Thread by @Mrpossidez

DON’T FIGHT SHY OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL BRAND. OWN IT.

I was having a chat with a lady one time, she said she messaged because she heard about me from someone. Half way into the chat, you stated that I must be very strict, boring and disciplined. Lol I get it a lot though.

#Thread

She even asked to see my picture. She stated that scholars usually are not easy on the eyes. I wouldn’t know why anyone who think that “scholars” were typically ugly.

When I told her I had to go because I had stuff to read, she laughed and said, “I knew you’d be boring”.

I wouldn’t know how anyone would synchronize scholarship with being boring or ugly; I understand that a few dweebs would have given this impression but it amuses as much as it baffles me when I see it being actively selling as a “thing.”

When you’re a professional, be it law, medicine or accounting, etc, there is the tendency for people to take your social sides lightly and because of these criticism, you’d find that many young professionals fight shy of looking “professional”, like being it makes them dweebs.

I don’t reckon as a scholar. But, I have seen so many people who would rather shrink that side of them because people become dismissive of their social attributes when they find that they are professionals.

Virtually every lawyer has had this experience.

Professionals are brands - like other brands. When you see musicians, they post and promote themselves and their music on every space. It fascinates people because it blends well with our social part. People like to just keep bubbling ; no one likes who makes them feel unmoored.

The first reason professionals are subtly discouraged from “looking too professional” is that people don’t understand that professions are businesses and they need marketing. Indeed, if it’s the path you choose and you love, by all means be a brand!

Secondly, professionals seem to apparently question our intelligence; they look and talk smartly and often times, people defend themselves against anything that transgresses their sense of intellectualism. Professionals suffer this too so they are often subtly condemned.

Then, what chiefly makes people feel the need to blend off their professional side often, is because they want to have a finger in every pie.

To actively maintain a professional brand requires consistency and it’s hard to have that if you incessantly fable into being a marlian.

Nobody tells an artiste not to have piercings and braids; nobody should expect a lawyer to act excessively blend into the sentiments of the unversed. It’s good to maintain a work-life balance but please don’t fight shy of your branding anywhere.

Professionals have their elevator speeches - they can project themselves and what they do in few minutes. Have yours.

They speak and dress the part; please do.

Please don’t be shy to sound intelligent.

You don’t have to over-blend into what people want to see off of you.

Have a LinkedIn profile if you must, don’t be pressed into not stating your professional achievements.

Groom your silent indicators; how you speak, the kind of things you post, the way you give handshakes, the way you write/type.

Be clear what you want to be famous for.

Polish your first impressions, rehearse how to portray them.

Build diplomacy. Be courteous. Create and promote your uniqueness; be bold enough to establish yourself as a professional authority. Chase it.

Speak your English and speak it well. Be confident and dignified.

For clarity, I’m not saying you should annoyingly rub it on people’s faces with no sense of sentivity or diplomacy.

I’m not saying ignore your social side or anything that makes you human.

Just don’t fight shy. Don’t shrink your chosen path.

Thanks.

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