In David’s mind, he was a humble, hard-working leader. He saw himself as a builder, not a self-promoter. He started as a brilliant engineer, so even after his promotion to a manager, he decided he’d let his technical results do the talking. But to the executives he came across as just “the technical guy”, someone who lacked presence. When a high-profile senior manager role opened, David was passed over. The job went to a peer with significantly less technical depth but a much stronger reputation as a strategic collaborator.
I’ll be blunt: if you aren’t telling your own story, someone else is doing it for you — and they’re probably getting it wrong, sometimes on purpose. Casual conversations in rooms you’re not in can define your trajectory. I remember two leaders dismissing a high-potential candidate for promotion as not strategic enough. Neither of them knew his actual results. What they remembered was a chance encounter two years earlier, when he walked them through a spreadsheet they wanted interpreted. That was it. He became “the spreadsheet guy.”
Your story is the “quick recall” that people remember you and your potential when they don’t have time to figure out your full record. Stop letting other people write your story and stop telling yourself that personal branding is evil. You are trying to create a believable story, not a fable, so don’t go too much over the ski tip. However, feel free to lean in a bit. Choose a word you want to be known for, and from now on, every email you send and every meeting you lead must reflect that word. If your word is “collaborative,” then act that way and let the story build. Read Jim Loehr’s The Power of Story to learn more.
Suresh
This is very true.
Thanks for keep sharing all these career advice, Suresh!