The Journey Within: Cultivating Self-Awareness for Authentic Branding
Personal branding—have you ever considered what your brand is? Whether or not you have thought about it, you have one. It's the essence of who you are, how you conduct yourself in life, and the context of your job.
Why is this important?
Think of any brand, even the one you are working for now, and how you recognize the company to which the brand belongs. A brand is the overarching concept of the organization, the visual and communicative depiction of the business. A brand communicates why the organization is in business, what it desires to achieve and how it will meet its goals. Going further, a well-executed brand encompasses the organization’s culture and values of talent. Ultimately, the hallmark of a successful career is the alignment of your brand with the organizations you work for. It’s the baseline of the ever-popular characteristic of “cultural fit.”
We don't typically think we have or need a brand as individuals. Yet, when you examine the idea of personal branding, you realize that you are bigger than what you do for a living. Your brand is intrinsically tied to your whole self, for when you communicate and move through this world, whether in business or other settings, you continuously embody your brand.
At some point in your life, you will look for a role and need to articulate how you work and what makes you different. Your differentiation makes you unique, and how that uniqueness is the thread throughout all facets of your life. This is why personal branding is essential.
The Role of Introspection and Self-Awareness
I often discuss authenticity and introspection, two qualities that define our most relatable, respected, and successful leaders. Authenticity is a result of introspection. Once leaders can look inward to understand themselves, their responses, and their ability to respond to people and dilemmas, authenticity emerges and empowers them.
Introspection, the practice of looking inward and naming feelings and responses, plays a crucial role in personal branding. Some people are naturally reflective and have a high emotional intelligence tied to conceptual thinking, but for others, introspection will need to be taught and cultivated over time. For both types, introspection is a practice rooted in self-awareness, a key component of personal branding.
Once you have self-awareness, you can understand the “why” of “how” you work. This understanding of your work style and your response to opportunities or challenges is the foundation of your brand, as it helps you recognize your unique value and the organizational culture in which you excel, setting you apart from your peers.
How Does Introspection Happen?
In short, introspection doesn’t “just” happen. If it were that easy, we all would have the immediate response to questions such as “Why did you do that?” or “What is your purpose?”. For many, the ability to look inward may never fully transpire; for others, it is a lifelong journey of thought.
Ultimately, you need an advanced understanding of your feelings and responses; various pathways can help you achieve this. The path you choose will be deeply personal. Some journal, others meditate, and many do yoga. My personal favourites are yoga nidra, writing, and therapy. These interconnected paths are critical to my introspective journey, which has been a focus for the last five years.
Yoga nidra and writing create processes for inward examination. When one does yoga nidra, the session lead takes the practitioner on a journey of the self. Writing acts as a journalling tool to build time for reflection. With therapy, I have found mirroring to be the most helpful technique. Mirroring occurs when my therapist mimics me and reflects the skills that she sees, which I may not, helping me to see strengths that were previously invisible.
Within Femina Collective, we have unintentionally worked on our branding by working with Dian Gies on her Wellness Wakeup Challenge. Diane delivered the program to members through cohort-based facilitation based on mediation and journaling, and we deeply benefited from community support and encouragement. The safe space Femina had previously cultivated resulted in authentic and open sharing, tears, and exceptional peace.
How Has Introspection Benefitted Me?
Through these years, I have found myself working on anger, the inability to vocalize feelings, and coming to terms with actions taken when I wasn’t being authentic to myself. If you had asked me what my brand was three years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. I had no “why” behind my work or how I might differentiate myself, negatively impacting my confidence and work. In the last year, my brand has solidified as I worked with organizations aligned with my values and built my voice in the mining sector.
I am now clear on my brand. I have four distinct words that anchor my brand and have built a creative expression of how my brand is communicated. Here is the beauty of branding: as you evolve, your brand grows and changes with you. You are not static, so your brand is not expected to stay static. Your differentiation and uniqueness evolve as you grow in life and your career.
