How do other people see you?

ByDavid

How do other people see you?

And is that your identity?

Does it matter?

It does, in the sense of you have a personal brand. This is true whether you are a fan of that concept or not.

In one of my early corporate-life jobs, I felt desperate for a sense of purpose at the company, in my career, and in my professional life.

One morning, I was sitting in a room, a workshop with our HR Training expert and probably a dozen colleagues from around the company. Our trainer asked a question: What do your coworkers think of you?

A good question that I could not answer.

Blank.

I imagine that the experts would say that whatever I wrote, whatever I thought others thought of me, was really what I thought of myself. Safely projecting my views onto innocent others.

Still, I could draw only a blank.

Now, older and wiser and in a better-fitting career, I would build my answer like this:

  • What do I love to do?
  • What do people ask me to do?
  • What do we talk about when people talk to me?

This is a synthesis of what they think of me, and how they want to engage with me, with my brand.

It really is what I think of myself.

What do you think of yourself?

Think about the problems that you solve for people, and the things that you like to do, and build from there.

What do you think of that? What do you think of yourself?

See you tomorrow.