What do you stand for? What are you great at? What is your reputation? How do you want to be known? Combine the answers to these 4 elements, and that’s your Personal Brand. So, what’s the 5th element? Authenticity. Your Personal Brand is the best version of you, but it must be authentically you.
Create your Personal Brand by combining your Principles, Superpowers, reputation, and how you want to be known. But above all, be authentic. #personalbrand Click To TweetWhat do you stand for?
Your brand starts with your Principles — what you stand for. Things like Connection, Decisiveness, Innovation, and Integrity are all Principles. These core values help make you . . . you! Using your Principles in your brand statement can be powerful; when your Principles align with those of other people or organizations, that harmony can make you more satisfied and fulfilled. (To learn more, check out this blog post.)
What are you great at?
Next comes your Superpowers — what you’re great at. Most people start with Superpowers when they’re creating their Personal Brand, but there’s a reason I put this one second. What you do is important, but by itself, it’s not going to help you to stand out in a crowd (or in a sea of resumes). The real power in your brand is how what you do combines with all of the other elements.
If there’s something you want to be great at, but you aren’t (yet!), be proactive and develop it! There are so many resources – books, videos, training classes – on virtually every topic you can think of. And one of the best ways to make your learning stick is by applying it on the job or by volunteering. That won’t work for everything, of course, but talk with your manager about it, and explore the possibilities!
What is your reputation?
Your reputation is an external view of how your brand comes to life. Think about what your friends, colleagues, and customers say about you. And for purposes of this exercise, you can limit this to people who like and support you. My guess is that you don’t want to base your Personal Brand on stuff people you don’t like say about you!
How do you want to be known?
How you want to be known is what I think of as your internal brand voice. It includes only those things that you want people to notice about you. For instance, if you’re a great wedding planner, but you HATE weddings, don’t include “wedding planner” in your brand! Maybe the 2 things you really love about it are the planning piece and managing all of the vendors. Those things could come into your brand statement pretty easily.
Can you get your Principles, Superpowers, reputation, and how you want to be known into a short (one or two sentences) brand statement? Probably not! But if you have all of these elements in mind as you brainstorm, you’ll be well on your way to the most authentic Personal Brand you’ve ever created!
Share your Personal Brand below!