Peter Hirshberg's weblog on disruptive culture and technology

Outsourcing Fabuluous: The Personal Brand Assistant

I've been part of an email thread at Monitor Talent about "Personal Brand Assistants," a term I never heard of until today.  Think folks who might help you manage your online presence. At first I thought, "How absurd." But this was a serious thread that demanded a serious response.

So I decided to write a  job description. Which I posted on Craig's list. It was flagged and removed as fast as you can say, "Whoa, that's not in our terms of service."

I can't believe Craig is killing new job opportunities at this moment in history. (And I'm not even gonna make the cheap  Craig's List joke that comes to mind...)   So for an economy that sorely needs new jobs, here is the  newest of all:

Personal Brand Assistant
Can you help make this brand fabulous?

Wanted: someone with the unique talents and drive to help build one of the most important brands of all, me. The brief:  in order to be me,  to do a really good job of being me, I need to twit, blog, respond, post pictures and engage with the market 27 hours a day. You see the problem. In the age of television being me was a relatively mindless thing to do. No longer. And that's where you come in. Now that I realize that I'm a brand, the matter of brand development, Search Engine Optimization, beating the competition, and looming large in the loomisphere has become of utmost importance. As a Personal Brand Assistant you'll be a key contributor to the team that is the digital me. You'll report  on parties and post  embarrassing photos.  Respond to events in technology and media in real time while minting status updates in Facebook.  You'll make my twitter followers feel special,  because they are special. You'll help insure that my 2,100 facebook friends have a friend. One that cares. Listens. Is authentic.

And because authenticity is so important in this era of social media, you'll receive ongoing training on the finer points of being me. Training that will serve you well for the rest of your life, even offline. Whatever that is.

You'll work in programming, content development and partnerships helping to insure that I not only don't forget to eat breakfast, but that I remain relevant to today's audiences and delight sponsors. Over time, you'll drive strategy monitoring the blogosphere 24/7, refreshing and refining the brand to meet the changing tastes and requirements of my followers.

Is this necessary you ask? As necessary as the air we breathe. Vital for our species development. A couple million years ago humans didn't even exist. All we had was Homo Erectus. He walked, but didn't friend. A half million years ago humans were born: Homo Sapien, man the wise. Just like your parents. Today we, you, I are beyond that. Today we are all individual brands, connected, in need of brand management and ongoing global engagement. Homo Brandus, man the brand. Only we're evolving so quickly we can't quite do it alone. Which is why I look forward to interviewing you as my personal brand assistant.

100 Days: FDR's thank-you letters to Congress for the New Deal leglislation

Much has been made of FDR's and Obama's first hundred days in office. It was Roosevelt who popularized the hundred day milestone: it marked the passage of the initial New Deal legislation and the conclusion of the special session of Congress that accomplished all that. One thing Roosevelt got that Obama didn't was broad bipartisan support. Obama aimed for that goal. Instead the left is leftier and the right plays to its base more than ever. 

Here is an fascinating piece of history that illuminates the Roosevelt administration at the same moment in its history: FDR's twin thank-you letters to congress upon completion of the 100-days legislative initiative. FDR was inaugurated on March 4th, so his hundred days occurred in June. 

 

On June 15th he sent these letters to Congress as it completed its special session: the document (above) which  Speaker Henry R. Rainey  read to the special session, and a brief handwritten note to the speaker asking him to thank the congress.

FDR writes:

Before the adjournment of the Special Session, I want to convey to you and the members of the House of Representatives, and expression of my thanks for making possible, on the broad average, a more sincere and more whole hearted cooperation between the Legislative and the Executive branches of the United States Government than has been witnessed by the American people in many a long year.

This spirit of team-work has in most cases transcended party lines. It has taken cognizance of a crisis in the affairs of our nation and of the world. It has grasped the need for a new approach to our problems both new and old. It has proved that our form of government can rise to an emergency and carry through a broad program in record time.

My grandfather, Modie Spiegel, was an avid collector of American historical letters and acquired these in the 1960s. I was a tot back then, but even as a kid I realized this was pretty cool historic stuff. And history it was until history began repeating itself. Suddenly we found ourselves in uncomfortably similar circumstances with a similar need for extraordinary leadership.  FDR's words went from  a piece of history to timely --- and a playbook to learn from. My friend (and grade school classmate!) Jonathan Alter at Newsweek  has chronicled FDR's leadership efforts as he came to office. He points out that only three Presidents in our history accomplished so much in so little time: FDR, LBJ and Obam.  Alter writes:

"Crisis leadership is, above all, about restoring confidence. Just as FDR got the country believing again in capitalism and democracy, Obama is so far making good on his pledge to navigate in a new direction. The people are responding. From January to April, the percentage of Americans saying the country is on the "right track" went up 23 points under Obama." 

And, one could add, Obama is connecting with the American people despite a legislative environment more polarized than ever. Roosevelt pulled off his hundred days with a 72% Democratic Congress. Obama has only 60%. Its a testament to the Presdient's leadership and to the strengths of our system that   Obama can claim,  as Roosevelt wrote 76 years ago, "That our form of government can rise to an emergency and carry through a broad program in record time..."