Seth Godin has posted about his friend Doug.  Doug has done very well for himself, he has held about seven different jobs in 14 years with his company, and is highly respected in his organization.

Seth told him he needs to quit.

Doug needs to leave for a very simple reason. He's been branded. Everyone at the company has an expectation of who Doug is and what he can do. Working your way up from the mailroom sounds sexy, but in fact, it's entirely unlikely. Doug has hit a plateau. He's not going to be challenged, pushed or promoted to president. Doug, regardless of what he could actually accomplish, has stopped evolving -- at least in the eyes of the people who matter.

If he leaves and joins another company, he gets to reinvent himself. No one in the new company will remember young Doug from 10 years ago. No, they'll treat Doug as the new Doug, the Doug with endless upside and little past.

I'm on the fence with regards to Doug.  I think it's true that in a new position, a Doug with endless upside potential could be exciting.  But the truth is, it takes a lot of effort to re-launch a brand, and it sounds like he's worked hard enough to justify reaping the rewards.

If this is such a great idea for Doug, why wouldn't Seth take his own advice and walk away from his marketing-guru/author/lecturer brand?  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't walk away from it either -- there is still plenty of life left it.

Maybe that's what it comes down to -- evaluate your personal brand against the old BCG matrix.  I think Seth's point is that you want to be sure your brand and your career isn't a Dog, and I completely agree.  It sounds like Doug has been a Star and is a now a Cash Cow.  Using his brand capital to invest in new projects can bring him back up to a Star periodically or temporarily, but he probably can't pull that trick out of his hat too many more times (Seth's main point, I think).  But he probably has time to milk the Cash Cow position before sliding into the Dog pound.

I guess in this analysis, Seth's brand is in the Cash Cow quadrant as well.  Purple Cash Cow, of course.  I get the feeling that would drive him nuts.  I don't want to see Seth quit, not by a long shot, but I wonder how he would react if someone told him he needed to re-brand.

Tags: seth godin, Brand You, career branding, cash cow, rising star, pmba