Do you have a hard time promoting yourself to your boss or in a job interview?
Do you cringe when asked to talk about yourself and your accomplishments?
Do you minimize or deflect your successes for fear of sounding arrogant or boastful?
If you said yes to any of these, you’re not alone! Confidently and genuinely promoting yourself to others is not easy, feels uncomfortable and is something many of us have been told not to do. We don’t want to be seen as a braggart. Yet, promoting ourselves is an essential leadership skill to successfully manage our career and achieve our career goals.
For help in building this skill, I highly recommend Peggy Klaus’ book “Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It.” Klaus, a world-renowned business coach, trainer, speaker and author, knows that to get ahead in your career, show your value in the organization, stand out and be recognized for your contributions, get the promotion or job offer you want, you must self-promote. If you don’t, no one else will.
A colleague shared a story with me about working alongside a very talented manager who felt he deserved a promotion. “Why don’t you go talk to the CFO about it?” she asked him. “Nope,” he said. “They should be able to see what I can do and come to me.” Yikes! I wish so badly I could take this person by the collar and shake them into understanding how important self-promotion is and that it is not that hard to do.
In her book, Klaus shares techniques on how to “master the art of bragging” and provides readers with tips, exercises and examples of how to genuinely and naturally advocate for yourself to showcase your accomplishments and come across interesting and memorable to others. It starts with a clear sense of knowing who you are, what you’ve accomplished and what you are accomplishing now. Her “Take 12” Evaluation exercise pulls all of this information together. Once you’ve identified your career highlights and things you’d like others to know about you, you craft your success stories and snippets in a compelling, conversational, authentic way. Klaus call these your“ bragologues” and “brag bites”, which you will have ready when the opportunity arises to toot your horn and promote yourself.
Bragging is not a dirty word and, as Klaus states, “It’s a way to honor yourself and get ahead in your career.” Adopt this critical leadership skill and watch what happens!
Do you find it hard to talking about yourself and achievements and fear you’ll sound like a braggart?