There is an interesting white paper recently placed on Brandchannel.com - "The Seven Doors of Connection" - the seven areas as the potential common grounds that can bridge relationships and build connections between people and brands.
This directly relates to personal branding - people love to connect to people - the essence of personal brand perceptions and also what many are looking for in terms of their relationship with their employers, jobs and lives.
Photo by Chris M70 on Flickr.com