By Dorie Clark
In a competitive marketplace, developing a reputation as an expert is one of the best forms of career insurance. Here’s how you can become recognized for your expertise inside your company.
It’s important to recognize that you don’t have to start out as a worldwide expert. You can coach others on writing better business memos, even if you’re not Shakespeare. Michael Leckie was a vice president of human resources for a prominent research company when he developed an interest in coaching. Although the subject was related to his job, it wasn’t part of his actual responsibilities. “You don’t need to be the best in the world; you just need to be the best one there,” he told me.
In these early stages, it’s important to be clear about what you know and what you don’t. If you try to prematurely position yourself as an expert who can compete with industry giants, you risk losing credibility when you’re faced with a question or challenge you’re unsure about.
As your profile grows, it’s also important to ensure that your company understands the value of your public brand. This is especially important if, like Leckie, you’re cultivating expertise on a subject that isn’t part of your core responsibilities. He didn’t assume his boss’s boss would understand why it was important for him to speak at a conference—Leckie explicitly articulated the keynote’s business benefits to him.
Finally, it’s important to recognize when it’s time to expand what you’re known for strategically. “Sometimes, your brand is more happenstance than thoughtful,” said Leckie. “It may be about things you like, but it’s not necessarily leading you where you want to be moving toward.” Leckie realized he’d been so successful at building his expert reputation around coaching and talent development that those skills were beginning to overshadow others deemed more critical inside his company.
That’s why he decided to make coaching a “sub brand.” He didn’t abandon it, but he started emphasizing it less in favor of talking about his ability to drive the bottom line.
It’s important to balance the unique mix of your skills and interests with your company’s needs and sensibilities. But when done right, cultivating a brand as a “local expert” inside your company can enhance your professional reputation and ensure you’re valued the way you should be.
Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University.
This article was originally published August 19, 2015.
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