Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I feel that you may have misunderstood the point of my post. I did not mention recognition at all; if my post had been about “why recognition is awesome” or something along those lines, I would see the point you’re trying to make.

Let me clarify.

I believe that we have ALL been given unique gifts/abilities ( e.g. The Parable of the Talents http://read.ly/Luke19.11.NIV ) and it is our obligation to use what we have been given to the best of our abilities, and, in pursuit of “good.”

Just last night I was at IJM’s Seattle Benefit Dinner ( http://ijm.org/ ) where CEO Gary Haugen leveraged his passion, charisma, leadership, and intellect to deliver a moving keynote (marketing) that ignited a condition of generosity among the attendees and thus enabled IJM to receive the financial support needed to impact the lives of those who are unable to help themselves. My favorite quote from event: “Those of us who have freedom are responsible for those who don’t.”

My point with that story is that (1.) people are given gifts, (2.) once recognized, those gifts need to be shared with others, and (3.) when used for the pursuit of true “good,” amazing things can (and will) happen.

I hope the additional explanation helps if there was a misunderstanding.

1.) For whom am I working?
2.) To whom am I giving the glory?
3.) Who am I trusting my life, my career goals, my finances, etc. to?
4.) How does WHAT I do and HOW I work reflect my essential core beliefs?
5.) When people see me, what do I want them to see?

Branding and marketing oneself can be good. But to what end are we trying to gain recognition? Is our identity in the appreciation we hope to receive from others? Are we working hard so people will be impressed with us or are we working hard because we want others to see something BIGGER than ourselves?

Just some thoughts.

-Kyle Evans