On his Personal Branding Blog, Dan Schawbel offers this dead-on insight:
“You are the chief marketing officer for the brand called you, but what others say about your brand is more impactful than what you say about yourself.”
With many career successes, you’re probably (and hopefully) well aware of your unique value, but your own assessment of yourself is just one opinion. Encourage feedback from those around you to help you determine and/or reinforce what your top brand attributes are.
What better indicator of your greatest strengths and assets than what those who know your work best have to say about you? They are in the position to know how you use your strengths to benefit the company. They’ve seen you in action many times, tackling impossible challenges, re-engineering failing operations, positively impacting bottom line, etc.
This is an extremely useful practice when you’re building a leadership brand statement for your executive resume and other career marketing documents, and as you move forward in a job search.
Here are a few questions I have my clients ask the people they work with:
♦ What are my client’s greatest strengths?
♦ How do you rate her performance as a leader?
♦ How do you describe her when introducing her?
♦ For what things or help do you always come to her?
We start seeing consistencies in their feedback. Often to a person, certain qualities and strengths shine through. With that information, we’re able to validate and reinforce our own assessment and come up with an authentic brand statement that makes them come alive on the page and draws in the hiring decision-makers reviewing their resume.
You may be surprised by how willing the people around you are to tell you what a positive impact you’ve had on the company’s success and their own careers. You’ll get a deeper appreciation of what differentiates you from others doing the same work and the value you offer your next employer.
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