Authenticity The Key Of Unlocking Your Personal Brand

Personal branding is a lotabout perception and judgment.Is that fair? Not really.But it's how we're wired as human beings.We have instinctive ways of judgingother people, sometimes just basedon what they look like to determineif they're friend or foe, or if they're dangerous.It's part of our DNA.

Authenticity in personal branding meansbeing mindful about the way you show up.It means being conscious of thatfirst impression you're going to makewhich is often going to drivethe perception someone else has of you.And that starts with your style and your image.It starts by understanding thatyour personal brand means youshould look like you, not like someone else.Dress to be comfortable.Dress to be appropriate to the audienceand the situation.So if I'm addressing a large groupof financial executives in a business forum,I'm probably not going to weara baseball cap and you know, torn jeans and sneakers.I'm going to dress appropriate to the situation.But I'm going to dress in a waythat makes me feel like me and representsmy values and my personal brand.

When you nail this part of the process,getting dressed in the morningis so much easier because you stopsecond guessing how other people want you to dressand you start putting your style and your imageand wardrobe together based onhow you feel best about yourself.Being appropriate to the environmentbut feeling comfortable in your own skinand your own wardrobe.It also has a lot to do with body language.They say that 90% of informationcommunicated is nonverbal.So no matter what words are comingout of my mouth, if my body languagedoesn't match, you're going to be skepticaland perhaps not believe what I'm communicating.So here are three different body language tipsI'd like to share with you today.

First comes down to eye contact.When you're talking to somebodylook them in the eyes.Show that you have respect for themand that they have your attentionby making good eye contact.Don't hold the eye contact so longthat it becomes awkward or uncomfortablebecause sometimes eye contactcan veer into a place of intimacy or even threats.So hold the eye contact in a way that's appropriate.And when you need to break contact,eye contact, simply look away for a moment,or glance at something else, to show a little bit of relief.Also pay attention to how your hands are postured.If you talk with your hands, make sureyou're not pointing at someoneor being overly directive.Use your hands to show welcomingand show approachability.

Use your palms up to show thatyou're receptive to new ideas and you're inviting.If your fists are closed or your hands are gripped,it might show that you're overly tenseand that might seem unapproachable.Pay attention to your posture too.I've yet to meet someone whose personal brandwas to be closed off and unapproachable.So when you walk into a roomshow confidence by having your shoulders backand your posture really confident and approachable.It's really important in building that first impression.I'm often asked by people if being authenticmeans you get to say whatever you feel when you feel it.No.Being authentic means you know what's appropriateand that you learn the art of self-editing.Just because I think it doesn't mean I need to say it.

Just because I think it doesn't meanI need to comment online about it.Self-editing means you know whatyour strategy is and you know whenyou can take that leap and be candidand honest, and when sometimes,you need to reserve judgment.It's always about staying genuine.Knowing what's in your heartand what's guiding your strategyis always about your values.Stay genuine and align your actionwith those strategies and you will be successfulin matching your body language and your imageto the person that you are insideand the person that you want other people to see.