You have completed some communication courses, practiced your interview skills with interviews that went better than expected, have a LinkedIn profile with important information, and occasionally comment “congrats” on someone’s promotion and even post a new certificate milestone once a quarter. Although your professional image seems solid, something feels unclear. You feel you still have to make extra effort to be noticed, and opportunities do not come as naturally to you as they do to others. Some people around you preach, “You need to work on your personal brand.” And so, you wonder why and how.

Three reasons to build your professional personal brand

1. You become known for what YOU want, controlling the narrative of YOUR hero story.
2. You direct attention and opportunities without asking for them.
3. You build a name and thought leadership beyond your current employer, becoming a recession-proof talent.

Start building your personal brand at work

The easiest and most straightforward way to audit and develop your personal brand is to conduct a self-assessment, such as ACIOTA™ Personal Brand. Why not ask friends and family? Although this can be beneficial in certain situations, subjective opinions can be dangerous. Women, for example, are already judged more harshly and second-guessed more often. Carol S. S. Dweck showcases and explains this phenomenon in detail in “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.” Feedback from someone else can land like absolute truth, even when it isn’t, impacting your self-esteem. Self-assessing your personal brand is a safer way to audit it.

First, you clarify your current positioning. ACIOTA™ Personal Brand provides your overall PersonalBrandIQ™ score and scores for each of its elements: Authenticity, Adaptability, Self-Presentation, and Human Capital. You might be surprised by the results. For example, you are strongly aligned with your values but need some development in how you present yourself. Or you might have a strong background in certifications and diplomas, but lack hands-on experience in your desired field, and may not know the right people to help advance your career.

Second, thanks to the report, you know what contributes to each personal brand pillar, so you can start building an action plan accordingly. The ACIOTA™ Personal Brand report includes an Action Worksheet to support your progress.

A roadmap to improve your brand

Strong personal brand development does not come from a one-time exercise, but from a ladder of actions toward the desired personal brand. Here are the stages that any personal brand development plan needs:

• Picture your desired personal brand. At ACIOTA™, we call it the desired PersonalBrandIQ™ image. What do you want to be known for? How do you want to be remembered? What do you want people to say about you when you are not in the room?
• Then go deeper. Go through each pillar and see what kind of improvement is needed there:
  • Authenticity. Your values are the core of this pillar, but this pillar is not solely about them. Does your personal brand have the desired attributes of continuity, credibility, integrity, and symbolism?
  • Adaptability. When this pillar scores low, we are perceived as rigid and inflexible. How far are you from really knowing your strengths and applying them in various situations, for example, depending on the type of people you are talking to?
  • Self-presentation. Learning to use nonverbal communication cues is paramount to building a strong, memorable image. It is not about being perfect, but making people feel a certain way when they communicate with you. Do you want to be remembered as approachable, for example? If yes, what kind of non-verbal cues will support such an image?
  • Human Capital. Our lives are journeys to collect human capital through education, experience, and networks. The more we know about the world, the more interesting we are. This pillar will help you see if your human capital is well balanced across its constituencies, so you are not over-relying on some of them, for example, your good degrees only, and neglecting the power of a good network.
• Your personal brand improvement plan won’t be complete without recognizing what’s already working well for you. Perhaps your network already includes decision-makers who can support your professional development. This is great, keep it up! Note things that are already working great and how you will keep up the good work.

Pacing your brand development according to life stages

When you put your personal brand roadmap in place, you might be tempted to jump on everything at once. At this stage, it is important to differentiate your goals and tasks as per priorities and timeframes. Some will be quick wins, for example, fixing your LinkedIn profile, but others will need time, for example, acquiring a new certification. Habits need longer than 30 days. In fact, studies show that it takes 60 days or more to form a habit.

So don’t jump into all improvement plans at once; identify their sequence and move through them, adjusting as you go. Being flexible with your improvement plans means honoring your personal brand as not set in stone, but a developing human nature, deeply rooted in values but susceptible to the winds of life’s various roles.

Start your 15-min Personal Brand self-assessment or check out a free Personal Brand Check here.