There’s a lot of talk about building your brand. The truth is that your character is your brand. Your character and reputation both get to the room before you do and lay the foundation for your brand. I recently lead a research team of 20 people, and it was all good. Except one. This chick aggravated my soul from day one.
The Apologizer
It was bad enough that she was frequently late. Add to that her relentless repetition of everything, I literally walked out on her many times while she was repeating the same old ish over and over and over again. But the worst was her constant apologizing. NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR YOU APOLOGIZING ALL THE DAMN TIME! It’s pathetic. First of all you should conduct yourself in a way such that you don’t need to apologize. Second, on the off-chance that you do need to, then do it once. Done! Seriously, what’s wrong with people? No one is going to like you more because you apologize the most. Stop it.
The Liar
You remember the story about the woman I was discussing a partnership with. After many talks and too much free advice from me, the phone lines went cold. When I finally reached her she assured me that everything was still a go. Then lo and behold, what is this I see? This chick fully went ahead and did what we discussed, managing to trick some unsuspecting souls into working for her for absolutely nothing: No money, no stake, no nothing. Really? What we see here is a liar and an ideas thief. Luckily I realized early enough in the game to stop talking to her.
This is an absolute no no. Once the streets start buzzing about someone being a liar or a thief, there is no stopping it. Do better! Cultivate your brand so that even if you aren’t winning any Ms. Congeniality awards, people still know you to be a person of decent character and integrity. That’s how you win!
Bottom line:
- If you are a serial apologizer people will not want to deal with you
- If you are a liar people will not want to deal with you
- If you are a thief of things or ideas people will not want to deal with you
Got it? Good. Now go back to cultivating your brand of being an awesome kickass boss chick!
