Personal Brand
ello friends,
When I first heard about personal brands I avoided them. They felt fake, dishonest, and a thing influencers did to make money. But then a leader that I respected spoke on personal brands and explained that the way we present our selves matters. Our presentation informs others of our values. Do I dress for an occasion or comfort? Am I early, on time, or late? Do I curse (even the socially acceptable curses, such as damn), mumble, or rapidly talk in formal during meetings? Do I fidget, slouch, look around? These small behaviors are ripples of my belief systems from how I view my self, my role, and my thoughts regarding others.
“if you want what someone has, do what they did to get it. ”
Over the years of observing successful women, reading lots of books, & coaching from mentors, they were intentional with how they showed up at work. When I would sit down with these leaders they were candid, warm, likable, truthful, and asked insightful questions that revealed a different way of thinking. I asked one of these leaders, when people state “you said this…”, how do you remember everything you said? I had seen people throw “gotcha” questions at him in meetings and was always impressed with how he knew if he said that or they misconstrued what he had said. He responded, “I ask my self, does it sound like something I would say?”. He explained that since he aligns everything he says to his personal brand, he knows if he said it or not based on if resonates. After some reflection I had a very sobering experience in understanding the character I presented that “sounded like me”. I gossiped, made excuses, overcommitted, quick to get defensive, and complained. There were good things as well, but when I paid attention to my casual conversation the other traits were glaring.
This helped me define things I needed to do going forward
Define what kind of person I wanted to be.
Be intentional with the character I presented at work.
Align my work, casual conversations, meeting presentations, etc. to this intentional character.
Now before you go off on a mental rant on “that’s fake”, think of it this way. Do you show up for dinner at a restaurant dressed and with manners? Yes! The experience of dinner is different based on the way you present yourself and interact with others. What kind of experience do I want to have at work, where they are paying for me to show up?
““When you stand for nothing, you fall for everything.””
I wanted that confidence in knowing the character I was presenting. The way I presented my self was actually a by-product of my personal brand. It was about defining what you believed in and then allowing that to reflect in every conversations, presentations, and decisions.
I have redefined a personal brand to be a way of presenting my self both personally and professionally to demonstrate what I care about. As I grow and mature, my brand becomes more refined. It started with declaring how I wanted to be perceived. I added ideals I wanted to embrace for roles I was assigned at work, and now I focus on how my presence and work impacts others.
Grab your journal and lets figure what your personal brand is together.
Workshop
Identifying Character Traits
I am going to ask a series of questions and provide prompts. List out one word characteristics or short bullet points of your ideal that comes to mind. An ideal is something to strive towards, not where you are now. Characteristics fall into two categories; how we get work done and how we show up at work. Make sure to think of traits that fit both profiles.
Lets start with a seemingly simple question…
What makes a good employee? Use the perspective of an employer, how do you see your employee as reliable & doing the job you hired them to do?
Reflect on leaders you admire (men and women), write down their names and summarize what you admired most about them in one or two traits. For example, she’s great at cutting the tension in a room with a joke, excellent communication with agendas and emails, I always know where I stand with them, etc
How do you want to be known professionally? For example, integrity, collaborative, get-er-done, approachable, etc.
What words describe competency to you? For example, attention to detail, dependable, consistent, creative solutions, strategic, etc.
If your peers would describe you in one word, what would it be?
TIP: You are the only one that will see this so do not let pride (I'm already known for this), reverse pride (no one would believe that of me), or hesitation (should I write that?) get in the way. When the idea comes to you, write it down. Don't know what counts as character traits? Let me know and we can walk through different ideas.
Here are some traits to pull from, feel free to add or subtract from this list. It’s about what resonates with you and every field has different needs.
Insert table
Narrowing Down The List
It’s very easy to say, I want to be known for D. All the above. But the reality is that one character trait is multifaceted and will often take years to perfect and bake into our workflows, habits, responses, and casual talk.
Look at these traits from two facets:
The way in which you do your work
The atmosphere you create for those around you
Pick two traits, one for each facet. It’s hard. Wether it’s being a “boss lady” or being like one of your mentors, you have to start somewhere.
Note: Give your self three to six months, then come back to this list again. You’ll find some of the traits are no longer as important as they once were. Why? Because we change as we experience what it’s like to live out our ideal. Ideals change in application which for me have resulted in empathy and maturity. As I’ve matured, I now weigh traits differently because I have seen their value in their absence and the power in their presence. Humility is an excellent example.
Still stuck?
Remove any traits you feel “meh” about.
Allow yourself time to mull over the remaining five-ish left. Self-introspection is a tool for exercising the muscle of intuition, it gets easier with time. However, it takes time to identify the right voices to listen to in your head and heart.
Own where you are rather than where you want to be. I had to start with honoring where I was at. This allowed me to grow into other traits and celebrate my growth rather than starting with a false foundation, watching everything crumble, then feeling the shame spiral.
Summarize Behavior
Now that you have your traits narrowed down, create a couple of sentences that show what this character trait looks like in action. Using integrity as an example, “When I commit to something, others know I will always follow through with my commitments".
Now simplify these statements, ”I do what I say I'm going to do and say only what I will do". Sometimes the cornier this is, the more it will stick. Which is the point. A leader of mine referred to this as a “say/do ratio”. Her brand was that she had a “high say/do ratio”.
After you have two sentences that summarize the belief system you want to currently embrace at work we can use these in creating work goals. The way in which you accomplish something is just as, if not more, important than the thing you accomplish. You now know the way in which you want to accomplish your goals.
If you talk to any one that has done personal brands, this is just scratching the surface. But for me this was all I needed to start with. I encourage you to review other resources and test them out. No one person has all the answers.
I put a personal example below but if you are good to go the writing goals post.
Personal Example
Identifying Character Traits
Every one does this differently, there is no one right way. I started with reflecting on what I admired about my leaders and what I was told was needed in my role.
<insert table>
Sometimes I don’t know what to grow in. If I remove my self as the focal point, this picture becomes much clearer. I reframe everything to “how can I be of maximum service to others?”. Here are some questions to help with that, just switch out the trust worthy character trait used as an example.
If I wanted my co-workers to trust me and assist them, what did competency look like?
How could I lead in a way that would foster trust within the team?
How could I show my leader I was trustworthy when given a task? When having hard conversations?
How could I show respect for the another person’s time?
If I wanted to make a difference in my organization, team, or department, where would my strengths make the most difference?
Narrowing Down The List
When I narrowed down my list, there were many traits that were a compliment to each other, so I asked myself, what does each of these words mean to me? That helped me narrow it down further. Also, look up the words in the dictionary. It’s amazing how many definitions are assumed because we learned them from culture and not from a dictionary. Manipulate is a great example of a cultural verses dictionary definition.
Sincere – heartfelt
Authentic – accurate
Approachable – welcoming
Here are some of my narrowed down traits and how they have evolved in my career.
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How to use this Practically & now?
Consistency in communication methods: questions asked in meetings, crafting email replies, responding to feedback, and providing feedback.
When facing decisions at work, such as should I take this assignment? Take on a new role or responsibilities? You can leverage your “brand” to discern what aligns and does not align to the brand you want to foster.
Your brand can also help leadership differentiate you from your fellows. Branding provides leaders discussion points during talent discussions and clarification when assigning work.
