The way you go about mastering the art of self-promotion matters mightily.
One of the questions I hear most often from accomplished executives is (paraphrased), “How do I talk about myself and my accomplishments in a way that feels good?” Effectively expressing your executive personal brand in an authentic and sincere manner is a good strategy for doing the kind of artful self-promotion that will help you advance your career. Research shows that a well-thought-out approach is way better than humblebragging.
Humblebragging is defined as “making a seemingly modest or self-deprecating statement to draw attention to something of which you’re proud.” The humblebrag has become more prevalent in our social lexicon thanks to the rise of social media. According to a Time Magazine survey of 646 people, 70% could recall a humblebrag they heard recently.
Here’s an overexaggerated example: “With regrets, I’m unable to attend dinner this evening as I have to catch a flight on the company jet to an important meeting.”
You probably know from experience that it feels a bit awkward to be around people who are humblebragging whether it’s done consciously or subconsciously. So why do people do it? A Fast Company article answers: “Mostly because we know humility is a good characteristic to have, but at the same time, we also know the importance of self-promotion, so humblebragging seems to be the answer.”
Unfortunately for humblebraggers, a 2015 research study by professors from Harvard and the University of North Carolina established that humblebragging is ineffective because it is perceived as being insincere.
So what’s a leader to do? Clearly, it’s necessary to talk about our accomplishments. Advancement could be at stake. Financial rewards and even making key connections for your next undertaking depend on people knowing about your core competencies and bona fides.
This article from medium.com suggests doing three things instead of humblebragging:
- emphasizing what you do
- telling your story and
- focusing on how you support others.
Enter your executive personal brand, developed using the time-proven Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ process from Revealing Genius. Creating your executive personal brand can help you not only effectively—and authentically—answer the age-old business question, “What do you do?” but also give you full confidence in sharing your signature stories about how your work has benefitted others—and the world in a way that feels comfortable and clear.
Excavate Your Executive Personal Brand
One of the problems with humblebrags is they’re often not well-thought-out. They tend to be spoken—or tweeted—in the moment. The beauty of using the Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ process to generate your executive personal brand is that the results it produces are polished and practiced, even rooted in science, and reflect a person’s larger career contributions.
During the first step of the process, Excavate, leaders focus on digging into what makes them unique in the world and why it matters. At Revealing Genius, we use many strategies for helping leaders get in touch with, at what, they are best in the world. This blog explains three of them that you can try today:
- recall the details of your proudest accomplishments
- consider all of your life’s priorities and whittle your list down to three core ones and
- design your “swan song”—such as your ultimate TedTalk or final presentation.
Each of these exercises will give you important clues about your unique genius.
Tell Your Unique Brand Stories
Another problem with humblebrags is they don’t vividly illustrate an accomplishment. They just briefly boast about it!
In the second step of the Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ process for executive personal branding, Tell, Revealing Genius helps leaders both identify and speak out loud their signature stories.
Clients are encouraged to write out their signature brand stories, even give them headlines, as well as tell them to others. These are stories that only they can tell. These narratives define you. Stories are critical, as they are the one thing that no other brand can duplicate.
And writing these stories out and speaking them out loud helps to capture all the detail and the authenticity they include.
For example:
- The owner of a healthcare technology firm leads every presentation with why he started his business—because his father almost died. He didn’t want this to happen to any other family.
- During speaking engagements, a physician often shares that he decided to become a cardiologist after his mentor suffered a debilitating heart attack at a very young age.
- A PharmD talks about how she switched careers, despite the naysayers, and went into marketing after she witnessed brilliant treatments that didn’t reach the patients who needed them the most because they lacked visibility.
When they tell their stories with conviction, you know they feel it in their bones. They believe in what they’re saying and their “why” runs deep. These are authentic statements of who they are and what they stand for. Hardly a humblebrag.
What are the headlines of your signature brand stories? What are the details of the stories that only you can tell?
Affirm Your Brand for Authenticity
The last step of the Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ process, Affirm, helps leaders talk about what they do best in the world without any doubt whatsoever. And having such an authentic core belief in what they’re saying goes far beyond any humblebrag.
A key way leaders can affirm their core competencies as part of their executive personal brand is with science-based assessments. I recommend that my clients do such an assessment at least once a year, taking time to think about what the results mean.
Many useful instruments are highlighted during the 7-Day Revealing Genius Summit. Here is an example of one that is free: The Core Value Index reveals your unchanging motivational drivers and how you are wired to contribute to the world around you.
Spend some time taking such an assessment this month. The CVI takes only about 10 minutes and it’s worth the time and investment to affirm what you may already know to be true. Leave yourself time to reflect on what it means.
Go Beyond Humblebragging to Your Authentic Executive Personal Brand
Revealing Genius has already helped hundreds of executives do executive personal branding using our time-proven Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ process, equipping them to define and then authentically communicate their unique genius in ways that others receive well.
Executive personal branding is powerful stuff. If you’d like to get a taste of this method for avoiding the humblebrag, check out our complimentary Excavate Your Brand webinar or register for our 7-Day Summit. If you’re ready to dive in deep or prefer private sessions to excavate your purpose, check out our 1:1 executive coaching options.
