Be A Chameleon

This morning, preparing for a session that I’m delivering next week, I was doing some revision around “personal brand” as we’ll be discussing what it is and how to influence others’ perceptions of your own personal brand.

This got me thinking about piece of coaching I did recently with a client, Harry, around his personal brand. Harry’s sunny, upbeat personality and tendency to focus on the big picture rather than process – regarded as assets in previous roles and organisations – were counting against him in his new role of Marketing Manager in a professional services firm.

He told me that divisional heads were appalled by his tendency to a) “wing it” in meetings and b) forget about deadlines – things that he’d previously been able to charm his way out of.  No more – he was dealing with serious, outcome-focussed and time-driven people who demanded he pay attention to detail, have a wealth of knowledge at his fingertips and a delivery style that oozed confidence, gravitas and professionalism.

As part of our coaching programme, we worked with his MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) results and used these to understand why he found it difficult to focus on tasks/issues that he wasn’t naturally drawn to.  He then used the results to manage his time better and prepare his approach to meetings and their focus.

He also looked at and made changes in his personal brand: everything from his dress sense to how he could demonstrate gravitas when dealing with the big guns. Crucially, however, he had to make these changes whilst remaining true to he was. After all, nobody likes a phoney.

Harry’s mindset in making these changes wasn’t that he was selling out; rather, he saw it as an opportunity to become a more rounded, confident and efficient operator. He has gone from fed up and demoralised to working well with his key clients and having a personal brand that is perceived very positively.

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Nicky Denegri is our Senior Consultant. If you would like to know more about this subject, drop her an email and we will be in touch.