Being You is a work that promotes authenticity and becoming who we are in our core being (sorry if you have heard that before). The authors tell us that being ourselves is the best thing we can do when building a brand.
Being You touts the notion that everyone ought to define what success means to them. The author emphasises that while money and fame are good, not everyone defines their existence or goals around that. Being You exhorts us to build our brand around values that we deem important to us.
What this book does well is how it delves into profiles of famous and well-known celebrities who have used their uniqueness to create what the author calls a successful brand. The book cites people like Malala Yousafzai, Opray Winfrey, Roger Federer, Ed Sheeran, etc. as examples of those who built successful brands around what their uniqueness.
Unfortunately, the downside of Being You is that while it tells us to find our own unique definition of success, it still manages to promote one narrow brand of success - fame and wealth. You will find no scraped knees or twisted ankles here, just a gallery of humble beginnings, cliched hard work, great decisions, strong convictions and voila! Success.
There are no up and coming artist or sportspeople whose struggles are plain to see. No failed brand that crashed but managed to find its purpose. The people we see in Being You are in places that common people would find almost... unattainable.
Being You is a useful book. This is a book for those who know who they are and are looking for practical advice on a few things. Many will find tactical advice here on public relations, social media, design, etc. But those who are on a journey to finding who they are might find themselves feeling a bit helpless and depressed by the end of the book.
