Thinking about several topics – personal branding, intentional connections, career development – a collision happened in my mind.
How does our professional brand change as our career evolves?
Can we be more intentional about what the long-term imprints look like?
Is our “brand” different for different people depending on our relationship depth?
My Perspective
When I quickly thought about the questions, my answers were quick on the first two – I believe we can think about how our personal brand evolves over the years and do things to be more intentional about what that brand looks like. I’ll touch deeper on these in a future post.
Here, I want to consider how a personal brand might be different based on your relationships.
When I think about people I’ve worked with, I would describe their perceptions of me like concentric circles. Those in the middle know me the best. Those in the outermost ring know me the least. In between, there are some additional layers.
My Story
Knowing there are different layers to “me” that different people see, would I change anything?
Would I approach interactions differently?
The one that has me thinking is the outermost layer. For people who only see me occasionally, in a meeting or giving a presentation, what is the “brand” that they see?
Do they pull out qualities my inner circle sees?
I wonder if they see something completely different.
My plan is to spend more time thinking about this and determine how I might better understand my brand in the various layers of circles.
Your Turn
Do you think others perceive you differently based on how well they know you?
What might the inner layer see that is unique from the outer layer?
Are there qualities you hope everyone sees?
If so, how could you make them more visible?