Recap (January 31, 2019) – Personal Branding: Why You Need One and How to Go About Building One (Part 1)

Our guest on Jan. 31 was Michael Seaver, a leadership and executive coach based in Arizona. You can find the full video recording here. If you would like to listen to the audio recording only, you can listen to our interview here.

Before we started the webcast recording, some of us started talking about chronotypes. Below is the page I held up on the screen camera. You can find the web link to that story here.

 

According to Michael, our personal brand incorporates our values, motivators, experiences, and strengths. They come together as patterns that exist through how we live our lives. It is the 3-5 things that make us unique. We then express our personal brand through the work we do, how we conduct ourselves, the color(s) we choose, our body language, what we choose to say in our resume, LinkedIn profile, executive biography, interview, and even when we are out networking. We have to consciously use that same language repeatedly; if it is not utilized—whether on paper or in electronic format—then it is hard for others to understand what is true to us. In other words, our personal brand is expressed both verbally and non-verbally; and it has to be expressed in a consistent manner.

 

When Michael works with clients on developing their personal brand, he begins the process by having his clients complete a behavioral profile using the DiSC assessment. He then works with them to identify their motivators and value structure. Once he has compiled that information, his clients draft three guiding statements: an intention statement (similar to a mission statement), an ambition statement (goals, vision), and finally their value proposition, which becomes the foundation for their personal brand.

 

All of us should develop a personal brand, including introverts. All of us, including introverts, should focus on the alignment between thought, mission, what it is that we are and our actions. The greater the congruence and consistency in those aspects of our life, the easier it will be for people to know us for our brand. Introverts can share their brand (this is typically with smaller groups of people) by producing content, for instance, by writing a blog or posting on Instagram. Introverts can also demonstrate their brand within organizations by getting small groups of people together to make sure that those in the group are moving towards a common goal. Additionally, introverts can showcase their brand by getting involved in non-profit organizations within their community.

 

Job search and career advancement aside, personal branding is also relevant from a job satisfaction standpoint. In a 2017 study of the global workforce, Gallup found that only 13% of the global workforce were engaged. In other words, 87% were disengaged or actively working against their organization. As organizations, this is a huge loss of productivity. As individuals, it means that 87% of the global workforce were working in environments in which they are not satisfied. If we do not know what it is that we want (including the type of environment in which we will be our best) or if we cannot articulate the value that we bring to an organization/team, it will be challenging for us to proactively engage in and be satisfied with the work that we do.

 

If you would like to work directly with Michael on developing your brand—whether for your job search or career advancement—you can find him at https://michaelsseaver.com/. To sign up for Michael’s newsletters, visit https://michaelsseaver.com/contact-me/. For those in the US, you can text the word “discovery” to 66866.

 

As iMBA and iMSA students you also have free access to Beyond B-School, including their videos on personal branding:

* If you encounter difficulties accessing these videos, go to Beyond B-School first before clicking on the links above.

** To access these videos, go to http://mbacareerbootcamps.com/registration/. Register for an account using your @illinois.edu e-mail address. Follow the instructions to set up your password and then log in. Note that the password you set expires every two weeks, so you may need to re-set your password after that.

 

As an Illinois student, you have access to content on Lynda.com. To access Lynda.com, go to http://go.illinois.edu/lynda and sign in using your Illinois NetID (the portion before @illinois.edu) and password. Once you are logged in, you can access the videos accordingly. However, you must first log in through Illinois.

 

Additional Resources:

 

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For upcoming events, please bookmark and follow our blog. See you at our next event on February 14 when I speak with Ross Macpherson, expert resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile writer.

Jerome
jeromeng@illinois.edu