Think about it: how many times you bump into a person who works so hard to be is best professional self, only to be missing some of his making of what defines his best version of his ‘personal’ brand?
So many times you would confronted with this much cogitative question: of how should you should behave in business as opposed to conducting yourself in your personal life. And, to the very core, are you blurring the boundaries of our personal lives and our professional business conduct?
The answer is not that complicated; actually it’s deceptively simple: what’s most personal is ‘actually’ most general. And so the very outlook of being professional is being ‘profersonal’ – that is, maintaining a business conduct while being rooted to our ‘personable’ sensibilities.
And a lot of this concoction’s [personal and professional] meaning stems from how you brand yourself in business (and life).
When you are networking for your ‘hot’ startup/ business, branding [yourself] correctly goes way deeper than just exchanging pleasantries in coffee conversations; it is to relate and connect with another person in ways that is long-lasting and engaging. Even the usual ‘how are you?’ questions can become more personal by being more specific and contextual – something like, ‘How are you today?’.
Here, as a matter of fact, personal can connote many things. Conversations is just a part of it; personal also means how you showcase your inner gifts to the world – be it via writing a book that you have been passionately thinking about to that one ideal reader in your mind; starting your own podcast for your one ideal listener; co-founding a company to launch a product that is needed to solve a certain market problem, or fill some business scarcity.
On the other hand, personal also means how much you like yourself and are likeable – in general – in your business/ career.
Showing your personal strengths in business can amplify your business results in manifold. Because, the more you reveal your personal self to your ecosystem, the more connected your network will be in resonating with your brand and its consciousness.
How?
Having a ‘personal perspective’ can help you unearth others’ business perspective with more honesty and genuineness. There is a huge amount of trust that seeds from being personal in business. However, you’d have to intelligently straddle between these two ends of the ‘personal-to-general’ spectrum.
To give it a closer glance, in a business setting, whatever you think of deep down inside is usually why your network dwells on, too. Though not always in a similar context, but thinking fundamentally is an incredible ‘personal ‘driver for sparking great, personal conversations with your business counterparts or colleagues.
It’s clear – the differences are morphing into one great synthesis of how ‘personally’ general you can get in business, and make promising connections that reflect your emotional quotient in how likeable, affable and relatable you can be with your business connections.
Presenting your best personal self is the hallmark of a true professional. Oxymoron? Maybe. But being the ‘real’ version of yourself helps you make more business connections, as people embrace the ‘real’ you instead of what you try to camouflage [advertently or inadvertently]. We all love ‘honesty’ and adore vulnerability, no matter how much canned we all may sound when we are ‘trying’ to be professional while we are business networking.
What’s your strategy?
The new general? Or are you still a staunch believer of being an old-fashioned professional avatar when dealing in business settings?
‘Meld’ personally in business – and see the resulting conversations and connections.
