I'm not gonna lie - I've put off writing this post since starting SOAR because this topic is much more constructive to talk through vs read. I'm taking a leap a faith that you understand my intentions by now, but will admit that I'm still worried that my POV will be misinterpreted. As I mentioned last week, I don't enjoy saying unpopular things and am honestly not trying to throw shade today. At the same time, this topic keeps coming up so I'm going to give it a try because if there's one thing I've learned about my personal brand, it's that I give it all I’ve got and keep it real (and would love for you to, too!).
As understanding as I try to be, there are a few things that can really get me going:
the seemingly everlasting obsession we have with company valuations and citing them as reasons why I should work somewhere: First, if you achieved an exceptional valuation, that's a big deal - full stop. Second, a great valuation can be a worthwhile incentive to work somewhere, but I'm usually talking to companies that have a few rounds of funding in the books, which means the financial opportunity is less significant than most people would like to believe. And lastly, anytime I am told that a company is at $X, I take a really deep breath and either (a) ignore and move along (which is 99% of the time), or (b) ask how that valuation will impact the day-to-day experience I'll have as an employee (surprise, surprise, it doesn't).
people trying to convince me that produce at a grocery store is, on average, just as good as a farmers market's: Since you're probably reading SOAR more for professional reasons, then I'll just say 'HA!' and we'll jump to the third item and the focus of today's post.
PERSONAL BRANDING: Ugh, just typing that makes me want to bail on writing this and seek serenity. But I can do this…especially for you folks, right?! 😬 I just need to take one deep breath in and WOOSAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH, here we go.
Terminology
While I don't deny that 'personal branding' may be the aspiration that drives a lot of what I see on LinkedIn (and sometimes Twitter), I'd argue that most of it isn't branding at all, but rather, 'professional marketing.' Since I enjoy a good relationship metaphor:
Marketing is like asking someone out on a date. Branding is the reason they say yes.
I've previously shared that job hunting is like dying a slow (but worthwhile!) death of sending forward-friendly emails. The email that I write is marketing. The line that someone adds on to my email when they pass it along - that's branding. We don't often get to see what is said about us, but the following lines kindly came through my inbox this past month:
Catherine is the reason I completely changed my outlook on CPG people inside a brand lifestyle business. 😊
Cat is someone who's been a friend to chat with on my AAPI ideas (she helped craft the narrative for my AAPI public speaking workshops on helping people find their voice) and other professional matters. Like you, she's got different skills, loves meeting new folks, and asks interesting questions.
What I appreciate most about branding is a certain level of unpredictability; marketing messages offer consistency whereas brand equity is a cumulation of different moments and actions. (Quick tangent: notice that we don't call it ‘marketing equity.’) I wouldn’t have guessed that these are the things that people would lead with, but it’s helpful to learn that they are. The first one is short and sweet, and speaks to the work. The second speaks to things I care about around the work.
As much as these comments reflect my brand, it's still mainly in regards to my professional one. My friends tie my personal brand to white peaches, farmers markets, and putting people first. And while there will always be through lines between our personal and professional lives, the truth is that they don't seem to be converging (in the areas that I'd like to see) as much as we think they are, even post-covid; the tangible things - physical spaces, clothing, and the proportion of time for which we dedicate to each - may be. But within the designated time that we still deem 'professional,' the conversations, behaviors, and motivations continue to be pretty separate from what we'd see on a personal level and any convergence seems to be on pace with market and societal norms; it's neither faster nor slower. I'm not suggesting this is a good or bad thing; personally, I feel it's brought on both good and bad things in a way that feels net neutral.
Where I struggle
I'm a marketer because I wholeheartedly believe in the power of brands. I've seen how brands (including personal ones) can inspire humanity and create positive impact at scale. But brands aren't always loved - even the ones we love aren't loved everyday. The reasons why consumers struggle with brands are the same reasons why I struggle with professional marketing - because there are times when an activity's motivation can feel insincere, transactional, and/or performative.
While there's a category of people who might simply lack self-awareness, I'm going to ignore them for the most part because there are enough people who are very well aware of their actions and performative motivations, to which my reaction is always the same - WHYYYYYYY!!! MUST we be this way?? Example: When people use words such as ‘Executive’ on their LinkedIn profiles when they don't fall under the conventional definition, internally or externally. Some thoughts:
If your coworkers wouldn’t say you're an executive, then should you imply that you are? Alternatively, if you were to see a job posting for an Executive role, only to find out that it's at a manager level, would you think kindly of that company?
I say 'internally or externally' because there are times when the title of the job you want might be different because of the industry or maturity of the company you're recruiting for. I've seen roles where there is no material difference in responsibility and financial incentives among a Manager, Director, Lead, and Head of [something]. I've also seen companies that are recruiting VPs from one company into a Manager level at another; the title might be lower, but the responsibility and financial incentives are far greater.
Honestly, I could go on and on, but you get the point. In short, I completely understand that LinkedIn has become a platform to hack in terms of search terms that recruiters are scanning for, but I don't justify this as a reason to exaggerate. There are truthful and creative ways to get around this!
When you choose to embellish, you choose to perpetuate bad behavior because kindness begets kindness and this BS (regardless of the motivation) unfortunately begets more of that as well. I say 'regardless of the motivation' because it's can be rooted in ego, insecurity, lack of self-awareness, among other things. In any case, the output currently looks similar in execution and I believe it’s fueling a growing issue of imposter syndrome in the industry; ironically (and not surprisingly), some people who I've heard have experienced imposter syndrome are also contributing to the collective disconnect between professional marketing vs branding. Simply put, this shit is self-fulfilling.
The catch
There are thousands of products, services, and experiences that exist today and serve a purpose without having a brand; I find this fun to think about because the same can't be said about people. Every person may not be marketing him/her/themselves, but each one already has a brand via a reputation. The choice to then turn something or someone into the conventional definition of a brand is simply that - a choice.
I say this because I'm pretty active on IG and every so often, someone will say to me, "Cat, you could make your IG a thing," to which I kindly share that it already is one(!). The same can be said about SOAR; I can’t help but roll my eyes when people ask how many subscribers I have as their first question. None of these things have to 'make it big' for them to be fulfilling. Marketing and strategy, which are undercurrents of growth, are part of my job and I can choose how I want them to be part of my life. But don't confuse me as the kind to hold my professional responsibility as my personal ambition. While my one true purpose in life seamlessly lives across both dimensions, my definition of success differs greatly within them.
If my IG or SOAR were to eventually become a bigger thing, I would welcome it, but timing is everything, and it's not the right time (and might not ever be); forcing this to become a bigger thing right now would create an imbalance in my life that's net-negative. I need to sleep, work, find a fulfilling job, give back to my various communities, be a good family member/friend, write SOAR, indulge in my curiosities, plan my next food outing, and maybe even try to find the love of my life! So for now, this is enough. More importantly, I'm enough - with a smaller but mighty group of friends on IG, via Substack, and most importantly, in my physical life that engages all five senses and is filled with hugs, high fives, and snail mail.
My plea
Can we just be ourselves and enjoy where we are in our own journeys? (Can we also celebrate others without comparing ourselves?) Wanting to be accepted and liked by others is human nature and unavoidable to a certain extent; I just hope that we don't lose focus of the people who already like us as we are. Your brand will naturally reflect what you choose to spend time on (and if that's mainly professional marketing, it will shine though and ultimately may not be your best look).
I am in no way suggesting that you should settle; just ask any one of my friends - I’m incorrigible when it comes to this! I am, however, suggesting that the combination of talent and grit will lead to the right personal and professional opportunities in due time. That said, if for some reason, you feel that you're not being recognized for objectively good performance, then I think you should question if the values of where you work align with who you are.
Parting thoughts
As long as this post is, I've only scratched the surface of this thing we like to call personal branding. If you want to talk more about this, you know where to find me. In the meantime, I'll leave you with three things:
If there’s one person who has been subject to the highs and lows of personal branding, it's Tony Fauci; his brand has been shaped by two extremely different administrations and countless commentators. He was on Meet the Press this past Sunday and asked how he's holding up. I simply loved his 1-min response, for which I'm sharing an excerpt of: "You know, it certainly has not be easy…as far as I'm concerned, putting all that other noise aside, and it really is noise, I just focus on my job. And when I focus on my job, I'm fine. When you get distracted from the other nonsense that goes on, that makes it more difficult. But I'm pretty good at focusing on my job."
Btw, I can already hear a number of people, especially in the AAPI community who may want to cancel me out for suggesting that we should focus on the job. I'm not suggesting that you should keep your head down(!) or only focus on the job. I think this post alone clearly shows that I’m willing to speak up, but also think this goes back to the impact that sponsors and advocates have, which I'd argue is far more powerful than marketing yourself.
Secondly, Callie Schweitzer publishes a newsletter called Marketer Must Read on LinkedIn, where you get to see how marketing leaders answer the same 10 questions every week. She was recently interviewed on a podcast and spoke about what makes an authentic leader; it's a 40 min listen and the points she makes are relevant to anyone at any stage of a career.
Lastly, the brands that consumers love the most tend to be those that quite simply follow through. Better yet, they’ll say things after doing them. If you've earned something, you have prerogative to flex it. But if you're on your way, you can own that, too. Just don't flex something you're not (yet) and play a game of BS.
Today’s post may not look like much, but between being a marketer and the fact that personal branding is tied to so many concepts within psychology and sociology, it was terribly difficult to write in isolation and with any kind of simplicity. I’m sure I’ll wake up only to find that this is littered with typos.
Big hugs, xx.