WorkLife with Adam Grant: The case against personal branding

Worklife with Molly Graham

In the age of social media and influencers, we’re constantly pushed to think of ourselves as brands—shiny packages containing all of our best traits to market to employers and followers. But striving to build a “personal brand” may actually hinder your ability to make genuine connections and maintain a strong reputation. In this episode, Adam explores the science on alternatives to personal branding and explains why contribution, collaboration, and humility are better self-promotional tools than a carefully crafted image. Guests: management professor Mark Bolino; military leader Chevy Cook; writer and brand consultant Debbie Millman, host of the podcast Design Matters.

Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/)

Guest:

Mark Bolino (Instagram: | Website: ou.edu/price/bios/mark-bolino)

Chevy Cook (LinkedIn: @chaveso-chevy-cook | Website: ausa.org/people/ltc-chaveso-cook)

Debbie Millman (Instagram: @debbiemillman | LinkedIn: @deborahmillman | Website: https://debbiemillman.com/)

Links

https://www.centerformentoring.com/about-us/meet-chevy-cook-phd

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For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts

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More description

Host: Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: adamgrant.net/)

Guest:

Mark Bolino (Instagram: | Website: ou.edu/price/bios/mark-bolino)

Chevy Cook (LinkedIn: @chaveso-chevy-cook | Website: ausa.org/people/ltc-chaveso-cook)

Debbie Millman (Instagram: @debbiemillman | LinkedIn: @deborahmillman | Website: https://debbiemillman.com/)

Links

https://www.centerformentoring.com/about-us/meet-chevy-cook-phd

Subscribe to TED

Instagram: @ted

YouTube: @TED

TikTok: @tedtoks

LinkedIn: @ted-conferences

Website: ted.com

Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2025-05-13 24 min Transcript

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