6.

3 The art of personal branding

We've heard about the importance of 

personal branding and that having 
a strong reputation can open doors and 
bring you closer to unique career opportunities. 
But the actual idea of self-promoting, 
can be a bit embarrassing and 
unnatural as we are taught that it's 
not polite to focus too heavily on ourselves or 
speak to our strengths in a way that 
might be viewed as self-centered. 
It might take some practice to learn how to 
promote yourself without being obnoxious. 
But one thing is clear, 
is that personal branding is more of 
a requirement if you want to take 
your career to the next level. 
Let's look at what you can do 
to ensure that your talents are 
recognized and you stand out 
among other employees or candidates.

Play video starting at 1 minute 4 seconds and follow transcript1:04

Based on our previous activities and your own inner work, 
you may already have 
a good idea of what your personal brand is, 
but it is good to periodically 
review and address your personal brand, 
and whether it is in line with 
your current aspirations of what you 
want to be known for and 
what value you can create for others. 
If you realize that you need to adjust and modify 
your current career and 
professional development trajectory, 
you will, then, need to work on 
reinventing your personal brand. 
Such re-branding does not mean that you 
need to invent a completely new persona. 
Instead, it involves a shift in emphasis of your skills 
so others can be convinced that you 
are capable of doing new things.

Play video starting at 1 minute 59 seconds and follow transcript1:59

In order to protect your personal brand, 
you need to have a coherent and strong narrative that 
explains how your past fits into your future. 
For example, you need to turn what could be seen as 
a weakness into a compelling proposition 
that will be remembered. 
Valentina has worked in HR of 
a safety and security services company 
for a number of years and she's 
interested in moving to other areas of the business. 
At first, she thought that 
she might be seen as having nothing 
to bring to a new role in 
the different part of an organization. 
But she realized that she has a great deal of experience 
and skills that can be useful for the sales department. 
Valentina is known to be a great presenter and 
passionate about understanding 
people's needs and motivations. 
She decided to play on 
this strength when she approached the head of sales 
to discuss her desire to apply 
for a recently created role with the team. 
In addition, focus on the value 
your previous experience brings as 
opposed to trying to explain 
your career advancement or 
transition in terms of your interests. 
When Francisco was preparing notes for 
his upcoming interview and 
practice answering a classic question, 
"Why do you want to work for us?" 
He has been thinking about how to 
connect his current experience working in 
the publishing company to 
the interview with the tech company 
for a similar role of 
account executive that he was invited for. 
He decided to focus on the value and benefits 
his prior experience provided 
to his organization and his team. 
Instead of originally thinking to say, 
"I'm interested to work in the tech company 
as my old role in the publishing industry 
did not have any 
innovation," Francisco came up with another statement, 
"In my previous role, 
I was able to develop a large network 
of stakeholders that enabled me to 
quickly reach out to different customers 
whenever we held a conference or a special event. 
I'm also quite used working 
with short deadlines as, typically, 
we had to have our reports, 
news and presentations out within less than a week." 
Your current story or the one that 
you are updating should be consistent 
with your past so you are not 
challenged on the grounds of making stuff up. 
In addition, a well-told story can help 
you get that increase or promotion if you 
remind your manager how you are using 
your key strengths that you have developed 
over time in different positions. 
Hedy was thinking how it is best to present 
this year's increase in 
digital conversions at 
the upcoming quarterly performance appraisal. 
She decided to highlight her efforts to develop 
her team's understanding of overall customer journey 
and customer online purchasing experiences of 
the product so that they're more attuned to client needs. 
She will mention that 
her own sharp customer focus was 
thanks to her experience in customer care center, 
a couple of years ago, 
before joining the marketing team.

Play video starting at 5 minutes 36 seconds and follow transcript5:36

In the context of personal branding, 
I would like to reinforce that you 
consciously need to cultivate the broad network 
and focus more on bridging capital that is meeting 
with people from different circles than bonding capital, 
meeting with people from 
your inner circle or who are just like 
you to ensure that your network is diverse. 
That way, if your current situation changes, 
you will have options and furthermore, 
if you re-brand yourself, 
you will need to tap into 
your network to find those future customers, 
or clients, or leads for new business.

Play video starting at 6 minutes 19 seconds and follow transcript6:19

Naturally, apart from promoting your personal brand, 
you will need to demonstrate 
your expertise by helping others 
with solving a problem or 
doing something in an improved way. 
Of course, your work can speak for itself. 
You may, indeed, develop 
a good reputation among the people you work closely with. 
But if you are in a new industry, 
or business, or trying to move vertically in your career, 
you will need to convince 
senior leaders and people from different departments and 
organizations who are likely not going to be 
aware of your abilities and contributions. 
You don't have to speak 
non-stop about your accomplishments. 
As we've just discussed in the previous video how 
various content creation tools can help you. 
In face-to-face meetings with potential clients, 
you will certainly need to be 
confident and your body language and 
tone will be critical in conveying the right message. 
Minh was getting ready to meet with a colleague 
he doesn't know well from another department. 
To signal that he is a friend, 
he made sure to keep his arms uncrossed and hence, 
by his sides so to keep himself open to the other person. 
He knew he needed to work on his voice, 
to peach it lower so to not show 
his nervousness that tends to push the voice tone higher. 
When talking about your expertise to others, 
focus on the facts, not their interpretation. 
For example, don't call yourself a social media expert, 
or guru, or ninja. 
Instead, let other people proclaim you as an expert, 
and you can feature their testimonials or 
site publications that have given you accolades, 
but it is presumptuous to do it yourself. 
As mentioned earlier in the course, 
it is best to share information and 
demonstrate your expertise with stories, 
and make sure that they are relevant 
and timely to the wider context. 
Self-promotion works best when it's natural and unforced. 
You want to contribute to the conversation organically, 
not hog the spotlight. 
Finally, when you invest in 
refining your personal brand that will 
differentiate you from others and prove 
your ability to deliver great results on time, 
you are likely to attract a sponsor or someone in 
senior executive ranks who will vouch for 
you or entrust you with the leadership position.