Personal Branding? Do This Instead.

“Hey Jeff! Do you give talks on personal branding?”

I get this question every couple of months from well-meaning managers looking to host an exciting talk or lunch-n-learn for their team.

I’m flattered they would ask me because I’m a pretty dull guy when it comes to social media. I’m not on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or any of the trendy platforms suggested by Gary Vaynerchuk.

I’m only active on LinkedIn because small business owners need a way to build awareness of their services, and LinkedIn feels like the most grown-up of the social platforms.

What exactly is personal branding?

Wikipedia says it is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization.

Kylie Jenner, Dwayne Johnson, and Lebron James are great examples of brands. They also have a team of people managing their image and making deals to make them some of the highest-paid celebrities in the world.

Don’t think for a moment that anything that The Rock does on social media isn’t intentional. From the truck, he drives to the tequila in his glass, all of it is designed to influence millions of followers and put millions in his pocket. Jenner has used her fame and entrepreneurial mind to build a global cosmetic brand, making her one of the youngest self-made billionaires in history.

So how might this help Stephanie, a new manager on the project management team?

It doesn't. Focusing your energy on personal branding is like building one of those cakes we see on the Food Network; it looks amazing and colorful on the outside but isn't made for eating.

Who wants to buy a cake you can't eat?

When we talk about personal branding, what we are really talking about is the ability to influence others, and the best way to do that is to build credibility with those you want to influence.

What is credibility?

Credibility is the quality of being trusted, believed in, convincing, or believable. In other words, influential.

When it comes to playing basketball, LeBron will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game; Jenner knows a thing or two about cosmetics and building a brand; the Rock is the highest-earning actor per movie and is the self-proclaimed “hardest working person in the room.” These folks are unquestionably brands, but they are brands because they also have credibility built on a track record of delivering the goods. In other words, they are influential because they are credible; and they are credible because they do the work and deliver results.

I wrote an article titled How Credible Are You?  In this, I provided five questions to ask yourself to assess your credibility. I was surprised by how many people mentioned the article to me. Each person said they found the questions helpful, but they wanted more. It wasn’t enough to determine if they were credible; they wanted to know how to build credibility.

How to build credibility:

The principles

Building credibility is an inside-out approach. The personal branding approach is trying to manage people’s impression of you. I once worked for a manager who took this approach, and it was infuriating because you never knew which version of them would show up. They were utterly unpredictable because they were always trying to read the situation with their manager and would flip-flop on decisions. Their north star was whatever led to the most favorable impression at the moment, rather than a set of core beliefs and principles. It left everyone, including their superiors, questioning precisely who they were dealing with at any given moment. This was the ultimate “yes” person. Don’t be this person.

Your degree of technical ability is essential, but not enough. If you need surgery, you wouldn’t let a Jimmy John’s delivery driver do the job; instead, you would hire someone who’s qualified for the task. True enough. The world is full of technically competent people who have acquired a long list of degrees and certifications that have no influence whatsoever. You might be the smartest person in the room on a given subject, but if you are lazy, insensitive, or have a huge ego, no one cares. Rare is the person whose technical competence outweighs their social incompetence.

It’s earned with time and commitment to real people, not followers. To be influential with teams, organizations, and communities, you must first be influential with the people you work with directly right now. Skipping the inner rings of your social circles to reach for a larger “audience” is a failed strategy because you won't have the support of those who experience you daily. Having a great resume or 5,000 connections on LinkedIn doesn’t amount to much if you can’t get a single person to refer you to another team or a new client.

You must create value for others. No matter if it is the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, or the Digital Revolution, one thing has remained the same. You must find a way to serve and create value for other people. If you want to be credible and influential, you must first see the world from other people’s perspective and help them solve problems. A sexy website and killer elevator pitch and no eatable cake will make you a fraud. It will hurt your reputation and lead to internal turmoil because you’ll spend all your time hoping no one finds out you’re a fake.

Why should you listen to me?

You shouldn’t. I don’t know diddly squat about you or your experiences or hard-earned wisdom. You should experiment with different approaches and philosophies until you find something that works best for you. Send me a note when you have it all figured out.

What I do know is that I started a business three years ago and realized that I needed a formula for building credibility in the marketplace. I spent years in various corporate roles and had a strong resume and a solid track record of results and people who liked working with me.

All that meant nothing to someone who was going to hire me to lead their expensive offsite or coach one of their top executives. Business owners and leaders want to know they can believe in you enough to put their reputations on the line. Certainly, they want to know you’re competent, but they want to know they can believe in you more.

I now have to find a new way of building credibility with people I’ve never met, so I created a formula for building credibility.

It is a constant state of progress, and the one I share with you today is the third draft. As I learn and grow from the experience, I will continue to change the formula. You should too.

The four components of building credibility:

Curiosity: The door opener component

What: Credible people ask questions and listen to answers. They challenge the way things are and assumptions, especially their own assumptions. They have a strong desire to know or learn something about a wide variety of topics and people. They are the life-long learners who embrace making mistakes and say “how fascinating” when they do.

The opposite: Showing the world how smart you are or mentioning your MBA (or worse yet adding it to your signature line) lowers your credibility. Feeling like you need to have the answers, get everything perfect, or set everyone straight does not show curiosity.

Why: The one irreplaceable skill in this day and age is not coding but listening. Finding a person who can create a space in which others to think out loud without judging or offering advice is like discovering a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

How: Do you want to stand out from the crowd or make an impression on someone you respect? Stop talking and ask more questions. While you’re at it, make sure that you have some go-to questions. “What keeps you up at night?” is pretty tired and lacks sincerity. Read books—lots of books. Be intentional with your learning plan, sign up for training, and take on roles solely for the sake of learning something new. Be on high alert for ways to improve procedures and add value in your current position. Who cares if it’s outside of your job description? Ask if you can help more. People want to work with people who are thirsty to learn from them.

Case Study: I got a degree in finance and worked in five different finance roles over nine years. My last finance role was supporting brand management. I wanted to learn how to be the best that I could be in my role and help my brand team, so I asked lots of questions and took on extra work outside of my job function. Two years later, they offered me a brand job and a promotion – partly because I was more curious than the people who already had the role.

Initiative: The value creation component

What: Credible people have the ability to assess the situation and take the right action before being asked to do it. They are the ones, who when questioned about their action, respond, “it needed to be done,” or, “it was the right thing to do.” They fall into the “ask for forgiveness” category. They are the salespeople and business owners who actually follow up with prospective clients.

The opposite: Waiting to be told what to do or given permission before you act.

Why: Most people would be insulted if you call them lazy, but let’s be honest; it’s probably true. The average person is waiting for someone to tell them what to think and what to do. They are too scared to act like an owner because they don’t want to get in trouble or waste any of their precious energy.

How: Adopt this philosophy: “if you see it, you own it.” When something is broken or inefficient, just fix it. When someone sends an email to your boss and cc’s you, reply to your boss, “on it,” and then handle it. When you haven’t heard from that prospective client, follow up with them. Challenge yourself to solve as many problems as you can before being asked. Mix in some curiosity and go looking for problems to solve for people. Want to change jobs or careers? Forget online job postings. Prepare your resume, build a list of people, and start interviewing them; don’t stop until you get what you want. When in doubt, act.

Case Study: Each year, we would get a new crew of Associate Brand Managers who just completed their MBA. They were all bright and hard working. Over several years, there was only one who stood out from the crowd of young talent. He was assigned to our breakfast sausage business, which was considered by most to be a lame assignment. In a few short months, he sold a new product (yet to be produced) to a major dollar-channel customer that no one (including me) had been able to sell. The way he did it? He personally scheduled the sales call, mocked up his prototypes instead of relying on the foot-dragging R&D department, and worked directly with the manufacturing plant to design the packaging. When the head of R&D said it would take months even to prepare samples in a big-wig meeting, he threw finished products from the plant on the table and said all he needed was brand design. He turned what usually took nine months into nine weeks. Don’t underestimate your ability to act.

Virtue: The self-mastery component

What: Credible people live by a personal code or set of guiding beliefs. Their behavior demonstrates well-considered and high moral standards. They know why they do or do not do things and can’t be persuaded otherwise. They are centered and calm when facing adversity. They have cultivated a philosophy to prepare themselves for all situations.

The Opposite: Impression management — trying to read and match whatever audience is in front of you. Trying to make people like you suck up or imitate them.

Why: People want to work with and be around people who have a strong sense of identity. They want to respect you. They want to be around people who have a backbone and heart. People who have a clear set of personal rules for themselves are more consistent and make better partners. Even if we disagree with their beliefs, at least know their rationale and can count on them.

How: You need to be clear who you are and endeavor to be that person at all times. This is not to say that you resist change because, with age and experience, your perspective and approach should definitely evolve. This is how you attain wisdom: define your values, beliefs, and principles, and then challenge them based on your experience. If you have no standard of behavior or set of beliefs about what is right or wrong for you, then anything you do is acceptable.

Case Study: We had a sizable contract with a leader for coaching their executive team. The CEO had hired us to work with his team because they were the ones needing “to be fixed.” After a few conversations, we realized that he was the root of the problem. We told him that the only way to move forward was for him also to receive coaching. To our greatest surprise, he agreed to be coached but then canceled every scheduled coaching session. We only work with people who can talk straight and live up to their word regardless of how big a contract is on the line. The CEO showed his true colors, and it was clear that he didn't want to change for the benefit of his organization, so we fired him and gave him back his money. Without guiding values and operating norms, it would have been hard to walk away from the contract.

Rapport: The multiplier component

What: Credible people multiply their inner work by nurturing close and harmonious relationships that are built on mutual understandings of feelings and ideas. They communicate well, create a sense of belonging, and can be vulnerable with others. Credible people are the influencers and the culture builders of their organizations. They are the people who understand that leadership is a relationship at scale.

Why: There is a limit to how much any of us can achieve alone. It’s teams that do the big, meaningful work that transforms lives and communities. The honed ability to build strong bonds with other humans makes you an essential component to any team.

How: Building rapport with other people requires work. People need to see your investment in the relationship with them. It means you can’t be efficient with them by sending text and emails. They need to feel the extra effort you make to know them, understand them, and remember them when they are not around. Rapport is a lot like compound interest; there are no hacks or tricks that will replace investment and time.

Case Study: There is a great scene in the hit series Mad Men where Peggy and Don are in a heated argument. Peggy has reached her limit with her boss Don and is giving him a dressing down. She reaches a boiling point where she says that he never gives her credit or thanks to her for her work. Don shouts, “that’s what the money is for!” The best part of the scene is right at the moment the camera zooms in on Peggy’s face. It’s at this moment that Peggy realizes what viewers have always known: who Don really is and that he will never give her what she needs for a meaningful relationship. Don thinks he’s won the argument with his cleverness, but learns later that he lost the relationship. Building rapport is figuring out what other people need and giving it to them so they can partner with you to achieve higher aspirations than you could ever achieve on your own.

Final Thought

Any personal branding efforts ring hollow if you don’t work on credibility first. People who deliver the goods and create value for others always have a leg up on anyone trying to attract followers or manage impressions. Build credibility with your inner circles and work your way out from there. Do it long enough, and you just might need to hire a team of people to help you manage your personal brand.

Final Final Thought

I did build a checklist of personal branding fundamentals that you can download. It includes things like updating your resume and getting a professional headshot for your LinkedIn profile, just to be sure you’re doing the basics. Use the list and then get back to work on building credibility. Download the Personal Branding Checklist

Additional Reading:

Two books have influenced my thinking on the credibility, which you should read if you want to go deep.

Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey—The author describes Four Cores of Credibility, which are intent, character, competence, and results. Covey uses a tree metaphor to demonstrate what we can see and what we can’t. This is a helpful mental model you should add to your toolkit.

Team of Teams by Gen. Stanley McCrystal—In this book, McCrystal provides a formula that he used to align the various branches of the military under his command in the Middle East when fighting al Qaida. The formula structure helped me frame my thinking, but he fails to capture the multiplying effect of relationships.

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Build your brand using the Personal Branding Checklist

Elevate your personal brand with this free checklist. It will help make sure you have all the basics covered, so you can get back to working on building credibility. Get your copy today.