Can you boil your personal brand down to the ONE word that describes your value? I posed a similar question on LinkedIn; What ONE word do you want people to think of when they think of you? I was amazed by the responses with over 68,000 comments. I never imagined how this question would resonate with people. As a result, I created an Infographic to highlight how people position their brand in ONE word. What was somewhat surprising was the responses fit into three overarching categories; Expertise, Character and Drive. When people describe their brand, they typically identify a word that falls into one of these three categories:
Under Expertise, descriptors used include competent, talented, productive and strategic. Additional words include versatile, resourceful and adaptable. You’ll notice there is a diverse set of words in this category but they all point to what people can count on when they work with this individual, their expertise. The words in this category focus on skills and abilities, how the individual does his or her job well.
For Character words include honest, reliable, sincere and trustworthy. The responses in this category for the large part had to do with a high level of integrity or character. Character points to strong moral and ethical principles and for those that identified a word in this category, it means above all else this is how they want to be known. Don’t get caught up in thinking if you didn’t pick a word that falls into a particular category you don’t possess these qualities, e.g. high integrity. Instead, this means this is not the singular focus of how you want to be known.
And the third category, Drive highlights words such as determined, trailblazer, intense and game-changer, and yes I know this is two words. If you find you are someone who “gets things done and makes things happen” your one word points to “Drive”. Words in this category stress “movement”, taking things from one point to another point.
What is your ONE word? For some people the word immediately comes to mind. Other people tend to struggle coming up with just ONE word. I ask a similar question in my personal branding workshops and speaking engagements and with my one-on-one coaching clients. You see, this query is a great way to define your brand. This helps you figure out who you are, what you stand for and where you add value. This represents your point of differentiation. What I mean by this is what people uniquely think of when they think of you. The answer to this question helps us cut through the clutter. Instead of telling people everything you do or everything they will experience when they work with you, you are simplifying this to just ONE word that sends a clear message of your value!
My word is Impact. While this doesn’t describe what I do, it describes where I add value. In my coaching, workshops and key note speeches I seek to make an impact. What’s most important to me is that my clients gain insights and walk away with an “aha moment”, something they learned that makes an impact in their professional lives. This is how I measure success! I recently started with a new coaching client who stated he wanted to gain real-life best practices and achieve tangible results through our coaching. I explained my philosophy in one simple word, my coaching makes an impact. He was thrilled!
The process for identifying your ONE word is just as important as your actual ONE word. To do this, ensure you seek feedback from family, friends, colleagues, mentors, customers and anyone who will give you honest feedback. If you get multiple words or “themes” determine if one word stands out more than the others. In most cases you will find consistency from your feedback providers. But if not, determine what resonates with you the most or ask your feedback providers to rank the list in order of priority of what comes to mind when they think of you.
In the end, it’s not the exercise of boiling this down to ONE word, it’s about gaining clarity around your point of differentiation; who you are, what you stand for and where you add value. However, as with most things, it’s far more effective to keep it simple then to overload people with a lot of information that can take away from where you really add value. This ONE word helps to define YOU!
Happy personal branding and finding your ONE word that communicates your value!
Sage Alliance, a Leadership Performance Company, provides coaching, teambuilding and assessments, workshops and speaking on topics including; leadership development, empowering teams, communications, lasting impressions, personal branding and building a coaching culture for executives and high-potentials – for both team and individual leaders.
Contact us today to discover how your organization can get the most through improved productivity, efficiency and direct impact to your bottom line, while leaders gain powerful insight, crystallize opportunities for growth and fine tune their strengths, enabling them to make the greatest impact. You can contact Shelley Hammell directly at shammell@thesagealliance.com.