Personal Brand
This might be for you if:
Your authentic self is loosely based on how I you are feeling at the moment rather than principles you believe in.
You are mentoring someone that seems scattered and doesn’t have a clear direction on how to show up at work.
What is a personal brand?
We work in a world where we split our time between a physical and digital society, each with their own distinct culture and acceptable standards. We don't have control over much in the world, but we do have control over the way we respond. In its most basic form, a personal brand is the character we actively develop and consistently express (intentionally or unintentionally). The goal of this post is to provide a process to identify for how you want to show up intentionally at work but you can apply this across all societies.
Why should I do this?
Once defined, your personal brand is a tool that can provide the following.
The attitude in how you accomplish your yearly goals.
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.
Story Time
Our team had been awarded the exciting problem of creating a metric to assess a teams security posture. Most of us were dumbfounded on what data points could apply to assessing a state of mind. Fortunately for my company, we were engineers and loved solving complicated problems. We spent months creating a metric based that would promote security best practices into each team’s workflow. When we had presented our Proof of Concept to our Leadership, they loved it but were concerned about if people would adopt it or not. In order to be adopted, people had to trust the metric. We were assigned a personal brand team. Most of us were baffled. What does a personal brand team have to do with our metric?!
Metrics drive behavior. When we are held accountable to a metric we have never experienced before, fear is a natural response. We want to do well, how will we know that we will do well? Gossip and speculation are a nasty thing left unattended and based in fear. Branding was my company’s answer. It was not to prevent Gossip and speculation, rather provide a space to voice speculation and reinforce the intention behind the metrics. This was the point behind having a brand team work with us, to teach us how to interact with the rest of the company to facilitate trust.
“If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth” ~Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
This works for both lies and truth.
The branding team took us through a series of exercies. We defined what our ultimate goal was, how we wanted to be perceived, and the attitude of our team culture. We then walked through what actions, statements, and services we offered as a team would support that. Here is a glimpse into what we did.
Defined Ultimate Goal - Provide a metric that gives a transparent way to improve the security culture and posture of a team.
Defined Perception - Approachable, transparent, & supportive
Prepared a brand statement that we would always compare our communications against. Providing data driven, transparent metrics with an action plan on how to improve (I’ve forgotten what this is now but something along these lines).
Created a slack channel, dedicated one engineer to responses, aligned all responses to the brand statement, created a “pretty” dashboard with all the metrics displayed and a list of prioritized action items that would improve the score when complete (real-time). We also opened this up to the entire internal company. Any engineer could see this, jump on slack and ask questions.
The response blew us away. It wasn’t long before our metric was being used by the Board of Directors as a more holistic approach to understand where we were as a culture on security. We were thrilled. But the biggest lesson we learned was the intentional responses aligned to a brand statement.
Not everyone was thrilled to have a new metric. Our team faced constant gossip, accusations based off baseless speculation, and open disagreements in our slack channel. We often found people looking for flaws only to throw it in our face at any public opportune moment. Again, people in fear are often not their best selves. We cared about our work and often took some of these complaints personally. However, when we responded it was in alignment with the brand we had worked on. Often during out daily meetings we would discuss sticky situations that had come up and ask ourselves how this aligned to our brand.
Although the metric was powerful in it’s own right, I believe it was the branding that allowed it to be successful. Over several months the reputation turned from “another metric” to “this makes sense and is way better than the other metrics that have been forced down our throat”. This lead me to ask the question…
What would happen if we applied a brand to the way we show up at work?
I began asking favorite leaders if they had a personal brand. And as a kid wanting to show off their shiny new discovery, I was happy (and slightly disappointed) to hear they did! In fact, they all had their own personal brand statements. Their approach however was organic. Their brand was revealed through time, practice, and mentorship. I didn’t have that time or experience, but I did have a shiny new process. Using this process and their mentorship, below is what I use to help others define their personal brand.
The Process
Disclaimer This is one of many processes. It’s like buying a pair of heels 👠 (🥾 or 👢), you’ve got to live in them a bit before you know that they fit. Try it out, see what it reveals, then make your decision if it fits. Odds are you’ll be all the more wiser for the experience. If this doesn’t work for you, there are lots of blogs out there. Thanks google 🫶.
Identify Key Character Traits
Break out the whiteboard or a blank sheet of paper, then write down character traits that you want to be known for. Start with a list of traits you have, admire, or want to amplify.
How do you want to be known professionally? For example, integrity, attention to detail, collaborative, get-er-done, etc. Ensure the traits resonate with you rather than what you should do. We know you are skilled, that’s not what we are talking about here. How do you want your co-workers to perceive you?
Think of leaders or team mates you admire, what do you admire about them? You don’t have to like everything, just write down the stuff you do like (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).
Traits fall into two categories; the way in which we work and how we show up. Make sure to list traits that fit both profiles.
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.
Creative
Conscientious
Compassionate
Resilient
Honest
Bold
Courageous
Honorable
Disciplined
Kind
Community serving
Enthusiasm
Steward
Balanced
Resourceful
Efficient
Autonomous
Approachable
Action-oriented
Example (mine):
Creative
Approachable
Polished -> all the women I admire look like this
Competent -> really hard to define but starting with this word
Integrity
Collaborative
Authentic
Sincere
Resourceful
Community serving
Efficient -> this would be a nice contrast to my procrastination
Balanced -> I laughed at this one at first
Action-oriented
Detail-oriented -> I don’t really like this but all the successful people I know have this
Decisive -> I have never been this…but I would like to be
Courageous
Honorable
Disciplined
Kind
Conscientious
Compassionate
Resilient
And the list goes on…
Now that you have your traits...pick two.
Pick the two that resonate, not the two that are right.
Sometimes cutting the obvious ones first helps or those that are “meh”.
Allow yourself time to mull over the remaining five-ish you boil it down to. 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.
Example continued…
Following the process, here is my list after I crossed out what would be nice verses what I felt is right (or obligated).
Creative
Approachable
Polished -> all the women I admire look like this
Competent -> really hard to define but starting with this word
Integrity
Collaborative
Authentic
Sincere
Resourceful
Community serving
Efficient -> this would be a nice contrast to my procrastination
Balanced -> I laughed at this one at first
Action-oriented
Detail-oriented -> I don’t really like this but all the successful people I know have this
Decisive -> I have never been this…but I would like to be
Courageous
Honorable
Disciplined
Kind
Conscientious
Compassionate
Resilient
What’s left?
Filter with the eyes practical and be honest, even if it’ shallow.
Owning where we are rather than where we want to be is hard.
Honor where you are at. This allows you to grow into other traits and celebrate your growth rather than starting with a false foundation and watching everything crumble.
My narrowed down list. (Note, most of this I lacked at the time which is why I’ve listed it).
Creative
Approachable
Polished
Competent
Authentic
Sincere
Action-oriented
Approachable, sincere, & authentic are all in alignment. So I must ask myself, what does each of these words mean to me?
Look up the definition, it’s amazing how many definitions are taken at cultural face value verse a dictionary reference.
Sincere – heartfelt
Authentic – accurate
Approachable – welcoming
After a bit of self-reflection, I realized my real goal is to create an atmosphere where others can show up as themselves and be honest. That meant I had to do the same while creating the space to invite them in. Approachable became the logical choice once I realized my true goal.
Creative, polished, competent. I can only pick one 😿. When I thought deeper on this one I realized I want to be seen a certain way. All the women I admired were uniquely beautiful, physically fit, concise in their speech, and an air of confidence (Apart of owning where I am at is acknowledging I judge outside appearances before behaviors 😳). When I reflected on what I considered polished to mean, I realized those I regarded as polished I had also assumed were competent. Creative was in my approach, not a defining trait.
Therefore, my two final traits were Approachable & Polished.
Summarize Behavior
Create a couple of sentences that show what this character trait looks like in action. Using integrity as an example, "my verbal commitment inspires trust and others know I will always follow through with my commitments".
Now simplify these statements into even simpler terms. "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.
Approachable – I create an atmosphere to show up as oneself while respecting the purpose of our time together. Simplified -> sincerely compliment, encourage feedback, & say thank you.
Polished – I am thoughtful in my presentation and discerning in what is needed in a situation with a simple, clear, and concise attitude. Simplified -> What does put together look like?
This is what I now use when communicating and discerning how I want to accomplish my goals. This also helps in defining goals that are aligned with my brand.
“When you stand for nothing, you fall for everything.” ~ Alexander Hamilton, Peter Marshall, and others
Sit With It
Pick the simplest statements from the above step. Then sit with those and see how this feels. If the more you reflect on these statements and they feel true, then YAY! 🎉 You've got your personal brand. If the more you sit and feel like there is something missing. Rinse and repeat.
Next Steps
This is the foundation of the next phase, Goal Prep (link coming soon).
Feedback
Most of the mentees I have walked through this process with did not see the point. My favorite example was during a status meeting, a year after we had walked through this exercise. Mentee, “You know, when you made me do this brand thing, I did it to entertain you. You were my leader and well…I had to do it. But I still think about that exercise to this day. It’s actually helped to change the way I work. What I take on and what I say no to…”
Everyone pulls something differently from this exercise. The fruits of this exercise are often not seen until months after application. It’s like loosening up the soil and planting a seed🌱. It’s growth is based on sincerity and time. Just as it took time change the perspective of my company’s culture with metrics, it takes time to see the results of practicing being intentional with how we show up at work.
Do the footwork, trust the process.
I would love feedback on how this was or was not helpful, better phrasing, different delivery, potential examples.
