Owning Your Reputation Narrative: Crafting a Public Presence with Kimberly Brown

Understanding Your Reputation Narrative

• 💡 Your reputation is built in the quiet moments, so it's crucial to intentionally shape the unseen narrative about you.
• 🎯 To start, conduct a personal audit by asking trusted colleagues (up, down, and across the organization) for feedback using quick prompts like "three words to describe your experience" or "a one-liner about your experience."
• 🔑 The goal is to understand if the experience you provide aligns with the reputation you want to cultivate.

Gathering Honest Feedback

• 🗣️ Target individuals with whom you have an existing relationship and clearly state your intention to work on your personal brand.
• 📝 Keep feedback requests concise, such as asking for "three words" or using a "start, stop, continue" framework.
• 🔒 If possible, make feedback anonymous to encourage more candid responses, especially regarding areas for improvement.
• 🔍 Seek feedback from those who directly interface with your work and see you day-to-day for the most accurate insights.

Rebuilding Trust After Mistakes

• 🛠️ When you make a mistake, create a corrective experience by demonstrating growth and a new approach in subsequent interactions.
• 📈 This involves understanding what led to the mistake and actively recreating positive experiences to rebuild trust over time.
• 🚀 For internal candidates, shifting perception requires consistently showing you can do something different than your established reputation, which can be harder than an external candidate selling themselves.

Strategically Evolving Your Reputation

• 🎯 To rebrand, you must articulate your desired reputation and back it up with consistent actions to avoid being perceived as just a talker.
• 🚶‍♀️ The key is to walk the walk and talk the talk simultaneously, ensuring your actions align with the narrative you want to build.
• 📈 Signs your reputation may need adjustment include feeling consistently pushed into roles you don't desire, even if you excel at them.

Building Visibility and Personal Branding

• 🌟 Get clear on your career goals and what visibility means to you (e.g., public speaking, writing, social media).
• 🏢 Align your visibility efforts with your organization's temperament and rules, and consider starting internally within ERGs, town halls, or client meetings before scaling externally.
• 💡 Authentic interest is key; choose activities and platforms you genuinely care about to create natural content and avoid appearing disingenuous.
• 🗺️ Study individuals who excel in areas you admire, not to copy, but to inspire your own blueprint and identify your unique "special sauce."

Legacy vs. Career Milestones

• 🏆 A career often involves acquiring skills and experiences for personal growth, while a legacy is about the lasting impact and stamp you leave on an organization after you're gone.
• ⏳ Begin thinking about your legacy earlier in your career, not just at senior levels, to intentionally shape your contributions.
• 👂 Conducting a listening tour throughout your career can reveal themes in how people perceive you and what projects they associate you with.

Evolving Your Own Narrative

• ⚠️ Kimberly shares a personal experience of receiving feedback that she was perceived as "hard" and "rough around the edges" due to her direct approach.
• 🤝 She learned the importance of socializing ideas and bringing people along on the journey, even when it felt like it slowed down execution.
• 📈 This feedback helped her develop strategies for stakeholder presentation, adapting her approach based on individual leader preferences to be seen as both a strategic leader and a partner.