Dorie Clark on Personal Branding: Why Creating the Right Impression Matters

As suggested above, the things which go towards one’s personal branding tend to be things which are rather firmly entrenched – be that within yourself or within the perception of you that others have. But, says Dorie Clark, this does not mean that it is not possible to effect change: “My book, Reinventing You, deals extensively with the question of how to change how you’re perceived by others at work. Too often, our colleagues haven’t been paying that close attention to us and our career progress, and their perceptions may be out of date – even by several years. That means we’re not top of mind for them when it comes to important things like promotions or key opportunities.”

To counteract this, she suggests shaking things up a little, in order to re-enter their purview: “If you’ve developed an expertise in social media and want to pursue that further professionally, start a blog writing about it, and share your posts on Twitter and LinkedIn so others will begin to see how much you know. If you want to be considered leadership material, start a new group at work, or sign up for a leadership role so you can show your skills.”

Education can also be a tool through which you can reinvent yourself, says Clark, who teaches at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University’s executive MBA program. “Many people use MBA or executive MBA programs as a ‘career reboot’ – an opportunity to make new connections, deepen and refresh their skills, and gain a fresh, often global, perspective. There’s no question that business school is expensive, so you have to think carefully about how, specifically, it can help you meet your goals. But if you’re able to access a powerful alumni network, learn from top-notch professors, and the school has a strong history of feeding people into the kinds of careers you want, it can be a good investment.”

It also offers the advantage of putting you in a completely new environment with new people to whom your personality – and, therefore, personal branding – is not yet known, thus making it an ideal arena in which you can reinvent yourself. When meeting new people, sometimes it can be beneficial to not go in completely cold in order, largely, to avoid seeming boastful of your achievements, suggests Clark.

“The psychologist Robert Cialdini, whom I interviewed for Reinventing You, has a great suggestion. Of course, we can’t immediately start bragging about our credentials when we meet someone – but we do want them to understand where we’re coming from and the expertise we have. The solution to this problem, he says, is to send an email prior to meeting someone and, in it, cite your background and experience with regard to the issue you’re talking about, in order to make the meeting as productive as possible. That way, you’re not bragging – you’re providing helpful information, so it’s received very differently. But you walk into the room with your reputation already established.”

While you may not necessarily want to do this with your classmates, there are plenty of other introductions you will most likely have to make during your program for which such a tactic would be of use.

Of course, while sending an email can help establish some things about you, people are already able to find a lot out simply though your online presence. People should, suggests Clark, think about their personal brand along two tracks: “The real world, which is the perception that the people who know them personally have about them your online presence, because if you’re looking for a job or consulting projects, or work frequently with people across the globe, their entire view of you will be based on what comes up about you over the internet.”

As mentioned above, blogging about something you’re passionate about is one way of making sure that your online presence accurately reflects you and your strengths. 

“One important strategy for all of us is to create online content. These days, virtually the first thing someone will do is Google you to check you out. If you blog, tweet, podcast, or create other forms of content, it almost guarantees that the first information to come up will be the things that you create, and which send exactly the message you want.”  

Everything you do, in short, which is visible to other people in some way – be it in real life or online – will factor into your personal branding. It is important, therefore, to always make sure that yours accurately reflects your strengths and that any weaknesses you may identify are addressed. In order to be a good leader, it’s important to make sure your brand is on-message. Is yours?