Your Reputation Precedes You

People’s perception of you decides the kind of opportunities that come your way. In such a situation, a consistent and authentic behaviour goes a long way, opines Lida Citroën, CEO and founder of LIDA360, LLC. Lida is author of several books including the latest one, Control the Narrative: The Executive’s Guide to Building, Pivoting and Repairing Your Reputation.

MYTH 1: Personal branding is only for celebrities

Almost daily, we hear about celebrities ‘managing the optics’ and ‘controlling the narrative’ of how they appear to their adoring fans. Online, in person, in media, and even in their personal lives, these individuals are often managed to control how others perceive them.

In reality, managing the way others see you is a practice that should not only be driven by those in high visibility, celebrity roles, but also by business leaders, politicians, professionals, educators, and everyone in between. They all should be mindful of the way they appear and behave around others, as behaviour drives perception.

Personal branding is for everyone, because we all have personal brands. By design or by default, the way people perceive you is driven by their involvement with you as well as the perspectives they bring from previous experience/s. Anyone who interacts with others should be focused and strategic about their personal brand and the resultant reputation.

From what you post online, to the professional relationships you build and nurture, to how you introduce yourself—and how others introduce you—to the image and body language you display to express yourself, all drive perception. So we all should deploy professional image handlers to manage how we are perceived.

MYTH 2: It doesn’t matter what others think of me; it just matters what I think of myself