Should executives work on their personal branding? I believe they should as if you are not a brand than you are a commodity.
But it is not so simple as marketing yourself around…
We all despise characters who all the time brag about either own mediocre results or worse, results of others, those who elbow their way around peers and bosses. We talk with others about how bad they are behaving and interestingly enough their behaviour becomes their negative brand. It comes downt to , as Jeff Bezos says “Your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”.
This is why I believe that it is abut picking a strength of oneself and staying true to it/being constant through time and challenges and different people. It is about choosing the right level of integrity and sticking to it no matter what. But choose wisely so you don’t have to reconsider when the pressure comes.
If you are consistent in “doing hard things well” and defending your values it will not win you the “most popular employee/boss/subordinate/business partner award but if you stick to it over time/different people/situations people (and even your “enemies”) will start to respect you.
People like to know what they can expect from you and consistency in actions (especially in “tricky” environments) will always be stronger than sweet talk and pure marketing.
Once you create a personal brand through tough work you have the right, even obligation to make it known… As higher executives do not always have time to dwell too much on who gets opportunities and resources you do not want that somebody with less substance and better communication takes your deserved chance…
So you basically have a choice:
A) “I am beyond self promotion, if they don’t recognize how great I am it is their fault.” This is a valid and noble way and will get you there, however it will take extra patience and time which high performers usually don’t have…
B) Have trust that you earned your right to promote yourself and believe that you can make better use of opportunities/resources than your peers, not for yourself but for the benefit of the company. In other words by not getting the resources you are contributing to less than optimal result
