At their core, brands help people make choices. When we say brand—whether we're talking about a product, an object or a person—it means the same thing. When it comes to our personal brands, the choice I just mentioned comes into play and can involve high-stakes professional decisions such as whether to hire us, whether to recommend us to someone or somewhere, or whether to connect with us for coaching or consulting. That is exactly why letting our personal brand fall out of date makes our careers harder.
Take Selin, for example. She is a digital marketer with over 10 years of experience leading creative teams at global companies and startups. She is good at what she does, but she no longer finds the work exciting, so she applies for various roles aligned with her current desires. Yet she hears back from no one—perhaps she realizes this a little late, because her long-neglected LinkedIn profile showcases skills and experience that look quite “dated” for today's market and do not actually highlight the skills she uses every day.
But keeping your personal brand current is not just about maintaining social media profiles. Independent of your online presence, there is an image of you in people's minds, and this too may have fallen out of date—especially if you have made the effort to develop new skills.
As Dorie (Clark) mentions in her book Reinventing You, which I read very recently, we must realize that we need to update our brand when we make a deliberate career transition. In fact, in my view, even if we stay in the same job or the same career, you need to pay attention to your personal brand, because while the world (and the requirements of our profession) moves at full speed, we must not get comfortable and forget to update and develop our brand. Ambition and determination breed success—yes, that's true—but we should be careful that success also tends to breed complacency; so when we reach a certain point and are busy enough with our work, we should not assume that the achievements we've gained can speak for themselves and that everyone will know about them.
Since the age of artificial intelligence has disrupted all jobs, industries and especially work that requires human expertise, this is a risky position to be in. It may be time to refresh how we tell our story and to convince others that we can add value. To that end, I recommend you pay attention to the following four key steps.
Clarify Your Vision
What do you want people to see? Think about your current professional goals and determine what a strong personal brand would look like in that context. For example, if you were a C-suite leader or the best candidate for such a role, how would people think or talk about you? If you're not sure, look at role models in that field or position—how are they seen? What are the actual words you want others to use about you? Clarifying the details—for example, wanting to be seen as a “strategist” and also as a “collaborator”—can help you put the right plan into action later. More importantly, don't limit your vision to your current self; also consider your possible or future selves, made up of your current self plus your potential.
Identify the Gaps
You may feel that others' perceptions are off, but be sure. What do they see or not see that you'd like to correct? Are there specific examples or things people have said showing that they don't quite “get” you or that they think of how you were in the past (not today)? More importantly, how do you know they're wrong and you're right? At this point, it can be helpful to talk with trusted friends and colleagues to learn their perspectives and to scan the sources online that refer to you. Ask yourself: What would someone who knows nothing about me conclude from this information? In today's age, you can even try asking these questions to generative AI (such as ChatGPT or Perplexity). With the right prompts, these large language models will give you a fairly good guess at what most people would think when presented with information X or Y. My coaching friends will be a little annoyed, but AI can now be used in place of a human coach. Once you've clarified why the way you present yourself falls short (for example, people may think of you as a “doer-executor” rather than a strategist, or they assume that, instead of being collaborative, you'll be the person who does the work without asking the team), you can start building a plan to get from here to there.
Create a Tactical Plan
You can't shout your way along the road to a brand change—you need to show people the “new you” again and again over time. This isn't about taking steps to build the new identity—you're already there. It's about making others notice it. Think about the specific misconceptions people have about you and take action to neutralize them. If you've strengthened your public-speaking skills, volunteer to give more presentations and proactively speak up more in meetings to showcase your new abilities. If people see you purely as an executor, don't hesitate to (rightly) take credit when you've helped develop strategy—and maybe don't be in such a hurry to volunteer for direct execution.
Embrace Strategic Patience
We all want our reinventions to move faster than they do and for others to think about us the way we want—but, again, as Dorie describes in her book “The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World,” we usually need to show “strategic patience.” Not because patience is so valuable in itself—if you can get a faster result, by all means! But many goals inevitably take time, whether earning a promotion, winning a big new corporate client, or even building a reputation in a field of expertise. Shortcuts or “life hacks,” however sought after, are rarely effective in these contexts.
Another surprising area that requires patience is understanding that it may take some time for others' view of you to match your new self-perception. Your close friends and family are used to thinking of you in a certain way, so a change in your circumstances also means a change in their identity, which can be uncomfortable and may take some time to overcome.
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In a rapidly changing world, standing out and staying current require both a strategy and disciplined execution. Since your own career interests, goals and objectives are probably changing faster than ever, don't assume that your inner state of mind is reflected in your public brand. In fact, there is often a lag between our own perception and how others see us, and we need to consciously focus on closing this gap to achieve the brand or reputation we're after.
