T-M-I from T-I-M

Great Carl Sagan Quote

Sometimes, the right quote at the right time makes a lot of stuff make sense.  In the words of Carl Sagan:

In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.

Personal Transparency vs. Personal Brand

I wonder, when writing my blog how transparent I really should be.  When I first started, frankly, I didn't care and, not too surprisingly, it was a lot of fun.  However, it seems like the stakes get higher when I feel like I have to filter my thoughts for personal branding. 

Maybe the issue is that some level of consideration of personal branding leaves me open for misinterpretation of what I write and that's a little frustrating.  I suppose when I just let it fly I was more comfortable in knowing exactly what I wanted to say and how I said it and if it was misinterpreted so be it.  But when I consider shaping it in some way and it still is misunderstood, oy!

But I wonder whether personal transparency brings us closer together than personal brand building.  (Candidly, I don't 100% understand the concept of personal brand building but I've met some people who have done it really well.) 

When connecting to a personal brand do you connect to that person or their brand or maybe both?

I think brand building feels less emotionally revealing and that in some way less risky.  Maybe that's a good thing, I'm just not sure that it's a skill I'm interested in learning.  It doesn't feel quite as fun.

But I could be wrong.