Your Professional Reputation There is no way to put a price on your professional reputation, its value to you is priceless

Transcription

1 Your Professional Reputation 1 There is no way to put a price on your professional reputation, its value to you is priceless Copyright Per Frykman Inc 2012

2 We want to challenge the traditional and safe, where the result is predictable, but not necessarily particularly good From our book Your Professional Reputation 2

3 Your most important question! Richard Branson recently said in an interview: Your brand or your name is simply your reputation, you have to fight in life to protect that as it means everything. Nothing is more important. Your professional reputation determines your success at work and how you will succeed as a consultant, leader, employee or entrepreneur. It determines whom your customers will listen to and whom they will trust. Can anything be more profitable to analyze than this? As a CEO from an advertising agency puts it: Ah - it s my credibility, there is nothing else - it decides every deal. At that moment we realized that we could not explain it in any better way. How well do you know your professional reputation? That question will determine your professional future. 3

4 Reputation - 75 percent of the value of a company There is no way to put a price on your professional reputation, it s value to you is priceless Today everybody is talking about reputation and economists in the US are estimating that 75 percent of the value of a company is tied to it s reputation. But - a company cannot have a reputation, instead it is formed by the individuals in the company. This is the value at stake today. This will of course open up completely new perspectives in business and the profit could be substantial. As the Sydney-based author and consultant Rachel Botsman puts it: "I believe reputation capital will become a cornerstone of the 21st-century economy. Together with others the well known international PR consultancy firm Kreab Gavin & Anderson focus on the crucial key factor when stating: Individual reputation will become a dominant factor in the future. Reputation is the number one in Europe when it comes to what leaders and consultants pinpoint as most important in the coming years. There are few things that affect the company s brand as much as the employees - customers do not trust a company, they trust the individuals within a company. 4

5 90% of the decisions about you are made when you are not present The only thing present is your professional reputation. Take your chances or take control? You will either be valued or ignored Tom Peters Seth Godin These are the moments when your customers discuss if they will offer you that exciting project or job, or when they consider you for new possibilities within the company. These are the moments when you are valued - all these decisive moments in your career and in your business life. The important question is: Do you want to take control or take your chances - do you know every part of your professional reputation - the things that decide? You will either be valued or ignored and you will never obtain anything memorable if it is not valued by others. It is others that hire you, market you, spread your message or applauds you. 5

6 "The best approach I have seen Says: Sven Hultin Area Sales Director Nordic, Financial Sector at HCL Technologies who has analyzed his professional reputation Professional reputation... understanding what people around you believe are your core traits and strengths...! It's a kick, it's clarity and it's extremely relevant for anyone to master. A lot of theory behind why this is important. So far this is the best approach I have seen to get it documented. The big, big value for you in the end is the ability to align your passion to your professional work. Seize the moment!" 6

7 The NEXT Big thing beats The Big thing. Whom do we choose for a project, to do business with, promote or give that exciting job - the person who has done big things or the individual who will do big things in the future? Recent research from Stanford University and Harvard Business School shows that The Next Big beats The Big Thing in your past. What you want to create and accomplish in the future is more important than what you accomplished in the past, however substantial it might have been. Your professional potential is far more important than your experience when it comes to choosing. The NEXT Big thing People are much more impressed by your potential than by your track record. It would be wise to start focusing your pitch on your future, as an individual or as a company, rather than on your past even if that past is very impressive indeed Zakary Tormala - Stanford and Michael Norton - Harvard Business School For those of you who want to market yourselves for an interesting project, assignment or a job - we use a Reputation Resumé. This will present the unbeatable combination of Your Professional Reputation, Your Next Big Thing and highlights from your past in an appealing way. This is a new and effective method to introduce yourself to your customers and clients. We have a bias one that operates below our conscious awareness leading us to prefer the potential for greatness over someone who has already achieved it. Heidi Grant Halvorson 7

8 The unbeatable combination. As stated on the previous pages, the two decisive key factors today are your professional reputation and your potential, The Next Big Thing. What would happen if those two joined forces when you look for new clients and projects. You will get an unbeatable combination. Your professional reputation is your perceived expertise, your talents and unique qualities. In the report we prepare for the individuals we work with, we also include a summary presentation of their professional reputation in 10 lines as well as a tagline. The tagline is your professional reputation in one sentence and, at the same time, your pitch for the future - your Next Big Thing. We worked with the consultants and management team for Qeep Inc. and Aqilles Invest. One of the founders, Anders Holm, got the following tagline, put together from his professional reputation: Anders is a genuine and inspiring leader who creates the result breakthroughs that seem impossible to others This is his pitch for the future - his Next Big Thing. The important thing is that it is nothing that he says about himself - it is how he is perceived by his professional surroundings - it is genuine, credible and attractive. Who would not like to hire him? 8

9 In consulting your professional reputation is everything As a top consultant, you are your professional reputation. It is not what you say about yourself, it is formed by your talents, experiences, personal strengths and unique qualities as perceived by your professional surroundings. If you are not 100 percent convinced about every part of your professional reputation how can you persuade your new clients? Reputation is No 1 in Europe when it comes to what leaders are giving priority to today. Most consultants that we meet realize the utmost importance of their professional reputation, but surprisingly few know what it looks like. When you know every corner of your professional reputation, then you have the opportunity to develop it further in a trustworthy way and attract the right clients. As a consultant you will be top of mind, the one the customer first will think of, listen to and trust. In consulting, your professional reputation is everything. It is the one thing by which everything else in your career revolves around" Victor Cheng - mentor for top consultants in Seattle 9

10 Today everybody is talking about reputation Reputation is your greatest asset - it will be the cornerstone of the 21st century economy Rachel Botsman Everywhere I go, I m second to arrive - my reputation precedes me. Jarod Kinz Your reputation is your resumé. Your professional reputation has come into focus in every corner of your business and work-life. MIT Technology Reveiw 10

11 What story is your professional reputation telling? We are looking for the genuine and real! From our book Your professional reputation Tom Peters, management guru, Gary Vaynerchuck, Internet icon and Kevin Roberts CEO for Saatchi & Saatchi all agree - storytelling is today one of the most underestimated business strategies - ever. The same goes for your professional reputation since it is your story and your professional DNA. To be able to work effectively with this and get the advantages you need two things. First of all you must know what story your professional reputation is telling today. No data based test in the world can ever replace that. When you know what story your professional reputation represents to your clients and colleagues, you can also start do develop it further. What story do you want your professional reputation to tell in six months time, a year and what do you actually have to do? Which perceived strengths and unique qualities do you want to strengthen further and what do you want to put on your stop-doing-list? 11

12 Who knows your strengths and unique qualities best? Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google recently said: What we are really bad at is seeing ourselves and our strengths as others see them Heidi Grant who writes for Harvard Business Review takes up the same subject in an article: Who is right? Who knows you best? Well, the research suggests that they do other people s assessment of your personality predicts your behavior, on average, better than your assessment does. The truth is, we don t know ourselves nearly as well as we think we do. What can be more important than your strengths? One of the results when you analyze your professional reputation is that you will get a complete and trustworthy picture of your strengths and unique qualities. These are without any doubt crucial to your success. Instead we often focus on our weak spots, but so far I have not seen anyone being successful on her weaknesses. The secret to high performance among individuals is deciding what not to do Seth Godin, Tom Peters and Jim Collins 12

13 A way to make personal branding real We do not intend to compare ourselves with one of the great management icons of the world, Tom Peters, who back in 1997 wrote the classic article A Brand called You in Fast Company. The article started the movement around personal branding that has conquered the world. Excellence is not an aspiration it s the next 5 minutes Tom Peters A while ago we received a mail from a most experienced management consultant in Sweden, Paul Holmstrom, which made us very happy. He hired us to analyze his professional reputation and responded afterwards: All these years after Tom Peters coined the term Brand You, you are the first who have found a way to make it real For us, it is important to work with effective tools that create results. This is why we were both very proud and happy to receive Pauls mail. We see numerous examples of great possibilities created for both individuals as well as companies. Paul Holmström 13

14 Your Professional Reputation Per Lundgren An energetic, committed and courageous entrepeneur and leader who inspires with his creative solutions. Per has the capability to see things holistic, and can get the right individual in the right place and in the right context he is simply a great inspirer and coach. Per is unique with his forward thinking, and is enthusiastic in what he does, he likes to work in the most complicated processes and sees the possibilties in them. Per Lundgren per@4kompetens.se