“Personal brands need to be authentic and resonate with those we want to influence.” -Rum

There is a rising interest in people building their personal brands. We live in a world where a personal brand is essential to finding work, meeting new friends, and living a more engaged life. For personal brands to be effective, they need to be authentic and align with who we truly are (and aspire to be). At the same time, personal brands also need to resonate with those whom we want to connect with and influence.

So what kills our personal brands.

I’ve seen three things in particular and would love to hear what others think in the comments below. The first is that we just aren’t clear about our brand. When we communicate our brand through our social media and other platforms, we can sometimes present a very muddled image of the things we value. A personal brand needs to be cleanly defined and easily communicated to others through our images and impressions. When I coach leaders around their personal brand, one of the first things we do together is to clarify what the leader values and how they represent this brand in the images and impressions they give.

The second thing is that even though we may be clear in our images and impressions, we fail to highlight values that are authentic to who we are. We see this all the time at work when interviewing people for an open role. A candidate may present themselves in ways that “look the part,” but when you actually put them in the job, they don’t have the depth of skills and knowledge to actually do the job, which is a costly hiring mistake. It’s critical to build a brand that is authentic to who you are and that you can back it up.

The third thing is that even though we may be clear in our images and impressions, and we highlight values that are authentic to who we are, we fail to recognize that other people may see our personal brands differently. Oftentimes, these perceptions could be negative or in tension with the personal brands each of us is trying to convey. For example, your personal brand may be trying to highlight that you are an early adopter of new technology, but others may see a negative side to your brand such as you being challenging to work with because everything you touch is always breaking or shifting.

To manage these issues, it’s critical that you clarify your brand through the images and impressions you make, highlight values that are authentic and that you can back up, and be open to seeing your personal brands through other people’s eyes (the good and the bad).

Take Action!

Three actions you can take:

1. Assess: Ask someone you know and trust at work about what they think your personal brand is with others in your workplace.
2. Reflect: Examine if the impressions and values that this person raised are consistent with how you see your personal brand.
3. Take Action: Identify the inconsistencies and take time to update your images and impressions to represent the values most consistent with your personal brand.

Restore® Initiative
This article was written in support of the Restore® Initiative, LRI’s campaign to encourage people to take a critical and constructive look at their own engagement (the Engage® Battery), and to learn about restorative leadership behaviors that help to recharge one’s own and others’ engagement (the Restore® Battery). For more information, email credible-leader@lri.com or click on www.credible-leader.com.

Disclaimer The text in this article was not AI-generated.