Cultivating a strong personal brand can yield a lifetime of benefits. Yet many people mistakenly believe that personal branding is mostly about things like choosing stylish clothing and memorizing an effective elevator speech. They don’t realize that successful personal branding is less about how you look and more about what you do each day on the job and the bonds you create with other people. The real power of personal branding lies in demonstrating qualities such as diligence, kindness, compassion and graciousness.
Consider the quiet co-worker who diligently comes to work each day, rarely complains and works behind the scenes to ensure things are done right from the get-go. Someone who helps his or her fellow team members succeed and inquires about what their children are up to. Someone who remembers your birthday. That type of person is well on their way to developing an effective brand built around the qualities that people admire most.
Sometimes it seems qualities such as diligence and kindness do not yield a reliable payback. In discouraging moments, we may ask ourselves: “Is anyone taking note of my efforts?” But rest assured that qualities such as compassion and kindness are noticed — and that demonstrating them to others can have a larger effect on your life than you have ever imagined.