Personal branding is, for some people, a description of the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. It has been noted that while previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging. Further defined as the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual; this includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable. The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters.

Personal branding often involves the application of one's name to various products. For example, celebrity real-estate mogul Donald Trump uses his last name extensively on his buildings and on the products he endorses (e.g., Trump Steaks).

Personal branding, self-positioning and all individual branding by whatever name, was first introduced in 1937 in the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The idea surfaced later in the 1981 book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, by Al Ries and Jack Trout . More specifically in "Chapter 23. Positioning Yourself and Your Career - You can benefit by using positioning strategy to advance your own career. Key principle: Don’t try to do everything yourself. Find a horse to ride".

David Francis "Dave" Carroll (born 20 September 1966 in Paisley, Scotland) is a former footballer who spent 14 seasons at Wycombe Wanderers. An attacking midfielder, Carroll played more than 600 first-team games for Wycombe in all competitions, and scored exactly 100 goals. He was nicknamed "Jesus" by the Wycombe supporters.

Carroll joined Wycombe, then a recently-promoted Conference side, in the summer of 1988, having previously played for Ruislip Manor of the Isthmian League. He went on to become a key member of the Wycombe side that won promotion to Football League in 1993. The following season, Wycombe won a second successive promotion as Carroll scored twice in Wycombe's 4-2 victory against Preston in the playoff final at Wembley.

In November 1997, Carroll was rewarded for his long service to the Chairboys with a testimonial match against Leicester City. Near the end of his career at Adams Park, no longer a first-team regular, Carroll played the final ten minutes of Wycombe's famous FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool in 2001.

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Seth Godin graduated from Tufts University in 1979 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. Godin earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week between California and Boston both to do his new job and to complete his MBA..

After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in New York City. It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies.^{[citation needed]} It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing.^{[citation needed]} For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for Fast Company^{[citation needed]}

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.

Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2. Johnson was a member of the "Dream Team", the U.S. basketball team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1992.

Ricardo Mejide (born November 29, 1974 in Barcelona) -usually known as Risto Mejide- is a Spanish publicist, author, music producer and songwriter, best known as a judge on the television show Operación Triunfo.

Risto Mejide holds a degree and MBA from the ESADE business school (1997) where he also worked as a teacher.

Mejide joined the jury of the show on its fifth series and became known for his comments, which often offended the contestants. He has been compared to Simon Cowell. In 2008 Mejide published his first book, El Pensamiento Negativo ("The Negative Thinking"). In 2009 he began to work as a songwriter and music producer, associating himself with Labuat.