Speaker 0 00:00:00 From Roman Leadership, I'm Oscar Romano. This is Learn, Reflect Lead Leadership, and DIA Development for mission driven individuals and organizations. This episode is titled How to Promote Yourself Authentically.
Speaker 0 00:00:16 This episode is for you if you're struggling with self-promotion, if you want others to recognize your achievements and contributions, or if you are looking for tips on how to promote yourself authentically. Today, we're gonna focus on just that, how to promote yourself authentically. Let's start with this statement, A friend recently made to me, I don't get it. I do so much work and get great results, but I barely get any validation or recognition. Why do other people get noticed so much more than I do? They asked me and I could tell they were hurting a little bit. You know, I, I can't tell you how many times I've heard this from clients, colleagues, and direct reports throughout my career. Unless you're a reality TV star, people aren't aware of everything you do on any given day. Even if your boss is working alongside you all day, chances are that they have so many things they're working on or thinking about that they won't notice a hundred percent of your contributions that day.
Speaker 0 00:01:11 It's time for you to learn about the qualified, quiet. Each person's universe revolves around themselves, which makes it hard to take in what other people do. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult for certain types of people who merit fineman, author brag better master the art of fearless self-promotion calls the qualified quiet to be seen and recognized for their work. Here's some characteristics you can use to help determine if you're a member of the qualified quiet and would benefit from support on how to authentically self-promote. First, you expect your work to speak for itself, but consistently get passed up for greater opportunities. Or the second you have trouble speaking about your own accomplishments, but don't mind talking about the accomplishments of others. Third, you don't speak up in group settings, even when the topic is in your realm of expertise or you know the answer. And fourth, you don't seek out credit for the great work you do.
Speaker 0 00:02:05 If you feel connected to any or all the statements above, you know that I just shared, it's important that you focus on two areas for improvement, your mindset and your skill. Here's some mindset areas of improvement. You know the first statement, Oh, this is not me. I'm an introvert. I don't have the talent here. You, you can't see yourself as a person who promotes themselves to others. Here's another one I don't know enough to share. I'm no expert here. You keep telling yourself you're not at the level where you should be talking about yourself. And another one, it's not gonna do anything. There's no point whether due to past experiences or something else, you don't see how anything will change due to your actions.
Speaker 0 00:02:52 And the next, I don't wanna embarrass myself. You're afraid of screwing up and bringing down your standing in of others. And the last one, I don't wanna come across as full of myself. You don't wanna be that guy or that girl who's always talking about how great they are and what awesome things they've recently accomplished. And here's some skillset, areas of improvement. Oh, well, I don't know how you wanna promote yourself, but don't have the famous clue where to start. And the next one. I've seen people do it and can't imagine myself doing what they do. You've had bad examples or incompatible examples to model what self-promotion looks like, and another one, Oh, it seems like so much work. You're daunted by the time, energy, and effort it takes to promote yourself. And the next, I feel weird talking about myself. You don't have the techniques or structures to follow that make it more comfortable to talk about yourself.
Speaker 0 00:03:47 And the last one, I've tried and peeled before, so I'm afraid of doing it again. You have prior bad experiences getting in the way of taking action. In the end, you have to be your own champion. Les Brown said, Accept responsibility for your life, not as you. Who will get you where you want to go. Nobody else accept responsibility and be your own champion. When I refer to authentic self-promotion, I'm literally talking about who you are, right? You're talking about who you are. It's not about putting on a show and dance routine. It's not about making yourself seem like a larger than life character. It's about making sure key decision makers know about the factually accurate accomplishments that can help them see what you have to offer. Here's some ideas on how to champion yourself. Number one, own your accomplishments. By own, I mean you need to claim your accomplishments as fully belonging to you.
Speaker 0 00:04:40 And by your accomplishments, I'm talking about you knowing what you're proud of and why. Here's some practice. List all your accomplishments, giving each a title and description. First, you're gonna write down at least one accomplishment per year for the last five years. Then one accomplishment per month for the past year. Then one accomplishment per week for the past month. Then one accomplishment per day for the past week and some extra credit. You can create your own limited edition card with all your best stats. Draw an image of your best self on one side, and write down a list of all or just your top accomplishments on the other side. This will help you really own your accomplishments in making sure that you know you're cognizant of what you're already, you know, accomplished in your life or in your career. Number two. Number two, in championing yourself.
Speaker 0 00:05:35 Know your accomplishments. You do this by being prepared. Leverage your list of accomplishments by memorizing them so you can recall them in a natural way when the moment calls for it. Most people can easily show detailed information of how they screwed up on a project last week or with the client the week before, but struggle over counting their successes even just a day later. So this is how you can practice. Make accomplishment flashcards with index cards. First, refer to your list of accomplishments. Second, write down the title of the accomplishment on one side and the description of the accomplishment on the other side. Third, make a pile of flashcards and then go through them all. Try to recall the description for each. If you get it right, place it in a different pile. If you get it wrong, place it in the back of the pile you're working from and some extra credit.
Speaker 0 00:06:21 Write your accomplishments, retirement speech. Put everything together to write down what you would like to for somebody to share about you at your retirement party if you were to retire today. All right, Number three, share your accomplishments. Who, what, where, when, why, and how. You see, self-promotion isn't about talking it up, how great you are to everybody all the time for no clear reason. You need to be in complete control of the entire situation to maximize its benefits and make it as easy as possible for you to do so. So you start with who is your audience and why? For example, you might say something like, My audience is my boss because I've been passed up for several promotions, even though I've excelled in my role for years. What do you want them to know and why? I want them to know I was responsible for 75% of the work that convinced one of our biggest clients to renew their contract for another year.
Speaker 0 00:07:14 And where's the best venue to self promote and why? Oh, I need to do this during a one-on-one meeting because I feel more comfortable being vulnerable in person. And when is the best time to self promote and why? Oh, I have biweekly check-ins where my boss always asks me if there's something else I want to add. I usually don't say anything, but this time I'm gonna use the opportunity to self promote. And how will you deliver the self-promotion and why? Oh, well, I might say something like, Stephanie, I wanna share something. I'm proud of this past month. I know how important it's to retain our clients. So I took on a majority of the work for a big project they assigned to us. It was a great feeling to hear that they were happy with the results, and because of that, they're renewing their contract with us for another year. This news energized me and got me excited about continuing to be as involved with future clients. Please let me know if you ever see an opportunity where I can step in and support. Now, it's your turn to practice. Prepare your own script. Who's your audience? What do you want them to know? Where's the best venue to self promote? When is the best time to self promote? How will you deliver the self-promotion?
Speaker 0 00:08:23 Practice your script in front of a mirror or with a friend, and for some extra credit, if you've established a solid level of trust with your boss, talk to 'em about how you are working on self-promotion. Ask them how they would prefer to hear about any accomplishments you achieve. Here's some closing thoughts I have for you. You know, why do other people get noticed so much more than I do by now? You should know the answer to that. They make a point to be seen. Take control of your situation by authentically self-promoting and allowing others to see how great you truly are. Even if you just inspire one person or change somebody's perception of you by 1%, that's a huge win. So it's time to commit. Are there any mindset or skill areas you need to work on? Which strategy around how to champion yourself? Will you follow through with? That's it for this episode of Learn, Reflect Lead. Thank you for watching on YouTube or listening via podcast. If you're interested in more, you can find
[email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn, a Romano leadership. If you like this episode, please share it with your friends. Subscribe and leave a review. I'm Oscar Roman. Until next time.
