Your Personal Brand = Your Biggest Asset

Regard your name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. -Socrates
Your personal brand is your visual resume. A strong personal brand or reputation is not the only factor driving success but it certainly is one of the most important. Like an asset, you own your reputation. It means that you can manage and shape it consciously. You can decide how you present yourself, how you choose to behave, communicate and as a result, how others connect with you. Gone are the days when power of money and manipulation ruled success arenas. Right now, we are living in the world where every action, every word comes under scanner; it can make or break business revenue and reputation. People are curious to know about the human faces who represent the organization; who are thought leaders behind every innovation in each field. This asset called brand, can be exchanged for rewards in our professional and social life. In fact, in many ways this asset:

• Opens doors of opportunities
• Arrives before you do & ensures a warm welcome
• Speeds up friendship
• Creates partnership and supports teamwork
• Encourages trust
• Makes praise more genuine
• Gets your ideas across
• Convinces & Sells

When you meet someone, s/he creates an opinion about you. As a prehistoric survival mechanism, the human brain is hardwired to make assumptions based on what we see. Much before people know about your strengths, they decide about you based on your presence. In any field or leadership in business, success is built on power of character. It comes from within. Hence, it is interesting to see how we all reflect an image epitomizing our personality, values, characteristics, integrity & beliefs.
Individuals & Organisations
When the companies interview candidates for hiring or promotion, the screening and selection procedure has much more focus on character. Every member on a team is an individual and helps shape company’s reputation. The way each behaves is a reflection of the entire organisation and vice versa. There is a thin line between reputation of an individual and reputation of an organisation where the individual works. Employees and leaderships are the face of the organisation and they make these two types of reputations closely aligned and co-dependent. You must be aware that whenever you create a working relationship with an organisation, the circle of that organisation’s reputation expands to include you.
Following points will help you maintain your personal reputation through character building
• Believe in YOU so that others can
• Knowing from situations and challenges -what character trait helps us fight & win
• Adopt a perspective that your current work environment is essential learning experience
• Identify the people, teams, organisation that resonate with your values & goals
• Identify the people, teams, organisations that you want to create impact on
• Be aware that your character is revealed by your commitment to success and determination
• People around you may not ask but are always curious to know your values like respect for others & integrity when you interact with them
• Your actions reveal what defines you as an individual as well as the position you hold in organisation
• List down the incidents that made you who you are today
• Make a list of people who have influence on your career/profession/values
• Make a list of people who will be around you to admire/observe your character
• What lessons have you learnt from interactions with your idols/mentors
• Are these lessons still applicable to you?
• Are you sharing these lessons with others?
• What values are important to you and why
• Are these values reflecting from your presence-behaviour and communication?
• How easily you appreciate someone and how do you take a compliment
• How easily you can trust others as well as delegate tasks to others
• How well do you listen to others and ask them “why” and “how” to understand their story
• How you behave in challenging situations and how do you expect others to behave
• How do you empower and motivate people around you when it comes to aligning organisational goals
• Plan a personal action review periodically – How you behaved/acted/reacted recently and what impact it may have created
• Write down result of this review- what can be improved and why; what can be continued and what can you stop doing
• Be open to feedback from others as well

Reputation is about knowing ourselves fully and showing our values to others around us. When we understand ourselves, we begin to understand how we are perceived by others. We also must understand that all around us may not agree with us but it is important to be authentic; to be true to ourselves while creating conscious perceptions.
I wish you a splendid reputation with influence, sophistication and confidence in business and in social life.

Neha Ratnakar
Personal Image & Business Reputation Consultant
Email: neha@splendidconsultant.in
Contact : 8378091527