The second workshop of our Berlin Geekettes Mentorship Program, followed up on our first topic of “Networking” with the aim of creating and maintaining a “Personal Brand” - also towards your network. Irina Botea, our Content and Comunications manager, reminded us to practice our PowerPose right before going to bed and to take there as much space, using the example of Marissa Mayer’s VOGUE cover.
Our speaker Inka Kretschmer, an experienced coach and facilitator, described that the first the main issue faced by most of her customers: They work hard but do not get any recognition for it; recognition depends always on the visibility of someone's efforts and someone's brand.
What is a personal brand? A brand should impress and become unforgettable. Its purpose is to trigger an emotion and build trust. Famous examples of strong personal brands are: Mahatma Ghandi, David Beckham or Richard Branson. Public figures showed very well that brands can collapse over night, as a notorious example we can cite the known case of the golfer Tiger Woods, in which, the public opinion shifted from a positive reception to a very negative one, as soon as his extramarital affairs became known. On the other hand, there are some public personal brands that have sustained and evolved through the years like in the case of Madonna. .
Your personal brand is a combination of your vision and values, your skills and knowledge as well as your beliefs and attitudes. All of those factors are only shown through the behaviour you display and your manner of communication. Ideally, the self-impression you have aligns with the perception of other people, therefore the gap between them should be non existent. Tools like development feedback can help you identify and clarify the gap so that you can try and improve it in the future. by using as many specific examples as possible.
To make your personal brand clear to yourself you can write down your individual brand mantra. The mantra describes the personal connection you build up with people and includes adjectives that define yourself. Take your mantra and discuss it with some friends to see if it fits the outward perception. With your mantra, you are now ready to communicate your brand to the world. You can, for example, circulate articles which are connected to your brand or write articles for a newsletter or a blog. Moreover, you can take a role in a professional association or interest group to meet like-minded people. Find your own way to show your expertise and be reliable on your brand promise.
By Juliane Möllmann, member of the 2015 Berlin Geekettes Mentorship Program organising team, and a project manager for corporate innovations working on her personal brand as payment and retail technology expert. Connect with Juliane on LinkedIn - she’d love to hear from you.
With special thanks to all those who have made this year’s Berlin Geekettes Mentorship Program possible, including Scout24, our main partner for the program, the organising team - Denise Philipp, Melanie Fieseler, Bianca Walterspiel, Karolin Rühlmann, Juliane Möllmann, Kate Castellano, and Irina Botea - Markus Kretzschmar Photography, and of course our fabulous mentors and mentees.
The Berlin Geekettes Mentorship Program is a five-month program focused on the professional and personal development of female professionals. This year’s program runs up until February 2016, and brings together a total of 70 mentors and mentees matched based on areas of interest, background, goals and expertise. To meet our mentors and mentees, and find out more about the program, visit our homepage.
