What came first, the human or the brand?

I read this quote from Tom Peter's article 'Brand called you':

“No matter what you're doing today, there are four things you've got to measure yourself against. First, you've got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague. Second, you've got to be an exceptional expert at something that has real value. Third, you've got to be a broad-gauged visionary—a leader, a teacher, a farsighted "imagineer." Fourth, you've got to be a businessperson—you've got to be obsessed with pragmatic outcomes. It's this simple: you are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.”

It seems to me to be a very narrow vision of a brand. I agree that we are all building our own brands which is the same as building a public person, creating the right impression on others which ultimately helps you to reach your goals. You could say that building brands takes lessons from human instinct as people came first and we intuitively create personas for ourselves in many different ways. I'm not sure if I like the threatening tone of this quote. I mean since when did brands dehumanise us, shouldn't we be humanising brands? Fair enough it was written in 1997, I like to think we've moved on since then.