Anthony Onesto walks through building a personal brand at work: audit yourself honestly, get feedback from different people, identify your strengths and what makes you different, set goals aligned with your company's needs, then show up consistently through how you work, share knowledge, and build relationships across teams.
Did you know that each one of us has our own personal brand within companies? I'm going to give you some advice on how you could work on your personal brand within your company. Everyone, it's Anthony Honesto and this is my burn the box drop for this week. It's you, the brand. When we think about brands and brands that we love and we associate with things, Nike comes to mind, Lululemon comes to mind, all these brands, Patagonia comes to mind. It's all the work of brand identity. And so when we think about those brands, there are certain emotional things that happen. Each one of us as employees, a brand within our company. Whether you're performing, you're doing the things you need to do, you're going above and beyond, you're having impact in your company. When you're not in the room, your brand exists. And so in this session, I'd like to just give you quick advice on how you can establish your brands. But before we get into that, let's get into the numbers. There are plenty of studies that show branding, personal brand is super important both internally and externally within your organizations. In fact, according to the research, those who actively manage their brands internally and externally actually experience greater career satisfaction and advancement. The data also reveals that well crafted personal brand can significantly improve both the quality and quantity of professional networking opportunities. Brand is a real thing. So what can you do when assessing your brand? First, you have to do a bit of self reflection. So conduct a personal audit. This first step is critical. What you want to do is look at your career trajectory to really identify core skills, key achievements and impactful contributions. This isn't just a recount of just your career milestones, but it's a deep dive into how your actions align with your values and aspirations. And you want it to be radically candid. If you're unfamiliar, care, personally challenged, directly, you want a truthful and introspective audit that helps to craft your brand. Then what you need to do is seek feedback. And this is where radical candor comes in. You want to gain diverse perspectives. And so the idea is going into your span of control, into the folks that you work with on a regular basis. If you have your boss, you have teammates that you, that you work with, work with, you have people that work for you. Get an idea of what your brand is, ask them for honest feedback. This might include one on one discussions, anonymous surveys, just casual conversations. What you want to do is aim to gather diverse viewpoints about you, about your brand within an organization. Then what I want you to do is what a lot of companies do is an analysis. Identify your strengths, your weaknesses and your unique value. With all this feedback and this personal audit, you now can develop and look at this information to find your unique strengths and areas for growth. This step is about understanding your distinct value in your field. Specifically what skills, attributes do you possess or highly valued. Make sure that you're double clicking on these things and then what I want you to do is so after you do all of that, you've gone through your self reflection. You, you, you sought out feedback from your colleagues and coworkers and then you looked at and took an honest look at your strengths, weaknesses and your unique value. Then I want you to start setting up goals. Short term and long term objectives clearly define aim to achieve in the immediate and long term. Of course these goals should be realistic, measurable and aligned with your career aspirations. Then I want to, I want you to take alignment with your organization's goal. Please ensure the branding objectives contribute positively to the company's broader goals. You are creating value within your organization, so your branding has to screen what that value is. This alignment enhances your brand's relevance to the organization where at the end of the day that is an important connection. So how do you operationalize all this? First of all, you stay consistent in your communication and behavior. Your brand should be reflected in all your interactions. Consistency in communication and behavior reinforces what your brand is and really makes it more credible. Share your expertise. Actively engage in knowledge sharing. Don't wait for someone to come to you and say hey, I heard that you're really interested in AI. Can you do a quick 30 minute session for the company? Be proactive. And this could be anything from internal blog posts. You can mentor, you can lead workshops. Sharing your expertise not only only cements your brand, but also contributes to the collective knowledge of your organization. Build relationships. Forge meaningful connections within and beyond your immediate team. Don't just be siloed, think about your immediate team. But then the second tertiary connections within your organization. And then participate in company initiatives. Actively engage in cross departmental projects and committees. This one is absolutely critical because your brand is known within your circle of influence. But if you're with a small or even a large company, it gets harder and harder for folks to get to know you. So when an opportunity presents itself where there's a project that requires cross departmental or functional involvement, get involved in that. And then what you want to do is just really at the end of this, maintain and grow your brand. Remember that personal branding within an organization is not a one time effort. You're not one and done. It's an ongoing journey. It's something that you have to develop over time. Think about Nike, Lululemon. All of these companies that we all aspire from a brand perspective did not just turn on their brand day one or day two become N or Lululemon. It was work. You have to do the push ups. It requires consistent effort in showcasing your value, commitment to personal and professional growth, building those networks that enhance your influence. So remember you are a brand within your organization. Make sure that you're working on your brand. That's my quick drop for this week. We'll see you next time.
