Developing Self-Awareness and Creating Your Brand

0:09 welcome 0:10 in this session we'll talk about two 0:12 specific strategies you can use to build 0:15 mutually supportive relationships 0:17 developing yourself awareness and 0:19 creating your personal brand 0:22 we'll begin with developing 0:23 self-awareness 0:25 self-knowledge matters for many reasons 0:28 knowing our values helps us make some of 0:30 the most important decisions we face in 0:33 life 0:33 who to love where to live where to work 0:37 and how to spend the limited number of 0:39 days that we have here on earth 0:42 knowing our strengths and weaknesses 0:44 helps us make the most of our talents 0:46 and work on improving our limitations 0:49 knowing how we're perceived by others 0:51 helps us understand the consequences of 0:54 our behaviors on others at work 0:56 and at home knowing our hot buttons 0:59 and how we act under pressure helps us 1:01 manage ourselves more effectively 1:03 in stressful situations 1:06 researchers at the global consulting and 1:08 executive search firm corn 1:10 ferry have found that leaders who are 1:12 self-aware 1:13 are more likely to be high performing to 1:16 meet their business goals 1:17 and save on turnover costs the costs of 1:21 a lack of self-awareness can be high 1:25 in one study researchers collected data 1:28 on the performance of 1:29 300 leaders in 58 teams who were 1:32 participating in a business simulation 1:35 in an executive program they also 1:38 collected data 1:39 on how well the leader's self-assessment 1:41 of their personal contributions to their 1:43 teams 1:43 matched others perceptions of them 1:46 the researchers found that when there 1:49 was a large 1:50 gap between the leaders assessments and 1:52 how others experienced them 1:54 the teams made worse decisions and had 1:56 poorer 1:57 coordination unfortunately 2:01 self-awareness seems to be in short 2:03 supply in organizations 2:05 in a study of almost 7 thousand 2:07 professionals 2:08 in almost 500 publicly traded companies 2:11 corn fairy researchers david zess and 2:14 dana landis 2:15 found that nearly 80 percent of the 2:17 professionals had at least 2:19 one blind spot which the researchers 2:22 defined 2:22 as a skill area that the leader 2:24 perceives to be a strength 2:26 but others perceive as a weakness 2:29 forty percent of the professionals they 2:31 studied had at least 2:33 one hidden strength a skill area that a 2:36 person perceives as a weakness 2:38 but others see as a strength and having 2:41 hidden strengths matters 2:43 because it's hard to make the most out 2:45 of a strength if you don't know you have 2:47 it 2:49 some of the biggest blind spots were in 2:51 areas such as 2:53 making tough people calls demonstrating 2:55 personal flexibility 2:57 getting work done through others being 3:00 too 3:00 narrow doesn't inspire or build talent 3:04 and doesn't relate well to others when 3:08 employees lack self-awareness it hurts 3:10 the bottom line 3:11 zest and landis track the stock 3:13 performance of the 486 3:15 fortune 500 companies over 30 months 3:19 they found that the companies that had 3:21 the highest percentage of self-aware 3:23 employees 3:24 consistently outperformed the companies 3:26 that had the lowest percentage 3:28 of self-aware employees on return on 3:30 revenue 3:31 and other measures of company 3:33 performance 3:35 benjamin franklin once said there are 3:37 three things that are extremely hard 3:39 steel a diamond and how to know oneself 3:44 that said there are several things you 3:46 can do to develop self-awareness 3:50 you can take self-assessments such as 3:52 the myers-briggs social styles or 3:54 disc to help you understand how you see 3:56 the world make decisions 3:58 and interact with others these types of 4:01 assessments are useful 4:02 because they assume that we all have 4:04 predictable and 4:05 taken for granted ways of seeing the 4:07 world making decisions 4:09 and behaving in our everyday life 4:12 these assessments also assume that if we 4:15 can understand our preferred styles 4:17 and appreciate the preferred styles of 4:19 others we can see situations from a 4:22 broader perspective 4:23 make better decisions and gain support 4:26 from more people 4:27 than we could if we stayed stuck in our 4:29 own world view 4:31 you can find many free assessments 4:33 online including a free kirsty bates 4:35 assessment 4:36 which is similar to the myers-briggs 4:38 framework 4:40 another effective way to increase your 4:42 self-awareness would be to get 4:44 360 feedback in which your boss 4:46 colleagues and direct reports 4:48 all complete an assessment for you you 4:51 can then compare how you're perceived by 4:53 your boss or bosses 4:54 peers and direct reports and identify 4:58 in which ways these groups see you 5:00 similarly and 5:01 differently if your organization doesn't 5:04 offer you 360 feedback 5:06 you can take it upon yourself to ask 5:08 others to give you the feedback 5:10 you can ask them what your three 5:11 greatest strengths are as well as your 5:13 three 5:14 greatest weaknesses and then compare 5:16 their answers with your own perceptions 5:18 of your strengths and your weaknesses 5:21 the point is that developing 5:22 self-awareness is a critical life skill 5:25 and it can be systematically developed 5:27 with effort 5:28 understanding your values style 5:30 strengths and weaknesses 5:32 helps you be more appreciative of how 5:34 you see an act in the world 5:36 as well as more appreciative of the many 5:38 other ways of seeing and acting in the 5:40 world 5:41 self-awareness can help you create a 5:43 plan of action for leveraging your 5:44 strengths and correcting your weaknesses 5:46 that can hold you and others back from 5:49 achieving important goals 5:51 you may appreciate this quotation from 5:53 persian poet rumi who said 5:56 yesterday i was clever so i wanted to 5:58 change the world 5:59 today i am wise so i am changing myself 6:05 now let's turn to creating your personal 6:07 brand 6:08 in the late 1990s management guru and 6:11 former mckinsey consultant tom peters 6:14 propelled the language of personal 6:16 branding into the mainstream business 6:18 press 6:18 when he published the article the brand 6:21 called you 6:22 in fast company magazine long before 6:25 social media made it possible to craft 6:27 an online presence 6:28 through web pages blogs linkedin 6:31 facebook and twitter 6:32 peter's reminded people that we each 6:35 have a brand 6:36 based on other people's perceptions of 6:38 us whether we like it or not 6:41 and we should take control over shaping 6:43 how people perceive us 6:45 today there are over 300 books about 6:48 personal branding listed on amazon.com 6:51 all designed to help you create package 6:53 and promote your personal brand 6:56 in his article peters boldly stated 7:00 regardless of age regardless of position 7:03 regardless of the business we happen to 7:05 be in all of us need to understand the 7:08 importance of branding 7:09 we are ceos of our own companies me inc 7:13 to be in business today your most 7:15 important job is to be head marketer for 7:18 the brand called you 7:19 you're every bit as much a brand as nike 7:22 coke 7:23 pepsi or the body shop his article 7:26 while controversial was meant to be a 7:28 wake-up call for people 7:30 who believed their work would speak for 7:32 itself 7:34 keeping your nose to the grindstone and 7:35 hoping people will notice your good work 7:38 may have worked when people stayed in 7:40 jobs for many years 7:41 long enough for others to get to know 7:43 them well but by the late 7:45 1990s this was becoming an increasingly 7:48 risky strategy 7:50 because layoffs were becoming more 7:52 common pensions were disappearing 7:54 and lifetime employment was becoming a 7:57 thing of the past 7:58 quietly doing one's work and hoping 8:01 someone would notice 8:02 no longer guaranteed job or financial 8:05 security 8:07 now if proactively crafting your brand 8:09 doesn't appeal to you 8:10 keep in mind that you already have a 8:13 brand 8:13 whether you like it or not if you're on 8:16 facebook twitter 8:17 snapchat or other social media sites 8:20 you're 8:20 already creating your brand by 8:22 presenting yourself as you'd like to be 8:24 seen 8:25 by choosing what to make public and what 8:27 to keep private 8:29 but even without social media the people 8:32 you interact with are already making 8:34 assumptions 8:35 true or not about your interests goals 8:38 knowledge 8:38 skill level integrity and readiness to 8:41 handle a promotion 8:42 or a challenging career opportunity for 8:45 example 8:46 researcher susan fisk and her colleagues 8:48 found that people are likely to make 8:50 assumptions about your warmth 8:52 for example your kindness your 8:54 friendliness your helpfulness 8:55 and your trustworthiness as well as your 8:58 competence 8:59 for example your intelligence knowledge 9:01 and abilities 9:03 within the first few minutes even 9:05 seconds 9:06 of meeting you given that people make 9:10 assumptions about you within seconds 9:12 it's worth considering whether you want 9:14 to leave people's impressions of you 9:16 to chance or whether you want to take 9:18 some control 9:19 over how you're seen creating your 9:22 personal brand is a way of clarifying 9:24 your values your aspirations your 9:26 character 9:27 your expertise and how you add value 9:31 your brand can be an anchor in a sea of 9:33 change and opportunity 9:36 your brand helps you understand which 9:38 jobs bring out the best in you 9:40 and which jobs are best filled by 9:42 someone else 9:44 you don't want to be the best kept 9:46 secret in your organization or field 9:48 nor do you want to make people guess 9:50 what you want 9:51 or what your interests and strengths are 9:54 it's your responsibility to let people 9:56 know 9:57 where and how you can make your best 10:00 contributions and your brand 10:03 if it's authentic as it should be 10:06 reflects the story of your life your 10:09 hope for your future 10:11 and the source of your strength listen 10:14 to what dartmouth professor ella bell 10:16 has to say about authenticity 10:19 although she's speaking to a network of 10:20 women her lessons are useful for 10:23 everyone 10:27 as professor bell notes our authentic 10:29 selves come not only from understanding 10:32 our strengths and our weaknesses what 10:34 she calls our good and bad 10:36 but also from our struggles what she 10:39 calls are ugly 10:41 other researchers agree that every 10:43 leader and i'd say every person has 10:46 their crucibles 10:47 their periods in life when they face 10:49 intense sometimes traumatic 10:52 often unexpected moments that test their 10:55 strength 10:56 their resilience and their values 10:59 it could be the death of a beloved 11:00 friend or family member 11:02 it could be a particularly rough 11:04 childhood it could be an illness 11:07 it could be a bankruptcy it could be 11:09 escaping a war-torn country 11:12 or it could be a period of extreme 11:14 self-doubt 11:15 it could be anything that tests what 11:17 we're made of 11:19 it's these traumatic periods that teach 11:22 us important lessons 11:23 about how to face the inevitable 11:25 challenges of life 11:27 our crucible moments can teach us wisdom 11:30 judgment 11:30 strength and compassion although we may 11:34 not 11:34 explicitly discuss or present our 11:36 crucible moments in our brands 11:38 an authentic brand reflects the 11:40 hard-earned lesson from these crucibles 11:42 and these lessons are how people connect 11:44 to the most important parts of who we 11:47 are and what we believe 11:50 whether you want to consider yourself a 11:52 brand is of course your own decision 11:55 but one thing is certain how you present 11:58 yourself to others 11:59 matters because people's perceptions of 12:01 you 12:02 will determine whether you have an 12:04 opportunity to make your best 12:05 contributions 12:06 add value to your organizations and reap 12:09 the rewards of your efforts 12:12 your brand is a promise you present to 12:15 others based on an 12:16 honest assessment of your values 12:19 character 12:19 knowledge and expertise to create your 12:23 brand tom peters recommends that you 12:25 answer the following questions 12:28 what do i do that i'm most proud of 12:31 what do i do that adds remarkable 12:34 distinguished 12:34 distinctive value what do my 12:38 colleagues and customers say is my 12:40 greatest and clearest strength 12:42 and most noteworthy personal 12:44 characteristic 12:46 what have i done lately this week that 12:49 added value 12:50 to the organization do people view me as 12:54 a dependable colleague and team member 12:56 who is interested in the success of 12:58 others 13:00 are my skills difficult to copy 13:03 is my work clearly aligned with the 13:05 organization's goals 13:07 strategies and priorities and am i doing 13:10 what it takes to make sure that my brand 13:12 is not 13:13 at risk of becoming out of date 13:17 clearly a thoughtfully crafted brand is 13:20 not the same as style over substance 13:23 if there's a gap between the brand you 13:25 present and who you are 13:27 sooner or later people will recognize 13:29 these inconsistencies between what you 13:31 promise and what you deliver 13:34 and your brand will lose its power 13:37 remember that your brand is built on 13:38 what other people say about you 13:41 not just what you say about yourself 13:44 so now you know more about the 13:46 importance of developing self-awareness 13:48 and creating your brand 13:50 in the next session you'll learn how to 13:52 be an energizer 13:54 i'll see you again soon