Who are you? How do you show up at your best? How do you make the big difference?

These big questions are important ones, increasingly so in light of the changes that will be wrought on all us knowledge workers in the mid-term.

At TMWK, we turn these questions into a quest to uncover and polish your personal brand. Being able to articulate your value will make a difference in how people see you; who wants to work with you; what great projects you will be a part of.

How do we do it? By having you distill your crazy-ass brilliance into 2-3 core attributes that you can explain with power and precision (often using the Head-Heart-Hand trifecta); explanations that can leave others panting for more (no less).

There are two parts to this: your own inputs; and a collation of inputs from your kith and kin, community and colleagues. These outsider inputs provide perspective – they can deepen understanding of your essence, and sometimes challenge your own assumptions.

But what the external perspectives do not do is make you wrong. This was brought to mind to me reading the great Maria Popova reflecting on her 7 years of Brain Pickings. She relates:

When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as importantly, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them. You are the only custodian of your own integrity, and the assumptions made by those that misunderstand who you are and what you stand for reveal a great deal about them and absolutely nothing about you.

This is TRUTH. Personal branding is not about cheesy marketingspeak, although it leverages creative visual tools to unlock your brand essence. It is about you saying, with certainty, this is who I am, this is how I add value, this is how I am my best.

It is about standing in your power, and no-one can tell you what that is or how it feels. Here’s to more personal power.

←This Much We Know.→