The Importance of your Personal Brand
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“When it comes to career ascent, those who have created a personal brand will stand out and will be able to differentiate themselves through their work and achievements.”
-Beverly Lieberman, President, Halbrecht Lieberman Associates
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Your personal brand is how you present yourself and how others see you. You would always want to be authentic. A personal brand can be your competitive advantage or down-fall that distinguishes you.
Here are some examples of the power of projecting a personal brand. These people do or did stand out in their profession:
- David Beckman - popular soccer star in the late 1990s and the early 21st century. He is one of the most sought-after celebrities to endorse products
- Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon – innovative and transformational CEO
- Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York - speaks with purpose, poise and power
- Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla – a creative entrepreneur with a diversified product portfolio and a very distinct personality but amazingly brilliant
- Steve Jobs, past CEO of Apple - created excitement about new Apple products that people lined up at an Apple store hours before the store opened
- Oprah Winfrey, Media Personality - challenges millions of people to live their best lives by understanding their own potential
What makes an IT person stand out in terms of a personal brand? … perhaps being known as an expert in IT security, Cloud computing, Data/Analytics, Machine Learning, or being an expert coach… It is building upon one’s skills and expertise and demonstrating these via the workplace, through professional associations, blogs, LinkedIn, conferences, and/ or writing a book.
Dorie Clark, in her book, Reinventing You, offers a 3-Step Process for Reinventing Your Brand:
- Get clear on what your existing brand is.
- Identify the brand that you would like to have.
- Live out your brand.
Personal brands are NOT a recap of your resume, but rather a summary of your unique promise of value. Your brand is about how you are perceived, and the capabilities you want people to know you have. You will need to communicate and inspire your message to the right people and in a way that creates emotional connections with your target group.
The benefits of a personal brand are:
- Ability to build trust and command authority
- Being featured in the media
- Helps you build your network
- Enables you to attract more clients and/or employers
- Ensures you are creating a lasting platform
- Justifies charging a premium price
Take a step-back and do some self-reflection, how do you think people perceive you?
Let your personal brand help you stand out from other IT leaders who all seem to have similar skills and backgrounds.
Developing a personal brand is an ongoing effort to differentiate yourself from others. You will want to integrate your personal brand into your resume, elevator speech, LinkedIn profile, etc. And remember to ensure you are consistent across all channels.
Written by Mary Donohue & Montos Vakirtzis