There are introverts in all spheres of life. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé in the world of entertainment, Barack Obama in politics, and so many in business that a much-cited Myers-Briggs Foundation study in the early 1990s went as far as to suggest that up to 98% of chief executives fell into this category.
Marissa Mayer, the former chief executive of Yahoo!, Brenda Barnes, former chief executive of PepsiCo and Sara Lee, as well as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, are all well-known introverts.
Introversion certainly doesn’t hinder professional success, but it’s vital to understand your true value – and to know how to share it. Doing this builds a powerful personal brand and gives people confidence that you can deliver what you promise, meaning you’ll start to attract the right people and opportunities without ever having to be pushy or salesy in the process.
While this makes sense in theory, the idea of selling yourself is hard in practice and it’s not something many of us have been taught. In fact, many of us have been conditioned to do the opposite: to blend in, to be people pleasers, to keep quiet about our achievements, and to put the needs of others first.
My alternative approach to building a personal brand and marketing yourself is one that I have called value whispering. No matter how quiet your voice is, you can become known for your talents, build a reputation for getting results, and create a positive impact of which you can feel proud.
Let me walk you through how you can use this technique to land your dream job in 2024.
This involves knowing your values, being clear about your vision, and exploring how you create success for yourself and others. You want to take these elements off the page and give them real context. For example, you might consider that one of your top values is “excellence”. But what does this mean to you? Why is it so important? How does this show up in your work?
You want to understand this and weave it into your CV and interview responses. Then you don’t need to say, as everyone else does, “I believe in excellence”, rather you will naturally stand out as you leave others in no doubt that this is a cornerstone of your work.
Our strengths and values often hide in plain sight. They can feel so easy and natural to us that we don’t recognize them as something special. To help you find your true value, ask those around you what they’ve noticed that you do well, perhaps better than others, that they feel you perhaps haven’t noticed for yourself. Also, reflect on times in the past when people complimented you on your work. Look for the patterns, and you’ll find your true value.
It’s standard practice to research a company before applying for a job, but beyond dropping in facts that you’ve learned, think deeply about what the company really wants. Understand the company’s values and where they align with yours. Map your experience and value onto its needs. That way, you will make yourself a much more attractive candidate. Think about what your interviewer has to gain personally from employing the right person.
If you are not sure how you can add value to the company, you can ask that question in the interview. Get to understand what this role means to the team and the company so you can focus on impressing interviewers with your most relevant experience.
When we communicate, we tend to talk about our value last of all. It is easy to assume that it’s obvious to the other person. But it rarely is. Instead, you should lead with your value, and then give the evidence to back this up.
For example, I could talk about all the articles and speeches I’ve written for world leaders, how I’ve devised communication plans for large research projects, or even how I’ve won awards for my work launching global brands.
What would you think? “That’s nice.” Maybe even, “That’s impressive!” But would you get a clear sense of my real value or personality? Would I stand out against a peer with similar experience? Probably not.
If I were to share how a director was struggling to engage his people in the organization’s new strategic direction, and how I was able to translate his high-level vision into an engaging communications campaign, suddenly I’d be speaking directly to a company’s needs.
When I go on to explain how I delivered this campaign in a way that resulted not only in the faster adoption of the strategy but increased productivity and employee satisfaction then you start to get a much better feel for my thinking, approach, and value.
What’s more, you’d likely be bursting with questions which would give me further opportunity to share my value, showcase my passion for my work, and ultimately, stand out from the other candidates.
Storytelling is far more interesting and impactful than reeling off a list of facts, and it’s a much more natural way to weave (or whisper) your value into your content and conversations. As humans, we are naturally hard-wired to listen to and remember stories, making it an easy way to stand out and leave a lasting impression.
Use stories to build your personal brand while networking on your social media profiles and posts, on your motivational letter, and in the interview itself. It’s a powerful way to personalize your experience and views and come across as friendly and relatable.
While you don’t own your personal brand per se – it’s what you represent in other people’s minds – you can carefully and consciously curate it by ensuring that your words and actions consistently demonstrate your true value.
It takes time and consistency to build but working on this ahead of your career advancement activities is always going to be an advantage. Review your LinkedIn profile, for example. If you’ve stated that “excellence” is your top value, does this come across? Is your profile picture up to date and of good quality? Have you completed all the sections and checked the grammar? Have you included stories that demonstrate excellence in practice?
To make building your personal brand simple, think about how you want to be remembered by others. Reduce this down to three guiding words. Then, before any meeting, networking event, or social media update, remind yourself of these words so that you can stay consistent with them. Over time, people will start to associate these words with you because it’s what they experience in every interaction. In turn, it builds trust, recognition, and confidence in you as an individual. Even if they don’t agree with your views, they’ll respect your brand.
For many years I struggled to feel confident walking into a room of strangers so actively avoided any form of networking event. But once I reframed networking and created a vision around what a strong network could do for me and my future, things started to change.
I created what I refer to in my book as my “victory formula”. This helped me to move away from how I thought I should approach networking and create my own rules. As I did, my confidence grew – and so did my network.
Thanks to my network, I’ve been able to start three businesses quickly, spoken on stages around the world, published and contributed to five books, and made many great friends in the process. It’s how I’m here writing this article.
A strong network is one of the best assets you can create. You never know what opportunities it will bring you – and I promise they will be worth all the time and effort you’ve put in.
In short, to attract your dream career in 2024, know your value, believe in it, consciously whisper it through everything you do, and you’ll naturally stand out and attract the right people and opportunities.
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