Managing your brand is different from promoting it

Earlier, I shared thoughts on identifying and promoting your personal brand. The next step is managing it: knowing what people think of you, leaning into what works and changing what doesn’t. Here are some lessons from my journey:

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• Listen to feedback. I joined my current company in 2016. I came from an environment where I was well-known. My brand was one of inclusiveness. Almost all my meetings were open – literally anyone could attend. At my new company, I knew no one. New company. New faces. New city. New culture. A few months in, I learned people complained that I was leaving them out. I was shocked. I didn’t know enough people to leave anyone out. I could ignore the feedback or embrace it. I immediately recognized that my personal brand was forming, and not how I desired. I needed to better manage it. So, I got a list of 30+ colleagues who might feel they should have a role in what I was working on and I went to coffee, lunch or drinks like it was my full-time job. I asked for opinions and help. I asked people to join working groups. I showed people I’m inclusive. I managed the misperception.?

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• Be self-aware. I ask a LOT of questions. I’m curious. I want to know the story behind the data and the thinking behind the recommendation. I talk fast and have informed opinions. Line those things up and people can feel they’re standing in front of a verbal firing squad. I don’t want to be known that way. I want to be a collaborator. So, I work to stay quiet and limit my questions. I work to know my purpose in meetings and to operate in a positive, challenging way vs. an intimidating, stress-inducing way. I don’t get it right all the time, but I work on it regularly and recognize it’s part of my personal brand that I need to manage.

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• Leading as a woman. Many people ask whether I’ve had to manage myself differently because I’m a woman in a male-dominated industry. Yes and no. In challenging assumptions and raising questions, I sometimes receive feedback that I’m defensive or argumentative. I must acknowledge those perceptions, but I don’t have to accept them as part of my brand. Instead, I thank people and ask why they perceived me that way. I sometimes ask a simple question – “if [fill in a man’s name who is part of the same effort] had behaved as I had, how would you describe him?” That often elicits a response like “passionate” – and there’s the ah-ha moment. I then manage my brand by pointing out that rather than being defensive or argumentative, I’m passionate, too – and extremely well-prepared. I don’t apologize for that. I’ve worked hard to build my brand on that.

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You own the brand of you! Identify what that is, promote it and manage it as if your career depended on it. In so many ways, it already does!

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This is the final post in a series of three. Read the first two:?Managing the Brand of You and Defining your personal brand is one thing; promoting it is another .