Not often do authors in India venture into sharing their knowledge in as simple yet effective a way as Dr Nagpal and Dr Hindustani have done in their eminently readable book, ” Personal Branding, Storytelling and Beyond.” Actually the concept of personal branding was somewhat alien to our business/corporate society in India. With our businesses largely having roots in benevolent patriarchy, it was often considered impolite, impertinent and even arrogant to speak of your strengths, your achievements and the talents you have to offer. India has changed and so have expectations of the world around us. In this day and age, if you don’t work on developing your personal brand, no one else will.
It is in this context that I found the book to be very refreshing. The authors have shared many of the concepts that are so critical for success in an age where your reputation is built on what people find when they search for you on Google! It has been organised into structured parts beginning with defining what is personal branding, why it is important and how it can be built in today’s world where social media determines what is news and what isn’t. I believe this section is of vital importance to many of our young managers and entrepreneurs who may not yet know how to build their image through the skillful use of social media. This alone makes the book a good value for money buy.
In later sections, the power of storytelling is discussed again with many examples of harnessing the power of social media and digital tools to enhance the power of the story you have to tell of your product, your service and indeed of yourself and build your own image in the process.
To conclude, the reader gets the bonus of reading case studies of eminent personalities in the world of business and how they have used social media, branding and storytelling to, if you will pardon the pun, telling effect!
Published by StoryMirror , this book priced at Rs. 285/- is an useful addition to the library of anyone, young or old, in Government or in private enterprise, working for someone else or working for himself, who wishes to shine in today’s demanding and highly competitive world of business.
The biggest strength of the book is the simple way in which the material is presented, largely shorn of jargon. It makes a point, and makes it well. My congratulations to the authors for venturing into unchartered territory and bringing out an extremely useful book in the process by distilling their collective experience of decades.
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 