Whose brand does Barry Bonds represent?

If the comments attributed to Barry Bonds at a weekend golf tournament are any indication of his ability to represent a brand other than his own, I don’t want him working for me.

When he heard San Francisco manager Felipe Alou was thinking about putting him second in the batting order to give him more at-bats, the seven-time MVP reportedly said “I am going to speak to Felipe because at this point in my career it doesn’t work for me to be second bat.”

Excuse me, but doesn’t the manager do the managing? As long as he’s getting a paycheck, shouldn’t Bonds do whatever the manager tells him to do and learn to represent the San Francisco Giants’ brand, especially when he's in the San Francisco Giants' uniform?

What would happen to the Target employee who said “at this point in my career, it doesn’t work for me to wear a red shirt?” What if the Starbucks barista said “it doesn’t work for me to charge this much for coffee?” Would the nurse who said “it doesn’t work for me to use a clean needle” still have a job?

Yes, Barry Bonds still sells a lot of tickets, and yes, he’s probably going to bat somewhere other than second because of it. But it’s a good – if not over the top – example of what happens when employees don't take ownership of a brand. It’s what happens when the brand doesn’t drive the decisions, but the decisions drive the brand.