ESTABLISH WHAT YOU WANT TO BE, AND ACT IN CONSEQUENCE.

Following this quote from the famous and influential American investor and philanthropist, there is a great truth about the reality that we who make decisions face every day. Determining what should be done in a relevant situation, having carefully considered and assessed all its implications and consequences will not only affect the specific issue we face, but also our own reputation, which can be harmed in such a way that it is virtually impossible to reverse the situation. In my opinion there is no “medicine” to cure the damage, even less once it has occurred; however, in the same way that a good and focused training in athletes considerably minimizes the probability of suffering an injury and / or the consequences of this, regarding to our personal and professional reputation, we can also muscle ourselves properly to face the aggressions that, without any doubt it will occur. The pillars that will support this “structure” are 3, PERSONAL BRAND, PERSEVERANCE and COHERENCE, and in the same way as for an engineering work, they must be correctly calculated and executed to avoid the risk of collapse.

PERSONAL BRAND

One woman who, in my opinion, is a reference about Personal Brand is my admired Lorena Acosta, who I encourage you to follow in networks (I do it in LinkedIn) and through her posts she share important and useful tips about what a personal brand should be. In today’s world, where we all have a lot of information at a mouse click, it is essential to have visibility. We must treat ourselves as if we were a business and establish the brand image we want to convey. We must be the best ambassadors of ourselves and show not only the solutions we can provide but also convince others that we are a better solution than others, so we must devote the necessary time to create our brand and make it visible.

PERSEVERANCE

We live in a time when immediacy is imperative, we want results imminently and we are not willing to wait any longer than we consider appropriate. What we have perfectly clear when we are demanding a product or service, is a real complication when we are on the other side and we are bidders, and not getting a positive response can lead to frustration. We must be resilient, overcome the obstacles and, if we are clear that we work in the right line, do not give up on our efforts, because working with focus and passion, and being persevering, the results will come. No great feat in history was accomplished in minutes, and great achievements, like great works, need the necessary time.

COHERENCE

Finally, but not less important, we must act in a coherent way; What we say we are and what we do, what is key for us in our mission, vision and especially values, must be perfectly supported by our actions and behaviors. It seems something absolutely obvious and that, like any other theory, leaves no doubt or interpretation, but if we look around us it is really easy to find multiple examples of people, brands, corporations, public life, personalities, etc., where they say one thing, but his subsequent acts show an absolute lack of alignment with his speech. In a time ago you had to make tedious inquiries to the newspaper library to verify these disagreements, but today, as I said above, everything is just a click away, and what is worse, erase the digital fingerprint and recover a careless reputation is tremendously difficult, when not impossible.

In conclusion, as with almost everything in life there is no magic formula that guarantees 100% the obtaining of the desired result, much less that it arrives immediately. However, it is possible to increase the chances of success and reduce those of error and its consequences, but all this, as in a good dish of a great chef requires a correct strategic map with the right ingredients, enough time and necessary corrections before it becomes a masterpiece of gastronomy. The good thing about all this is that in professional life, establishing our own brand depends only on ourselves, which paradoxically also implies that all responsibility is ours. It is worth working our personal brand well in the present and making the path with perseverance and coherence to obtain the desired results in the future.