Managing reputation is a little like taking a drug for a condition without exploring the cause. When it comes to building your personal brand you need firm foundations at a BEing level. This results in DOing things differently and effortlessly (your actions and behaviours), which others form a perception about, resulting in your reputation.
At the heart of any powerful personal brand (and yes, we all have one, whether it’s working for us or not), is what I like to call a Compelling Idea. This is your success factor. And yet most people are not aware of what makes them compelling to others. We might have an idea or a sense of what this is, however we really need to “get it”. Gain this fundamental insight and you can begin to build your brand on very firm foundations. It also delivers the second vital component in building your brand – that of authenticity.
Authenticity should not be underestimated. It delivers credibility. We can’t pretend to be something we are not for an extended period of time – people are pretty savvy and we intuitively “get it” when someone is not real.
We then need to deliver consistently – consistency is key. Consistency delivers trust. And if we are to trust what is compelling about you as authentic, we need to see it in action all the time. Not just on a good day!
Last but certainly not least, we need to make an impact and be well-known for what we do by delivering what is compelling about us (our success factor) online, offline and in person.
Add up all of these fundamentals and you have the result – your reputation. And reputation is vital. Reputation works for us when all of the most important decisions are made – when we are not there! What do people say about you when you are not there? Do you know?