All the Best Questions to Tackle your Brand
When it comes to branding ourselves, it can be hard to know where to start.
That’s why I’ve compiled a list of the most effective questions for tackling key elements of your brand. I will continue to update this over time.
The best questions to tackle your personal brand & define your identity
Theme 1: Brand Objective
As with any brand, your personal brand needs to deliver on a strategic need. What are you trying to achieve and where does your brand fit into that?
Here are a few ways to get at it:
When you look ahead 5-10 years, what would you like to achieve (in your career or in the business you are building)?
What do you feel might get in your way from achieving this?
Why are these goals important to you vs. anyone else?
Try to distill this into one sentence. “I need my personal brand to help me….” and keep that in mind.
Theme 2: Your Value & Strengths
You are likely very good at many things. But that doesn’t mean all of them should be featured or emphasized in your brand.
The best value proposition is the one that brings together something that brings you the greatest joy in your work with a clearly articulated outcome for others.
Think about the moments when you are happiest at work – when you feel your greatest energy and satisfaction. What’s happening in those moments?
How do you feel? Why?
What would it look like to do even more of this in your daily work routine? (do you need a different role? different schedule? different location?)
Imagine your coworkers are stuck with a challenge and they say, “we need you, specifically, to come in and help us.”
What is that intangible thing they are turning to you for? How would they describe it?
Now, imagine you’ve completed your work and you move on. What has changed for the team or business in your wake? what was the impact or footprint that you left behind?
Distill all of this into one statement. What is your value proposition? Avoid jargon - try to describe this in plan language that anyone could understand.
Theme 3: Your Persona
Most often, our persona is the thing that really sets us apart. Do other people do what we do? Possibly. But does anyone else do it quite the same way we do? No.
These questions help get at that distinct personality that you bring to your work. Your ‘X factor.’
Think of the role you tend to play on a high performing team. How would you characterize that role? How would others?
What does it feel like to work with you when you are at your very best?
How would your colleagues describe the same thing?
How do people describe you? Which traits do you think most benefit your work?
What do you want others to better understand about you as a person?
In short, what is your X factor? Be creative!
Theme 4: Your Origin & Your Destination
By looking backward, we can find patterns that connect where we come from to where we are today. These questions are designed to help you mine your past for those examples and begin to ascribe the meaning to them through today’s context.
Where do you come from? Where does your story begin?
What were you like as a kid? What did you hope to become when you grew up, and why?
Could you say any of this ended up happening, even if in unexpected ways?
Looking back at your path, what are some of your proudest accomplishments? Why?
When was your work more than just a job? A moment or experience where it felt deeply meaningful to you. What would it look like to do this more?
At the end of the day, how do you want to be remembered?
Try to distill this into a statement. What drives you as a human? Where does (or could) your work fit in to your efforts to achieve this?