Building Your Personal Brand

Your Reputation is Your Personal Brand

It is the first thing that people think about you and how they see you. I have often equated it to a bank account. Money goes into the account as you accomplish things and add to your reputation. If things don’t go well and a few mistakes are made then you may have to make a withdrawal against your balance. If you have enough in the account because you have a strong reputation, then it won’t hurt you too much.

People will forgive mistakes if you have a strong personal brand because they know who you are already and they have seen how you respond to things.

This is why it is important to build a strong personal brand early on in your career and protect it.

Creating Your Own Personal Brand

I thought for years that I was the star in my movie, but I wasn’t. I was the person who was behind the star. I helped the star succeed and thought it was important for me to help them. They were on the stage and I was behind the curtain rooting them on. I made the choice to be an extra. It was the safe route and allowed me to play small.

My brand at that time was that I was dependable, got things done, and was good at developing people. It wasn’t a bad brand, but it was no different than many other people who were my peers. It didn’t show my value or help me stand out. I didn’t understand the importance of a personal brand at that time.

If you don’t decide what your personal brand is, someone else will decide for you.

Spend time now to think about what people say when they are around you. Do they compliment you in some way or tell you what you do well? Think about who you want to be before you do anything else. Get clear with the thoughts that you have because your actions will be driven based on your thinking.

Create the brand that you want starting today.

Pick three words that you want people to say about you when they meet you. Examples could be honest, bold, decisive, fun, strategic, intentional, focused, etc. Ensure that your actions are demonstrating whatever traits you choose every day. This is the brand that you want to be. Embrace it!

Using Leadership Assessment Help to Improve Your Personal Brand

I like to do leadership assessments for clients to help them learn more about who they are as leaders and how they are perceived. It also helps me get to know them better as their coach. Without fail, there is always an “aha” moment that occurs as we go through the results. How they see themselves is contradicted by the way that others see them, but they had no idea.

Some people hesitate to do assessments because they have some fear that it may show them something that they don’t want to see.

The question is wouldn’t you rather know the truth? I tell them that no matter what they learn, they still get to decide what to do with the information and we will partner together on how they want to go forward.

In one particular case with one of my clients, there were a lot of differences between perception and reality. The perception that people had of him was that he didn’t deal well with change and struggled to make decisions in meetings. He thought he demonstrated that he managed change and handled himself well in meetings. Information like this gives the opportunity to shift your behavior if you decide that is what you want to do. I asked him, “What do you want to do differently now that you have this new information?”

We discussed the gap between where he is and what personal brand he wants to have. What shifts could he make to show others how he sees himself? If his intention is to demonstrate that he can manage change and make decisions in meetings, what will he do differently? Consistent actions will shift the perception that others have of him, but he will need to be intentional about it. We put together a plan that he could start using the next day.

To develop and understand your personal brand, you have to ensure that the perception you have of yourself matches the view that others have of you.

Your Own Perception Impacts Your Personal Brand, Too

John, who had been leading his new team for about a year, came to me and said he wanted to be viewed by others as strategic. I asked him why it was important for him to be viewed as strategic? He said that his manager gave him feedback that he wasn’t being strategic enough and that he was still too focused on the details. His manager said that this was creating a perception that he didn’t have what it takes to be strategic.

I asked him to share what being strategic meant to him. He shared that people would see him as a big picture thinker, he would have a vision for his organization, build a strong team and be an influencer with his peers and management. I asked him what would prevent him from doing this today? He pondered for a few minutes before responding that he wasn’t sure where to begin. His conversation with his boss had given him doubts about whether he could be strategic and do what was expected.

I asked him to share an experience from the past where he had to learn something new that seemed challenging at first, but he kept at it and became good at it. He thought about it and shared an experience from his first job out of college. I asked him to go back to the moment in that situation when he didn’t have the knowledge of how to do it. What did you do first? He shared that he asked for help from some of his peers who helped him learn how to do it.

I said to him, so you have been through this type of situation before. Which one of the things on your list would be a good place to focus first and what actions would you take? He chose one of the choices from his list and shared the actions he would take first. I could see his energy change from a person with doubts, to a person who was excited to get started. He was confident with the actions he chose to focus on and he began to see how it could help him. We talked about the importance of consistency to shift perceptions and if he continued to focus on these actions, it would shift how people saw him.

Perceptions Become Reality Quickly

When someone gives you feedback, you have to decide what you will do with it and what actions you will or won’t take. John had big career aspirations and knew that this kind of perception would hurt his future promotions if he didn’t address it. He wanted a personal brand that showed people the kind of leader he knew he could be. Over the next year, John focused on being consistent with his actions so people would notice. His manager shared with him that he was seeing the change in John and would be able to recommend him for his next promotion.

Have you received feedback that may be hard to hear and could prevent you from reaching your career goals? What if you and I had a powerful conversation about your situation like I did with John and it shifted everything for you? Let me give you the gift of coaching so you can experience how it can help you.

Susan M Barber, President of Susan M Barber Coaching & Consulting, LLC, works with individuals, teams, and organizations to build skills that leaders need to attain breakthrough results. Her passion for coaching and leadership development is driven by seeing the transformation of leaders as they reach far beyond their own ideas of success. She continues to drive custom programs for groups that want to make changes in their careers to become more powerful leaders.