What is it you want others to remember you for? When you leave the room what do you want others to say about you? When someone first meets you what is their first impression of you? What do you want the “(insert your name) experience” to be?

If you’ve ever asked yourself any of these questions, you are thinking about personal branding. Personal branding involves the adjectives people use to describe you. It involves how you present yourself in person and offline. Everyone has a brand but few of us consciously cultivate our brand.

Why is personal branding important?

Personal branding can be very powerful. When your personal branding is powerful, opportunity has a way of finding you. Think about it, have you ever recommended friends for an open position? What is it about their personal brand that made them come to mind? Are they known to be an expert on a particular topic? A powerful brand will attract companies, press, or clients to you. Depending on your expertise, people may even reach out to you for speaking engagements, media appearances, or other desirable positions.

Personal branding can also be a powerful for networking. If you like to post pictures, tweet, or write about a particular topic people who can relate to your story are more likely to want to connect with you.

Today, we need to make an effort to thoughtfully define our brands or we may risk unintentionally creating a brand we aren’t proud of.

I want you to try the following activity. Ask your friends to answer the questions below.

  • What adjectives would you use to describe me to someone who has never met me before?
  • What topics would you say I talk about most?
  • What topics would you come to me for advice?
  • In your opinion, what am I really good at?/ What are my strengths?
  • What are my weaknesses?
  • If I were to receive a medal, what would it be for?
  • If you had to guess, what would you say me top three values are?
  • Think through all of the experiences we’ve ever shared. What are three positive things you can say about that experience? What are three negative things you can say about that experience?

Some things to think about are the context of your relationships with the people you ask. If you ask your mom – most likely she’s seen you in a whole host of scenarios over a long period of time – and if she raised you she may be biased about some of your values or attributes.

Ask people you work with to get an idea of your professional brand and ask friends or acquaintances these questions to get an idea of your personal brand.

Once you have collected the information from others, think about how you want others to describe you. In an ideal world how do you want other people to experience you? What is the taste you want to leave in their mouth?

If there are some things they have mentioned that you don’t want to be known for think of some ways you can improve this perception. For example if you want to be known as more organized by your roommate but you are always losing your keys, make a change! Buy a keychain or drop your key off in the same place every time you use it.

This activity is a way to practice self-awareness. It is also a way to address any blind spots we may have. In 2018, I encourage you to take control of your personal brand!