Hi there,
To kick off this week's newsletter, I have a question for you:
Is it important to think about your personal brand when you’re a manager?
I was coaching someone the other day. Let’s call him Jack.
Jack is a brilliant manager and went for a promotion recently to a director role at the agency he is working at. He didn’t get it. When he asked for feedback, he was told that no one knew who he was.
Jack was super shocked by this because he thought he had a brilliant reputation in the company for doing great work. And, actually, he does. But the thing is, when you’re at a certain calibre of organisation, it’s just assumed that everyone is a brilliant performer.
It’s what you stand for that makes the difference. And that’s your personal brand.
Now, let’s be clear - there is also a difference between personal brand and reputation.
Reputation is the trail you leave in your wake. It is made up of the opinions and beliefs people form about you based on your collective actions and behaviours.
Your personal brand, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It is how you want people to see you. It is about visibility and the values that you outwardly represent. And here’s the wonderful thing - you have the power to define your brand by aligning your intentions with actions.
That is, changing your decisions and behaviours to influence how others see you and to help them connect both emotionally and intellectually to the image you hope to portray. And, if that image aligns with the opportunities you want, then you are much more likely to secure them.
Now, I would imagine you’re saying to yourself, "why is this woman obsessing about personal brand?" I mean, I know I’m ex-media but why, exactly, do I feel so strongly about it? Because, for me, when we talk about personal brand, the two most fundamental parts of it are: self-awareness and congruence.
A lot of that comes down to how you feel about yourself. And, believe me, I am big into feeling great about yourself.
Let’s start at the top with self-awareness. This is about understanding what makes you, you. So:
- The experiences you have
- The way you think about them
- The way you tell your story
That is everything that is entirely unique to you - indeed - as unique to you as your fingerprint is too.
Let’s take an example of mine:
You can do this with many of the experiences you’ve had in your life - both the good and the more challenging, looking for the assets in both.
A challenging one for me would be:
Once you have a selection of these, start pulling together a list of adjectives that describe you well.
How do they feel? Like a comfortable cloak to wear?
Now, question, do you think your outward behaviours and actions match this list of words? Because, this, I think is the really interesting thing and it’s where congruence comes in.You see, we can have all the self-awareness in the world. However, if we don’t have believe in ourselves, we will never quite feel confident enough to follow through on being like the person we truly can be.
So, are you? Are you living up to the expectations that you have of yourself? Do you like the person that you are? Is it different to the person that you hope you could be?
For me, it took stopping drinking until I finally felt full of enough self-esteem to deliver on truly being everything I knew I could be. And now, two years in, boy do I like and feel proud of the person that looks back at me in the mirror.
So, if you’re thinking about developing your personal brand - yes, for sure think about all the stuff you want to do - think about the stakeholders you want to meet, the networking you want to do, the social media presence you want to build. But, for the love of God, make sure first of all that your foundations are as solid as they can be.
- Do esteem-able acts.
- Keep the promises you make.
- And stop letting yourself down.
And, if you’re a manager, be the very best manager that you can be - by truly, authentically, being you.
Have a wonderful week, friends.
Cate x
Hi there,
To kick off this week's newsletter, I have a question for you:
Is it important to think about your personal brand when you’re a manager?
I was coaching someone the other day. Let’s call him Jack.
Jack is a brilliant manager and went for a promotion recently to a director role at the agency he is working at. He didn’t get it. When he asked for feedback, he was told that no one knew who he was.
Jack was super shocked by this because he thought he had a brilliant reputation in the company for doing great work. And, actually, he does. But the thing is, when you’re at a certain calibre of organisation, it’s just assumed that everyone is a brilliant performer.
It’s what you stand for that makes the difference. And that’s your personal brand.
Now, let’s be clear - there is also a difference between personal brand and reputation.
Reputation is the trail you leave in your wake. It is made up of the opinions and beliefs people form about you based on your collective actions and behaviours.
Your personal brand, on the other hand, is much more intentional. It is how you want people to see you. It is about visibility and the values that you outwardly represent. And here’s the wonderful thing - you have the power to define your brand by aligning your intentions with actions.
That is, changing your decisions and behaviours to influence how others see you and to help them connect both emotionally and intellectually to the image you hope to portray. And, if that image aligns with the opportunities you want, then you are much more likely to secure them.
Now, I would imagine you’re saying to yourself, "why is this woman obsessing about personal brand?" I mean, I know I’m ex-media but why, exactly, do I feel so strongly about it? Because, for me, when we talk about personal brand, the two most fundamental parts of it are: self-awareness and congruence.
A lot of that comes down to how you feel about yourself. And, believe me, I am big into feeling great about yourself.
Let’s start at the top with self-awareness. This is about understanding what makes you, you. So:
- The experiences you have
- The way you think about them
- The way you tell your story
That is everything that is entirely unique to you - indeed - as unique to you as your fingerprint is too.
Let’s take an example of mine:
You can do this with many of the experiences you’ve had in your life - both the good and the more challenging, looking for the assets in both.
A challenging one for me would be:
Once you have a selection of these, start pulling together a list of adjectives that describe you well.
How do they feel? Like a comfortable cloak to wear?
Now, question, do you think your outward behaviours and actions match this list of words? Because, this, I think is the really interesting thing and it’s where congruence comes in.You see, we can have all the self-awareness in the world. However, if we don’t have believe in ourselves, we will never quite feel confident enough to follow through on being like the person we truly can be.
So, are you? Are you living up to the expectations that you have of yourself? Do you like the person that you are? Is it different to the person that you hope you could be?
For me, it took stopping drinking until I finally felt full of enough self-esteem to deliver on truly being everything I knew I could be. And now, two years in, boy do I like and feel proud of the person that looks back at me in the mirror.
So, if you’re thinking about developing your personal brand - yes, for sure think about all the stuff you want to do - think about the stakeholders you want to meet, the networking you want to do, the social media presence you want to build. But, for the love of God, make sure first of all that your foundations are as solid as they can be.
- Do esteem-able acts.
- Keep the promises you make.
- And stop letting yourself down.
And, if you’re a manager, be the very best manager that you can be - by truly, authentically, being you.
Have a wonderful week, friends.
Cate x
