At a recent event hosted by the Canadian Women in Communications for senior level women, the guest speaker Linda Jojo, new Executive Vice President, ITS and Chief Information Officer of Rogers Communications shared three lessons she has learned with the women in attendance, but I’d like to focus on only one because it incorporates the other two. And that is the importance of branding yourself. Here are my thoughts on how to create a personal brand.
Quite recently, I have been reading a lot about creating a personal brand for yourself. You have to be known for something. Each of us has a unique set of skills and we need to let others know about them, so that when your skill set is needed, your name is synonymous with those skills. It’s interesting that so many people are now talking about personal branding because Tom Peters, the management guru, wrote a seminar article, The Brand Called You in Fast Company in August 1997 – that’s 14 years ago.
How to create a personal brand: How do you brand yourself?
Get yourself SEEN and HEARD. Jojo suggests that you take on tasks that others may not want such as running the United Way Campaign. Why? Because you’ll get visibility doing it, and you’ll also get the opportunity to make presentations about the campaign – this puts you in front of senior managers, the decision makers. She also recommends that you should take on jobs that others do not want. When no one wants a particular job, you can bet that it’s for a reason, and it’s probably because it’s plagued with many problems. But you should not be deterred because if you master that difficult job that no one wants to touch, you will be known as the person to call to solve difficult problems.
Jojo took on the job of running GE’s payroll system, one that didn’t run very smoothly. She made many mistakes along the way because it was a very complex job, but it was the best job she ever had because it taught her how to prioritize and how to communicate during a crisis. Over the years she has built a reputation for herself and that’s one of the reasons why she has moved up the ladder in her career. Sponsors also played a seminal role in opening doors for her. Jojo created a personal brand for herself, and she was SEEN and HEARD.
Unlike mentors, sponsors usually choose their protégés. To be chosen though, they have to know about you, so to have to be SEEN and HEARD. I have been building my personal brand as The Invisible Mentor and Expert Interviewer, how about you?