Nigeria, Aug. 5 -- Your job gives you a platform to perform. Your personal brand gives you influence.

Tunde had always believed that success at work meant getting a good job, performing his assigned duties diligently and receiving his monthly salary. Like many young graduates, that was his definition of career success.

After graduating with a degree in Pharmacy, he secured employment with one of Nigeria's leading teaching hospitals. Excited about the opportunity, he threw himself into his work. He arrived early, attended to patients professionally and carried out every assignment expected of him. One afternoon, while waiting for a departmental meeting to begin, he picked up a professional magazine lying on the conference table. One head...