Personal Branding: Why You & I Need it?

As we begin a new year, I would like to express immense gratitude to everyone who appreciated my articles last year.

Often by end of every passing year I like to reflect on my journey and try to figure which aspects of myself I am proud of and which are the ones I need to work upon.

A key question which crops up when I think of my leadership journey, is- what is the peoples’ perception of me? What attributes are associated to me? or in other words what is my personal brand?

Exploring the answer to this question has led me to start a series on Personal branding, where I would like to share an understanding of my ?personal brand with all of you and will also share the various nuances related to it.

Personally, I have realized each of one us evolves in our life and so does our personal brand. Also Some of the key traits or aspects of our personality remain unchanged, however ?we become more self-aware of who we are and what do we stand and definitely on what are we chasing in our lives.

Have you come across this very famous quote by Mark Ecko? “You too are a brand whether you know it or not. Whether you like it or not.”

We all have heard how essential branding is for a product or service, but isn’t it equally important for individuals, if not more. Don’t you think our brand is what makes us unique?

I took some time to ponder on this subject. I realized that in the current era, where social media has immense impact and reach and so is warranted for everyone, personal branding is certainly a ‘must-have’ rather than ‘good-to-have’. It even provides a competitive edge in this era of digital social media, remote working and Gig economy. Afterall, no presence online, also sends a message these days.

Whether you are going on a blind date or appearing for a job interview, there is a high probability that someone is going to Google you up to learn more about you. As the influence of Social media and the gig economy is increasing, it is essential for everyone to embrace personal branding.

What is personal branding from my perspective?

There is a thin line between how I perceive myself and how others perceive me and building a personal brand is how I can blur or erase the line. For example, I am in the recruiting industry for a decade now and I want to be perceived as someone who can be trusted by clients or candidates, while they entrust a requirement to me or make a career choice based on my recommendations, respectively. This “trustworthy” perception can be built for real, if I consistently deliver on the promises I make to the clients or the candidates.

A personal brand is a unique selling proposition and it’s not what I say but what my actions and conduct conveys to most. It’s an opportunity for me to differentiate myself from the rest. Although I am not a PR specialist but every single day I communicate with numerous people and that’s my opportunity to build and evolve my personal brand by living up to my current skills, purpose, and core values.

Building a consistent Personal Brand

It depends on so many things including what I post online; how I respond to or address an individual or a group; how I deal with certain or uncertain situations. While working on my personal brand, it’s essential for me that whatever I post should have a consistent theme. My personality or brand should reflect in whatever I talk about, be it business, family or anything else, it should sync with my professional and personal outlook.

Although there are as many categories of personal branding as there are people, a 2011 New York Times article focuses on the following six "personas" which stand out-

Altruists- highly recognized for their commitment to helping others.

Careerists- True careerists are those who show a preference for professional advancement above all other personal achievements.

Hipsters- Individuals who embrace individuality above all else. Hipsters can adopt aspects of both altruism and careerism

Boomerangs- Very popular term thanks to Instagram?? people who share content and generate interactions simply to create discord through controversy.

Connectors- Connectors are people who pride themselves on their ability to bring people together

Selective-The selective is a person that only shares information with specific people.?

If you find it difficult to align with any of the above 6 personas, you may take this quiz to discover your own brand through-(SelfBrand Assesment). I tried it and following were my choices to the various questions posed in the quiz.

Most of the time I am

• Focus on a topic in-depth
• Do more than what is expected

But sometimes I

• Drive the team too hard
• Lose patience with people who are disorganized

Generally people see Me as:

• Knowledgeable
• Deliberate and careful
• Hard-working and organized properly

But I can:

• Rely too much on tradition
• Be overly analytical
• Go out of my way to complete something

My personal Brand has 3 aspects- Visible/ Authentic/Meaningful

Visible- Being authentic and true to myself and to the people around me; embrace learnings to stay?relevant, consistent and focused; which enables people to be authentic and courageous.

Authentic- Lead by my convictions; building on?my self-awareness & beliefs in doing the right?thing no matter how difficult.

Meaningful-?Creating opportunities for women internally and externally; upholding inclusiveness as a?core value and building my awareness on unconscious bias. Making this as an opportunity for my?dreams.

Now is the time to ask yourself: 'How am I seen viz-à-viz how do I want to be seen?" Let me know in the comments.