I have spent the past month researching and working on how I wanted to present my Author Bio on my website.  At first I began reading every “How To” article written on Writing a Good Professional Personal Bio.  I did not like any suggestion I read.  They all said, “never to write your own Bio because you are too close to the situation” or “Write it in the third person, if you must write it yourself”.  I disagree. Bios written in these ways seem trite and boring to me.

My next line of execution was to research how other Authors, CEO’s, Top Executives, Comedians, and anyone else who had a personal bio online handled it.  Maybe, by using this tactic, I could find inspiration for my own bio.  While I did find a lot of inspiration, I also noticed a trend, and began to observe how different generations presented themselves to the public.  I found it rather interesting.

Personal Bios from the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation tended to have very concise biographies which presented a long list of accomplishments, awards, professional associations, degrees, and other rather impersonal qualifications.  With each one I read a picture was painted of how powerful, intelligent, and potentially deserving the person was of such a high position.  For them, these classifications distinguish them from the rest of society and provide them with a sense of entitlement.  However, rarely do these accolades paint a picture into the inner personality of who they are and left me feeling disconnected from the individual. 

By contrast, I found the bios I read for members of the ‘Generation- Y’ class to be very light and personal.  Sometimes they included their own list of qualifications -sometimes not.  But the trend behind the ‘Generation-Y’ group was that they always clearly painted a picture into the personality of the person.  (Sometimes revealing a little too much.)  What they hoped to accomplish was to put themselves out there - Flaws and All - in hopes of just being accepted for who they ‘are’ rather than ‘what’ they accomplished. 

So the question now is: What direction should you take to present yourself in a professional setting?  I  am not a ‘Baby Boomer’, nor do I fall into the ‘Generation-Y’ category.  So - what direction did I go with my bio?  Well, you will just have to read it for yourself on my Author Bio page.

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