Self-promotion isn’t bragging, it’s our visibility cloak
Maybe some of you had the same icky feeling when reading self-promotion. People that come to mind for me were self-absorbed influencers that talk about how they made $ 1 billion in just under a year.
Well as a #WaveMaker, I can directly tell you that’s not what this post is about.
I won’t be giving you tips and tricks or “top 10 things” to do to reach some generic image of success.
I’m here to share that self-promotion is fundamental to your success. But what should self-promotion look like? Well, that entirely depends on what YOU want to convey about your vision. In this blog, I will share an inspiration I got from a certain king and queen.
Even though it’s highly unlikely that commoners like us would experience being a monarch, I chose royals to illustrate self-promotion because we all know the idea of royalty and their fame. I think it’s a beautiful example to illustrate my reflections on the final topic of my six-week Wavemakers journey, Self-promotion.
On my recent long-haul flight back to my hometown, I finally watched The King’s Speech, a 2010 movie about how King George VI had to overcome his stutter when his brother abdicated the throne. Even though it was dramatized, it was true that he had a stutter and that he overcame this weakness by working with one Australian speech therapist on a daily.
For those who don’t know, King George VI was the late Queen Elizabeth II’s father, who most probably needs no introduction.
Now, unless you’re an avid follower of the former queen of the United Kingdom, I’m betting that you probably only remember her public appearances.
Similar to her father’s disciplined regimen of speech therapy before delivering his 1st radio address, she invested a lot of time into self-promotion.
Yes, I know our jobs might not have as much funding and time allocated to personal PR as monarchs get, but that’s not my point. My point is that even the most famous people still need to do the work of self-promotion and that without it their fundamental work probably wouldn’t be successful.
I would like to put out a disclaimer that I don’t know much about what she has achieved in her time of service but that also confirms that I am not the person that needs to know. She went to openings of hospitals or schools in the UK for example and those were the people that needed to know about her work.
During our online community session in the Wavemakers program, I learned about Harvey Coleman’s P.I.E. Theory of Success. What struck me the most was that contrary to what many of us believe, Exposure matters more to achieving your success compared to your Performance.
Maybe it’s because we learned in school that meritocracy alone would give you good grades. But we are living in an age of information where nobody has enough time to assess how hard or good your work is because there’s just so much information coming at you by the second. Paired with our limited brain processing speed, you’ve got a recipe for information overload.
So why not make it easier for others to understand how you can be valuable?
Authenticity
By now I hope you’re already wondering, how NOT to appear superficial yet still promote yourself.
If you dive into the Image aspect of the P.I.E. theory, you would discover that that’s where you can strike a balance between the Image others perceive of you and your authentic Identity.
With my background in Communications, my core work is essentially minimizing the gap between the two — whether it's a business or a personal brand. Stressing that we want to minimize but not control because that’s beyond ourselves.
But how would you know what image you portray publicly?
Feedback.
In my blog post, I elaborate more on communication and feedback. Feel free to have a brief read.
Might is not right
It is the principle which permits a state, in the selfish pursuit of power, to disregard its treaties and its solemn pledges; which sanctions the use of force, or threat of force, against the sovereignty and independence of other states.
Such a principle, stripped of all disguise, is surely the mere primitive doctrine that “might is right”; and if this principle were established throughout the world, the freedom of our own country and of the whole of the British Commonwealth of Nations would be in danger.
— King George VI of the United Kingdom
In this monumental 1st speech, King George VI mentioned an unconscious bias that is as relevant in today’s society as it was when World War II broke out, that “might is right”.
If we wish to challenge this bias and see authentic leadership among us, it’s our responsibility to be authentic ourselves and show it unapologetically.
It’s no easy task, I know.
And by definition of our species, I fundamentally believe that we are Human Kind, and not Human Bad. Some of us have just chosen to take the easy path and blend in with the crowd to ensure the “selfish pursuit” — as the King mentioned — of personal survival.
If up till now, I haven’t convinced you yet, maybe give me this one more chance.
Authenticity doesn’t mean that you should stop developing, it means staying true to your guiding values while balancing your role within society. My observation of living in an individualistic society, especially people around my age in their 20’s, is that some people confuse authenticity with entitlement. Being entitled blocks dialogue because you expect special treatment simply because you expect others to understand you without talking with them about this authenticity.
Although striking a balance between authenticity and respecting your environment requires trial and error, we don’t live alone. We live in a collective society and no matter how independent we are, we always depend on social structures to succeed.
You cannot achieve anything fundamental alone.
That’s why authentic self-promotion, as opposed to the generic way, is crucial to develop a strong community in order to challenge existing biases that get in the way of your growth.
Generic promotion will bring you generic visibility but authentic self-promotion will inform the right crowd that needs to know the values and messages you must convey.
Tl ; dr
Systematic change — including leadership perception— cannot happen in a day and takes various actors in an ecosystem to adopt a new belief and behavior. For example, since the #metoo movement, more women are courageous enough to report sexual harassment cases. And more and more electric cars and alternative energy resources have become accessible.
These are societal changes that didn’t happen overnight and are still not fully accomplished.
And that’s okay!
Despite the imperfections, it was possible and it was triggered by authentic stories and works from authentic leaders in an authentic imperfect world.
That’s why self-promotion isn’t bragging, it's sharing our authentic experiences no matter how typical or atypical they seem.
Because someone might need to hear, read, watch, or feel it for this tiny wave of yours to eventually become a tsunami across the wide-open ocean.
