Self-Promotion Isn’t Selfish
This month, we’ve been exploring how to be bold about your unique strengths. Part of being bold, of course, is letting others know about those strengths and your accomplishments.
Self-promotion makes some of us uneasy, so I want to debunk some of the negative stereotypes about it you may have.
“Bragging is self-centered.” Sharing information about what you’ve accomplished can be relevant and useful to others. Take your boss. Her job includes both leveraging your talents for the company and helping you develop. To do those things, she needs to hear about your strengths, talents and successes.
“My accomplishments should speak for themselves.” We all have lots of lots of people and priorities clamoring for our attention. Even when your boss or a client intends to note your successes, sometimes they’ll slip by unless you share them.
“I don’t have time to self-promote.” Making others aware of your strengths and successes isn’t an “extra,” it’s essential to your job.
These points are part of our video “Change How You View Self-Promotion.” You can find it and other videos from our “Tastefully Tooting Your Own Horn” series on the Learn page of our website.
Ready to go more in-depth on this topic? You’ll find more advice on effective, tactful self-promotion in our WOW! ProgramSM and WOW! Highlight AudioSM, as well as the book “Show Up. Step Up. Step Out. Leadership Through a New Lens.”
