In business, effective self-promotion is key to success. Whether you are searching for a job, eyeing a promotion, or wanting to prove your worth, it's critical to be able to communicate what value you provide to your current or potential employers and coworkers. In business today, the most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called ‘You’. What is your brand? It's how people think about you when you are not in the room.
Below are three tips to consider when creating and strengthening your personal value proposition.
1. Find a specific niche, your ‘secret sauce’
In constructing your personal value proposition, consider what makes you a need-to-have asset, essentially, what’s your ‘secret sauce’ ingredient? Is it your charisma that enables you to quickly develop rapport and form strong relationships with customers? Is it your specific, technical expertise in a specialized area? Is it your reputation as a thought leader in a particular domain? Figure out your secret sauce and make it concrete and tangible by giving it a name.
2. Focus on continual learning
Developing a highly needed personal value proposition can take years, even decades. Continual learning is a must to succeed. Develop new skills throughout your work life to keep pace with the changes that transpire in the workplace. Thanks to the emergence of online educational outlets, it is now easier than ever to engage in continual learning. Water it daily to stimulate growth, and you will yield a bountiful harvest of information and knowledge. And remember to share what you are learning with others, as it will strengthen your personal value proposition.
3. Nurture your emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is critical to establishing a powerful personal value proposition. EQ, an individual's ability to recognize and regulate their own and other's emotions, has become one of the most powerful predictors to career success. As an executive, high EQ levels afford you a powerful means of differentiating yourself. 75% of managers and HR professionals are more likely to promote an employee with a high EQ as compared to an individual with lower EQ.
Esteemed fashion magnate Marc Ecko once remarked, "You too are a brand. Whether you know it or not. Whether you like it or not." As an executive, your personal value proposition follows you everywhere. It's how people think about you when you are not in the room. It's well worth the effort to design and hone your unique and compelling personal value proposition. As Oscar Wilde reminds us, "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."
Nadine Greiner, Ph.D. provides Executive Coaching and Human Resources solutions. Her mission is to make the executive experience exceptionally enjoyable and effective. She believes that the world needs great leaders, and has dedicated her career to helping them.
As an organization psychologist and former corporate CEO, Dr. Nadine understands the pressures and demands executives face. She offers her clients the high expertise that only comes with three decades of consulting success, and a dual Ph.D. in Organization Development and Clinical Psychology. Dr. Nadine is an in-demand speaker, teaches in doctoral programs, and coaches other consultants. She is the author of two books: ‘The Art of Executive Coaching: Secrets to Unlock Leadership Performance’, and of ‘Stress-less Leadership: How to Lead in Business and in Life’. amazon.com/author/nadinegreiner
Contact Information: Feel free to email Dr. Nadine San Francisco Executive Coaching at drnadine@gmail.com or by phone at (415) 861-8383. www.DrNadine.com