Barbara Bickart

“Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room” – Chris Ducker Think of the larger-than-life persona of Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres or Steve Jobs; you hang on to their words and believe what they say — only because of the powerful personal brand that each of them has strategically cultivated and promoted over the years.

The finding: Words of encouragement do not inspire people to perform better during a workout. The research: Brandon Irwin asked subjects in a lab to perform two sets of abdominal exercises called “planks.” Some people did both sets alone. Others did the first set alone and the second with a virtual partner who was expert at planks and was projected onto a screen.

Throughout the recent U.S. presidential campaign, commentators of all political stripes urged Donald Trump to give his Twitter account a rest. He ignored them, bypassing mainstream media in favor of a technology that continued to deliver his provocative messages directly, frequently, at all hours, and without filters. While no hard proof exists that his tweets put him over the top in the election, they undeniably riveted the attention of a broad public, media included — and continue to do so.