The 4P Method You Can Apply Today
Do you think that McDonald's has the best hamburger in the world?
Hell no.
Why do people go to McDonald’s then?
Because it's fast and cheap.
Are there faster and cheaper hamburger places in town?
Of course, there are.
But why do people go to McDonald's, not the other places?
Because McDonald's is a well-known brand.
Branding is everywhere. Coca-Cola, Apple, Google, Tesla, Twitter, Amazon, Pilot, and so on.
Do you know that you also have a brand, a personal brand—What you are known for at your workplace?
If I were to interview your colleagues, what would they say about you?
Is that what you want to be known for?
I'm so proud to introduce Nancy Yang as our guest blogger this week. Nancy is a prolific career and life coach for introverts. I encourage you to consider your own personal brand today and join Nancy's engaging online community for more life-changing insights.
Many at work know something, but only a few are known for knowing something. If you aim to become an essentially critical asset for your team or company, knowing is not enough. You need to be known.
To be known is to help people see your value, and it is about building your personal brand intentionally.
When you have a powerful personal brand, you are more indispensable at work, you become essential to the success of your team and/or your department - even the company.
You will be less worried about job security as you know the team depends on you. Knowing how valuable you are to the team, you will most likely feel more satisfied and motivated at work, not to mention, you will also be in a better position to negotiate salary and land better positions.
However, in reality, many introverts struggle to see the importance of building a personal brand.
"I don't think that I need a personal brand. Not for me as a regular coworker."
"I am comfortable where I am, and I don't have the ambition to climb the ladder, so I don't think the personal brand thingy pertains to me."
"Personal brand is fake, I want to be authentic."
With such mind chatters and limiting beliefs, many introverts neglect or de-prioritize personal branding. A few may realize the importance of it, but don't know how to build one effectively.
To build a personal brand, you only need 4Ps: Purpose, Performance, Personality, and People-skills.
1. Clarify your purpose.
Why is it important for you to build a personal brand? Building a personal brand is a journey, and it is going to take some time and effort. If your purpose for doing this is not clear and compelling, you will likely give up halfway. Your why-power will fuel your willpower when your willpower runs out. There are only three mistakes people make along the way to build a personal brand: not starting, not going all the way, and not doing it right. The first two mistakes could be rooted in a lack of a strong purpose.
2. Performance is the key—Overdeliver!
Overdelivering is misunderstood. It is not about coming to work early and going home late, nor is it about the time spent, or about the quantity. It is about the quality and the prolific quality output, about effectively working on what matters the most and producing high-quality results.
To do that, you first need to understand what matters the most at work, what is the expectation your manager has for you, your role, and your responsibilities. Be relevant. Many thought they knew what they were expected to do, only to find out later during a performance review or salary talk that they have been working on the wrong thing.
Secondly, collect feedback regularly, and take action on them. Feedback helps to keep track of where you are, where you are heading, whether you are on the right track or not. So ask for feedback regularly to stay on the right path.
Thirdly, label your work with "High quality". Always deliver your work with high quality so people know that they can count on you. This fosters trust with the people you work with. Go the extra miles that it requires to make your work remarkable. With this said, as high-quality work will certainly take plenty of time and effort, you need to say NO to trivial things that don't matter much to the team or the company. Remember, if you say Yes to one thing, you say No to hundreds of other things at the same time. Be selective.
Then, make sure you become an expert in one specific area. Read, research, join online courses, use different mediums to get to know everything about this area, what has happened in the past and what’s hot now. Stay updated with the industry trends, be aware of what’s coming, be innovative. Change is the only thing that is not changing nowadays, in order to stay relevant, you need to stay alert.
Last, take extra responsibility when you have the capacity. The premise of doing this last step is that you have done an excellent job with what people are expecting from you, and you are not taking too much responsibility that you may burn yourself out.
3. Show your personality
There are likely people in your company who perform as well as you. How do you stand out from the crowd then? Be authentic, show a bit of your personality. However, don't get me wrong, showing your personality doesn't mean that you have to show all your dark sides. Be smart, highlight those qualities that you are proud of. You may be curious and daring asking a lot of sharp questions; You may be adaptive when change happens, instead of complaining. You usually keep an open mind. You may be reliable. You always deliver within or before the deadline, and so on.
Ask yourself: whom do I want to be seen as a person?
4. People skills are underrated.
When building a personal brand, we usually put a lot of focus on hard skills that are required to get the job done. Soft skills like people skills are underrated. However, they are one of the key success factors in building a powerful personal brand.
These are the people skills that you want to master:
Communication skills. If you are good at something, but you don’t manage to find a way to showcase it to others, it might not lead you anywhere. Communication skills help you to connect with others, build a strong relationship and effectively showcase your work.
Networking/social skills. No matter how much we introverts enjoy solitude, in the real world, we are living amongst others. Mountains of studies have shown that people who network effectively have a much better chance to succeed at work. Not to mention, it also creates a more joyful work environment for you.
Collaborating skills. Teamwork makes dreams work. Even though during COVID, most of us work remotely from home, honing our ability to collaborate with others effectively, physically or virtually, is critical.
Purpose, performance, personality, and people skills are required to build a strong personal brand. It’s all about helping others to see your value. Should you feel bad about it? Of course not. Everyone has a personal brand intentionally or unintentionally. Do you know yours? Is it powerful?
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I am pleasantly surprised to see that you responded to my contribution! Thank you for your knowledge and insight! I am enjoying your work and am glad that the subject of introversion is being explored and shared on a bigger scale. I sure wish I had known these things about myself years ago! -CG 2/10/2022
Bio: Nancy Yang
Nancy Yang is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) certified professional coach. She specialized in helping introverts to communicate effectively with confidence, to be recognized for their contributions, and to build a powerful social network.
You can reach her at:
or follow her at www.linkedin.com/in/coachwithnancy
or join her community on Facebook—Introvert Island:
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NEXT WEEK:
Changing the Script in Our Mind:
Replacing the Voices We've Heard From Ourselves and Others All our Lives
This piece is so helpful, Nancy. And for me, this line is particularly powerful: "Your why-power will fuel your willpower when your willpower runs out." I have found this to be the case, particularly when I'm doing the often difficult things like networking, marketing, etc. I don't honestly know if it's my "willpower" that's in play so much as it is my WILLINGNESS to engage in these types of activities in the first place, and then remain engaged in them. For many years I struggled with that whole "ick" factor! But going back to why -- what you call "why-power" -- always helps me to get and stay on track with these things. It's a constant mindset challenge, though! :-)