If you have gone to grad school or attended professional team building sessions, you may have been exposed to a personality test such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or DISC. These tests provide insight into a person’s natural strengths and learning styles, which can be helpful in understanding what makes your co-workers tick. They can also be helpful in understanding ourselves and what we are motivated by.
Whether we are climbing the corporate ladder, changing careers, or starting to explore career paths, it is a useful exercise to formulate a personal brand of who we are, the skills we possess, and what we are working toward. I found the Career Anchors self-assessment by Edgar H. Schein particularly valuable in formulating my own brand.
Our experiences makes us each unique and valuable team members. These experiences should be part of your personal brand, here are a couple examples:
Example 1:
My name is David, I am passionate about traveling and incorporate diverse designs inspired from around the world into my marketing and advertising campaigns. I strive to gain the experience necessary to become a creative director in the entertainment industry. My latest project was for Encore Records where I launched a successful campaign for a new artist that sold 1,000 tickets at her first performance in Boston.
Example 2:
My name is Alicia, I am a corporate finance expert with an MBA and 10 years of broad financial experience. I enjoy giving presentations to customers and negotiating. Some projects that I have completed are pricing a $500 million proposal for the U.S. Census and negotiating a deal for new healthcare facilities in Louisiana.
Owning your personal brand demonstrates self-confidence and proves to be useful during interviews, elevator pitches, and social settings where you can talk to your experiences and interests without faltering. If you need some additional inspiration check out Adam Leipzig’s TEDx talk on finding your life purpose.