How Personal Brand and Your Career Goals Connect in Order to be Successful - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / How Personal Brand and Your Career Goals Connect in Order to be Successful - Introvert Whisperer How Personal Brand and Your Career Goals Connect in Order to be Successful For the Twitter-minded, who like their quick hits, here’s the moral to this story: Your career is only going to go as far as your Personal Brand. That’s right. Your career goals and whether or not you achieve them and when you achieve them are completely driven by your Personal Brand. I don’t think many people really think of their Personal Brand as being such an impactful thing. Let me explain a few things about Personal Brand: Your Personal Brand is how you are perceived. It’s not about how you THINK you are, it’s about how others experience you. If those around you (especially decision-makers and management) don’t “see” you as X, then guess what? You aren’t going to be X. You create your Personal Brand by what you do. Simple concept. You might be a marketing who that just happens to geek out on making Excel spreadsheets for everyone. You’ve created a Personal Brand with both things: A Marketing-Excel God. Not bad unless you want to be a Corporate Lawyer. You can shape and re-shape your Personal Brand throughout your career. Rarely does anyone stay in 1 profession anymore. As we zig-zag our way through our career, we have to redefine what we focus on, talk about and do (our behavior) to go with each change. If we didn’t, there would be no zag to the zig. We’d be going nowhere. Your Personal Brand isn’t just one thing. You are one full recipe of a number of characteristics and attributes. It’s that combination of things that makes you completely unique. The question is: does that recipe reflect the career of your choice? If not, you’ve got changes to be making. You may not be that perceptive. Not only can be our own worst critics, we are often not very objective when figuring out how we come across to others. I’ve known of people who thought they were a darling but most people think of them as a jerk or wonky. If you’re out of sync between your perception and reality, that’s the reason you aren’t getting traction in your career. You need feedback on how you’re perceived and then you need to really listen to it. You have to perform. With all of this discussion about Personal Branding, at the heart of your Personal Brand is whether or not you are barely scraping by in your job or the resident rock star. You want to think of your job performance as the foundation of your Personal Brand. If you aren’t performing well, that is your Personal Brand. You can try to behave as a resident rock star, but you aren’t one if you can’t perform. Consider that your first step in Personal Branding if you’re sputtering. Think one step ahead. You always need to be thinking about what your next career step or progression is. You then need to be branding to that next step before you get there or you won’t get there. The President of the US doesn’t start acting like a President after the election. They begin branding as a President long before campaigning starts and if they don’t, poof goes that job potential. Is your Personal Brand adequately reflecting your career goal? If it’s not, the good news is you can reshape it to help you pave the way to success. Go to top Personal Branding starts with how well you speak about YOU.   I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBook â€" The Definitive Guide to Creating and Using an Elevator Speech.   In this guide, I give you simple to follow instructions for creating a “wardrobe” of ways to talk about you â€" to leave a lasting impression.   Get your copy now: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential. What’s one element of your Personal Branding that you’d like a little help with? Let me know in the comments! Image: Flickr