be passed over for promotion and let go during downsizings or an M&A.

Effective Promotion isn’t about pandering to the boss or taking credit for someone else’s work (Reason #10 for being fired). To make Promotion work for you, you must consistently ensure management knows about your accomplishments, share your ideas in meetings, and network with colleagues (formally and informally).

Permission

The last P is all about believing that you’re just as good, if not better, than everyone else at the table and that you’re fully entitled to play on the same field.

However, you want to be sensitive to what’s going on around you. If your company is losing money, experiencing shortfalls or talking about budget cuts, it’s not the time to ask for a raise and then become angry when you don’t get it (Reason #6).

Instead, ask your boss for a better job title, to be included in meetings with senior management, or for a place on the team that’s working on the plum assignment.

Do you have a good story of someone who was fired due to one of the reasons cited above? Have you used one or all of the Five P’s to keep you in your current position – and maybe even advance it? Leave your comments below.

Intensity scores are simple to understand, and are very significant because they’re a strong predictor of future voter behavior.

The idea behind the intensity gap metric is very applicable to us who work in organizations. Essentially, your Positive Intensity is equal to the overall strength of your brand, relative to others in your marketplace. Just as Positive Intensity in elections is a strong predictor of who will win the race, Positive Intensity for you predicts whether — and about what — you will “win” at work. Positive Intensity about your brand is held by those you work for, those who might work for you, customer and prospect purchasing decisions, etc.

What are the drivers of Positive Intensity?

When we apply the principles of Positive Intensity to ourselves at work, the drivers start to sound like familiar friends — or foes — to our brand management over time. These drivers begin with personal energy. To what degree do you:

• Add energy to the room?
• Neither add to nor detract from energy in the room?
• suck all the energy out of the room?

Your personal energy contribution (or detraction) is 100% in your control — like so many aspects of a strong personal brand! It’s also the basis of your unique brand of charisma, which has enormous impact on your positive intensity.

Other contributors to strong positive intensity include the:

How do I measure my own Positive Intensity?

One way you can measure your Positive Intensity is to do with the pros do (and what The Personal Brand Company does for our clients): Ask key questions about your brand, using the following scale:

Strongly Favorable Favorable Unfavorable Strongly Unfavorable

Remember: Positive intensity is the number of Strongly Favorable ratings minus the Strongly Unfavorable ratings.

How do I increase my Positive Intensity?

As the the trailblazers in Leadership and personal branding, we learned one core truth about this work and that is, no magic answer exists to having a strong brand, nor is it something you can buy off the shelf. Contact me to learn how to increase your Positive Intensity, and I and my team will help you do the work right — ensuring it’s sustainable for the rest of your career.

Building these work relationships happens over time and is based in a large part on trust. In the research I’ve been conducting, one question I ask is, “Tell me what it takes to be successful at your company?” Since the recession, I’ve heard the same answer over and over: “You have to be trustworthy and have integrity.”

In my workshops, I define “trustworthiness” as having four levels. Similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of self-actualization, these levels go from the very basic to the complex:

Level 1: You deliver – Simply put, you’re dependable and you keep your word. You finish projects on time and you follow up when you say you will.

Level 2: You reflect well on your manager – It’s been said that part of your job is making your boss look good. To a certain extent, this is true. Part of your leadership brand includes ensuring your boss knows you have her back (meaning you’ll stand up for her when necessary) and that you reflect well on her – through your actions and your work.

Level 3: You’re honest with your boss and colleagues – Although you stand up for these stakeholders in public, they also trust you to level with them, and do it in the proper forum – privately. Remember, employment surveys conducted throughout the past two years continue to indicate that the majority of people in labor force in the Western World remain worried about keeping their jobs. Given this, it’s not a good idea to call out your colleagues or manager in public. Yo’;ll soon find these players view you as a liability.

Level 4: Your boss knows the “real you” – At this level, you’ve figured out a way to be authentic. This doesn’t mean you share everything with everyone, but it does mean taking risks as you connect with others above you.

For people outside of the core power structure (you’re not white, you’re a woman, you have a handicap or a different sexual orientation), it’s Level 4 that creates huge conflict and anxiety.

In my workshops, I hear this anxiety from people of color. The challenge is learning how to feel comfortable with being yourself . . . but you don’t feel comfortable because it’s apparent your color, your background, and your life experiences put you at odds with the core power structure.

The question then becomes, “What does it mean to be ‘authentic’?” For many people, not just people of color, negative self-talk keeps us forming close relationships with those who can help advance our careers.

Due to power structures and cultures within the organization, the natural barrier inherent in the “boss-direct report” relationship, and self-esteem issues, people of color have to work harder to push through this resistance.

Some strategies you can use to develop closer working relationships based on authenticity and trust include:

1. Keeping your natural boundaries in place – Being authentic doesn’t mean having deep bonding experiences with your work peers. It does mean that while you keep the work boundary around your conversations with people who are new to you, you allow yourself to be personable and friendly.

Take the time to identify natural points of connection and interests between yourself and others, such as a love of history, passion for art, the NY Times crossword, etc. You have your own inventory and it’s what makes you, you. Enjoy it, appropriately bracket it because you are at work, but don’t run from it.

2. Asking lots of questions – No matter what our experiences, background, color or gender, we all have things in common, including families, hobbies, schools, pets, travel, etc. Get in the habit of asking people questions around these common topics. This way you learn more about people – and vice-versa – as well as get a sense over time of whom you can trust.

3. Trusting your instincts – As you develop relationships with your colleagues and become more comfortable with sharing parts of your story, you’ll know when you can open up to reveal something that’s personal.

Let’s say you’re attending a women’s leadership development conference with your boss and team, and over lunch she brings up a topic of discussion that lends itself to revealing part of your personal history. Trust your instincts: if you feel comfortable taking the risk to make yourself a little vulnerable, then now is the time to do it. Conversely, if someone is part that group that you don’t trust, reveal only what makes you feel comfortable. You can always tell your boss later that you appreciated her question and why.

Building integrity and trust into your leadership brand takes time – and some risk. The benefits, however, are tremendous as those who make the decisions for advancement opportunities know they can trust you because they know the “real” you.

People’s fortunes move and up down during an M&A and it’s this movement – and all the changes that ensue – that cause people to hunker down, which is the absolute worse thing you can do. When you hunker down, you fail to think strategically and fall into one or all of the following M&A traps:

• Assuming that the incoming players know all about you and then passively letting these people decide your future.
• Not courting your new boss and selling this person on you and your track record.
• Remaining stuck in the past.

Actively promote yourself

To survive an M&A, you have to proactively promote yourself – and this promotion starts as soon as you know the acquisition is going through. You need to promote yourself because nine times out of ten, the people making decisions don’t know anything about you.

As soon as possible, take time to determine how you want to communicate your experience, achievements, and skills. To effectively promote yourself to management and hiring managers, I recommend that you create a factsheet about yourself. A simple one-page document, this sheet becomes a “leave behind” for any interviews. You’ll want to include:

• Your headshot
• A concise statement that summarizes your value
• Awards and education
• Bullet points listing your achievements and how you have positively impacted the organization

Court your new boss

Your new boss knows nothing about you, your experience or your achievements. This means you must sell him or her on you and your track record. New bosses pick and choose who stays and who goes based on prior reputation – AND how well you sell yourself as a player who wants to create a shared future of success.

Promoting yourself to your new boss can take numerous forms over a variety of occasions:

• Be on a team of people who presents your department or area to the new management.
• Volunteer profusely for any transition team work.
• Offer to provide background and other helpful info about your area, key talent, etc. to the new players.

In doing this work, it’s crucial you hold yourself to the highest standards of ethics and integrity, which, oh-by-the-way, you’re being judged on every minute. No one wants to acquire a player who isn’t loyal, trustworthy or has other potential character issues.

Indirect promotion can include a private visit to HR to let them know you’re here to be part of the successful future. It also pays to ask if HR can share this message with the right people and for suggestions on the few key people that you should connect with.

Forget the past

Many people remain trapped thinking about the past or believe it’s disloyal to leave the past behind instead of building a successful future.

To get over this hurdle, visualize the outcome you want from the M&A and keep this in the front of your mind each day. Get excited about any new changes and how these changes will help the company reach its new goals.

Now is definitely not the time to invoke “that’s the way we did it before,” as you’ll be perceived as change-averse and clingy by new management.

Having said all of this, it should be very clear that you can totally jeopardize your efforts by coming across as a political animal, disingenuous, or grossly ambitious. Your goal during an M&A is to communicate who you are and how you help drive business results. You should be about the business, the future, shared success, core common causes such as customers or shareholders.

Have you survived an M&A? Leave your comments below.

To attend the event, you must be referred or invited. So imagine my absolute delight and honor in being asked to speak at this fabulous event. In addition, two of the sponsors, Prudential (the Title sponsor) and Chase, both asked me to give their women attendees special sessions on personal branding.

Eleven years ago, 350 affluent and influential women gathered in Palm Desert California at the JW Marriott to discuss the isolation, joys and triumphs of being successful multicultural women. Since then, the Odyssey Network has been the first to:

• Tackle tough subjects like, “The Obstacle of Ethnic Sounding Names,” “The Tension between African Americans and Latinos,” and “The Capital Crunch our Entrepreneurs Face.”
• Introduce Executive, Image, Spiritual and Life Coaching as a free conference offering.
• Equally focus on the personal and professional sacrifices of being successful.
• Demand that we stop talking about work life-balance and do something, anything to relax… in addition to work sessions, retreat organizers offer hot air ballooning, canoeing, horseback riding, sky diving and yes spa.

You can see why I’m thrilled to be attending this retreat! You can follow all the happenings via Twitter and Facebook — and I’ll be sure to report back once I return.

Opportunities for getting in front of senior management are few and far between in good economic times. These opportunities are even more scarce in today’s economy due to at least two factors:

1. If your manager is at all uncertain of how you’ll reflect on him, it’s unlikely you’ll get in front of his boss.

2. With jobs less secure, many managers are finding they need to use the few opportunities available to manage their own on visibility – leaving you to fend for yourself.

So how do you take charge of promoting yourself and building strong connections with senior management? Consider the strategies suggested below.

Basic training strategies for promoting yourself

Although all of The 5 P’s of Leadership Brand® are important, Promotion, or P #4, is especially critical during times when the employee base is being reduced. This is because the driving force in how management determines who stays (and who goes) is based on how well key decision makers know you, your capabilities and your character.

Think about this for yourself: Whom do you surround yourself with and rely on when it comes to key decisions in your life? It’s likely your answer is, “Those I know best and trust the most.”

The message here is this: Part of having a strong personal brand is ensuring that you’ve created multiple, favorable impressions at the interpersonal and intellectual level with your boss and the person to whom she reports. This effort requires extra diligence and planning on your part if you’re a woman or person of color.

When I give this advice in my talks at leadership conferences and at the classes I teach at various universities, I’m always asked, “How do I do this without going around my boss?” To effectively reach this person, you must have the support of your boss. Once your boss is on board, you can then implement the following strategies:

1. Present at meetings — Ask your manager if you can attend meetings when senior management will be present and if you can have five minutes to present your topic or idea.

2. Invite the big boss to your staff meeting — Ask your manager if she can bring her boss to your department’s staff meeting for a “brown bag and an update” or for a report on what senior management is doing with regard to business.

3. Expand your horizontal network — Move outside of your vertical network and become more visible to colleagues across departments. Your focus here is to network up and create favorable impressions with colleagues. Strategies include having your own brown bag or leadership round table (of course, you’ll also invite your boss and ask him to invite his boss) or volunteering for a high-profile corporate event in which senior management has a vested interest.

4. Communicate your achievements — Take advantage of already existing communication channels such as internal networks, affinity groups, Intranets, internal calls for “success stories,” and employee newsletters to tell your colleagues about your accomplishments.

Develop the habit of writing quarterly reports that include bulleted highlights of your (and your team’s) accomplishments and their impact on the business (i.e. did you make money, save money, increase retention, reduce risk, etc.).

By becoming more visible to senior management, you take charge of telling your story and building strong connections. If you don’t do this systematically, you’re giving up power and expecting others to assign value to you. Letting others assign value means you’ll most likely be perceived as less valuable — and in today’s environment, that’s a risk you simply cannot take.

While the article goes into great detail about how traditional reference checks, such as phone interviews, no longer yield the information about job candidates they once did, it also brings up an excellent topic of discussion: your online persona can wreck havoc with your offline (“in real life” or IRL) persona, especially when it comes to job hunting.

Case in point: what you post on Facebook or Twitter can make it so you don’t get a high profile job within an organization or it can lose you the job you already have. (Consider, for example, what happened a year or so ago when a Ketchum ad agency rep posted an off-the-cuff comment about Memphis, home to Ketchum’s biggest client, FedEx.)

Because what we post online is so easily accessible, hiring managers and recruiters are now turning to social networks for information they can’t get through tried and true methods.

Leadership development experts talk about “espoused values” versus “values in practice” — in other words, is what you say is important in alignment with how you behave? As you well know, the leader of an organization can say “we have a commitment to excellent customer service,” but if he or she doesn’t allocate funds for training customer service reps, upgrade the call center or empower employees to solve customer problems, his or her behavior isn’t in alignment with the value being communicated.

Or put another way, Tiger Woods and his troubles is a great example of how one’s out-of-alignment espoused values and behavior can do considerable damage to one’s brand.

Alignment between values and behavior is what makes for strong brands

As a leader building your personal brand within the organization, your espoused values must match your values in practice — and this is critically important today when everything we say or do can be viewed (or talked about!) online.

Simply put, it’s time to wise up to the fact that the Web is not anonymous and that anything we or our friends post online — no matter how “private” our profile settings — lives forever and can be passed around. This means you need to learn to be hyper-aware of how your online persona is perceived in relation to your life at work.

One of my clients, for example, works for a conservative company and was invited to a party by her good friend. Unbeknownst to her, it was one of those home parties where the hostess invited a salesperson to sell “adult” toys. You can imagine the hilarity of a room full of women letting loose for a few hours, giggling and drinking a little too much wine. It all felt and seemed innocent — until the hostess brought out her smart phone and started taking photographs for Facebook.

It was at that precise moment my client left the party. “I had to think about my reputation,” she said, “While the party was innocent enough, and while I did enjoy the time with my friends, the pictures wouldn’t have looked innocent — especially to people within my company, some of whom are my Facebook buddies.”

Being aware of how you’re perceived online versus how you behave offline goes beyond photographs. You’ll want to consider the topics you post about and how “innocent” or off-the-cuff comments look not just to co-workers or your boss but future hiring managers and recruiters.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t be yourself online. If you feel you need to build a huge barrier between your online persona and your offline brand, however, then you need to ask yourself why.

Remember: integrity and trustworthiness are the hallmarks of the strongest brands. While this part of your reputation can take years to build, it can be lost in a instant.