Self Branding

Other than a painful, drunken practice of Frat Brothers and frontier cowboys or the latest topic on Oprah, I’m not sure this term should actually be used as a verb. 

I prefer the noun: “Personal Brand”

As with a corporate brand, your Personal Brand may be something you “manage”  but it is created by the way you work and may not be as you intend.

In corporate America, those of us who do the work of the company (separating from the C-level executives to whom NONE of this applies) are annually evaluated on not only what we’ve done in the last year but how we’ve done it.  Typically a bi-modal evaluation program like this results in great “what” score and a confusing “how” score that is less than anticipated.

Why?

For one simple reason; measuring your Personal Brand (i.e., reality checking it internally at the company) is virtually impossible.

Now HR practitioners will argue that a 360 degree review (where your Mgt, co-workers and subordinates are all anonymously polled and the feedback provided to the individual) account for this internal Personal Brand check but anyone who has been through a 360 knows that’s not true.  So not true that I once completed one for a manager of mine and in our next 1:1 she said to me “I heard your voice in my review”!!  I had been honest and made some grueling recommendations for improvement in her “how”, was assured it was confidential and low and behold – she parsed the comments out and knew what I had said.

Needless to say, any 360 degree review I was involved in from that point forward was a highly edited, cliff notes of what the true feedback could be.  This is true for a large majority of people being polled in these “feedback” sessions.  Your true Personal Brand is what is said about you around the water cooler.

So what does this look like (inability to accurately access your true Personal Brand) in real life?  Let me ask you if you know this person at work:

1. Considers himself a “SME” (subject matter expert).  Note; I said “considers himself” not “is considered by the team/group/company!
2. He’s always adding his 2 cents to a conversation, even when he’s not really part of it.
3. Acts like he’s always too busy so that any time he gives you is perceived to be at a premium.
4. Asks for ideas and input but does what he originally intended to do in spite of it.
5. Lets everyone know every time he has a conversation with an executive and it always seems to be that this Exec asked for his advice.
6. Eats lunch alone.
7. Is never invited to the after work impromptu beer gatherings
8. Has been in his same job for 10 years + (consistently passed over for promotion)
9. Bugs you.

Now when someone asks this guy how he’s seen at work, he’ll rave about how he’s respected, consulted and admired.  But, is that the way you really feel about him?

Before we can go about “managing” our internal Personal Brand, we have to find a handful of honest co-workers, supervisors and subordinates who will tell us the hard-to-hear truth.  And then we have to accept it with grace and go about changing the things that caused us to shudder when we heard them.

Fact is, YOU have some things you can change today to make your self-brand better – are you willing to hear them and do the hard work to change them?