Enhancing the Brand of You

The brand that I am referring to is your personal/professional brand; how you are experienced by others.  To extend that definition, it represents the experience you strive to deliver to those with whom you interact and serve (internal and external to the company).  What do people say about you when you “leave the room?”

Designing or enhancing your brand starts with raising your self-awareness.  Begin to answer these questions; 1) What are three things that others consistently experience when having a relationship with you when you are at your best? And 2) What do they experience from you when you are at your worst?

Now, identify three to four people from whom you can get honest, productive feedback.  There is nothing worse than having blind spots.  Those are the things that others “know” about you, but you fail to see if yourself.  It should always be our goal to eliminate those blind spots.

From those feedback conversations, what are the gaps that are revealed?  How much personal brand development work do you have to do?  What are you going to commit to in order to strengthen your brand?  This includes both further leveraging the positive aspects of your brand, as well as creating a plan to overcome items that undermine your ability to be the strongest version of your brand.

Having a healthy and effective brand is important for many reasons, including 1) it sets a standard for others, 2) it helps build trust in your relationships, and 3) it supports the all-important “growth mindset.”  Remember to stay curious in those feedback conversations.  Try to avoid the tendency to defend or reject what you hear!