[0:08] My work speaks for itself. That is a common myth among high achievers.

[0:14] I'm Rusty Gaillard and this is Do Something Different, a podcast for ambitious high achievers, to get you to break out of old patterns that are no longer serving you and help you do something different to achieve a new level of results. One of those old patterns is believing and acting as if your work speaks for yourself. I want to tell you a little story about the time that I worked at Apple. I worked in data analytics and reporting inside the finance function, and there was another team that was parallel to my team doing very similar kind of work. They got started because they were more of a rapid response kind of approach. My approach that my team was doing was more systematic, working within the IT infrastructure, building something that would be stable, interconnected, and long-lasting. Their approach was much more quick, responsive to the business, agile, being able to create something, create new data structures, report on things the way the business wanted to see them without any constraints of the legacy technical infrastructure that I was working inside of.

[1:19] That responsiveness, as you imagine, drove a lot of success. And they had great success. And they started to expand and develop new tools and new capabilities and more and more users. And what happened when they did that is they developed overhead, they developed technical debt, and they became slower. After about 18 months, this team became effectively no faster than any other team in delivering results. You had to go through a whole rigorous prioritization system. They said no to a lot of things. Any kind of deliverables did take time because they had to now build it into their infrastructure to make sure that it was sustainable and worked over time. Sounds a lot like working inside the IT environment, doesn't it?

[2:00] But here's the thing, despite the fact that they became slower, they became more bureaucratic and they had more overhead, they still told a very compelling story because the story of where they came from, which was being responsive to the business, building tools that mattered, being very user focused and being agile in working with the user base, that story carried through. And they shared that story that became part of their brand. And because of that, they continued to be successful, even when they started to slow down and become more bureaucratic. And that was reflected, their success was reflected not just in users, but also in resources. They got more resources to continue to invest, to continue to build out this platform that they were establishing.

[2:50] Now, here I am sitting over here saying, well, I'm working within the traditional IT organization. And it's always a challenge and a struggle to get resources, to invest, to deliver solutions that make sense for the business. And this team over here is getting resources, even though they're effectively not faster than the team that I'm leading, which is working inside the IT environment. Very similar results, totally different story, totally different level of resource and investment. And frankly, it was a little bit, It stung a little bit to watch this happen because I said, I'm delivering great work. Why don't people see that? Why don't they understand the long-term value of building inside the IT environment so we don't have to own it and maintain it? We hand it over to someone else. They run it. It meets our business needs. And now it's integrated into the infrastructure of the company.

[3:39] To me, those results were valuable. Of course, the other team was delivering results on the other side that were more responsive and faster, at least initially, but that story continued on. So, Dick, zoom out for a moment, and obviously, I can get personal about this, so I want to zoom way out and say, okay, here you have two teams working in very different ways. One of them working more inside the corporate culture, the other one working a little bit outside the corporate culture, but delivering faster results initially. But over time, the results, the approach, the way they were doing work started to look more and more similar. And yet one team was attracting new resources and getting accolades and highlighted as a big success. And the other team was doing fine. There was no black eyes or anything, but it wasn't getting the same kind of attention and investment. Similar resources, different level of attention and investment, and a different perception of success. Which side of that do you want to be on? Obviously, you want to be on the side that's being recognized as successful.

[4:44] Where does that come from? It comes from being effective, talking about the results that you're delivering. It's not just about the results. If you are still believing that your work speaks for yourself, you are missing something critical. Early in your career, sure, that makes sense because you've got a boss or a manager that is close to your work, that understands what you're doing, and has a similar level of depth and understanding and expertise in the field that you're in. So that person is well-equipped to assess what it is that you're doing, what is the quality of your work, how quickly are you learning, how independent are you, how much initiative are you showing. They can evaluate all of that and decide how are you performing. In that case, in those early stages of your career, yes, your work speaks for itself.

[5:35] As you progress in your career and you get more responsibility and have a broader scope, your boss is not as close to your work. Your boss is no longer an expert in the field that you're working in. Your boss is relying on you to be an expert. Your results may be fantastic, but they do not speak for themselves because your boss, frankly, isn't paying as close attention to you. Your boss is expecting you to step up and lead and run your organization. If you are not effective in communicating with your boss and others around you what it is that you're delivering, they're not going to see it. Of course, they'll see it to some degree, but they're not going to see it as well as if you are effective at communicating about it.

[6:18] Why do we have such a hard time doing that? When the case is so clear, we know we have to get better at talking about ourselves. And yet, for many of us, it's very difficult. Why is that? Fundamentally, it comes from the way we were raised. As a high achiever, you are oftentimes at the top of your class, whether that's an academic class or a work class, the group of people, the cohort that you started with. But you tended to be at the top of the performance level. And as someone who's at the top of the performance level, I'm sure you are taught as a child, don't brag, don't toot your own horn. And as a result of that, it's uncomfortable for us to take credit directly and clearly and assertively for the work and the value that we're delivering and that the team is delivering.

[7:10] This basically means you've carried this old mindset. You've got inertia behind you of this is the way I operate. I deliver excellent results and I don't talk about it. It becomes an inherent belief, almost an invisible belief that most people don't think about very often, but that stands in your way of success. Because changing that belief requires a change in behavior and changing your behavior is uncomfortable. Here's the thing. you need to learn to tolerate the discomfort. You need to take a different perspective rather than the perspective that says, discomfort means I'm doing something wrong and I should avoid it. Change your perspective. Change your perspective to say doing something different, sorry, excuse me, the discomfort is the result of doing something different and I am deliberately doing something different, which I know is in my long-term interest, which I know is helping me to grow and become more effective as a leader, as a contributor, and as a person in this work environment. And I would even say outside of work, but we'll cover that in a different episode.

[8:18] Learn to recognize discomfort not as a problem, but as a sign of progress. Discomfort is not a problem. It means progress. You're making progress.

[8:29] As long as you're choosing the action that is creating the discomfort. Be deliberate about that. Be strategic about it. We're talking today about learning to talk about your own successes, self-promotion, self-marketing, creating a personal brand. Those things, for many of us, are uncomfortable. But that is exactly the kind of discomfort that you want to lean into to say, that discomfort is progress. That's not a problem. The discomfort of building a personal brand, being strategic about it, learning to talk about your successes, those things are uncomfortable because they're different from your past patterns. You haven't done it before. Anytime you're doing something new, you're learning, there's some discomfort involved. Don't assume discomfort is a problem. In this case, it is progress. That is a huge mindset shift. If you listen to my podcast for any amount of time, you know I talk about mindset and skillset as ways to improve. That is the mindset piece. Don't think about leaning into something that's new and uncomfortable as a problem. That's a mindset shift. There's also some skillset pieces that I want to give you in terms of how do you get better at talking about yourself, promoting yourself, and advertising the work that you're doing.

[9:45] First of all there's a mindset piece that frames this whole thing don't assume that it's bad or wrong to talk about yourself if you make that assumption you're always going to come in with a negative mindset and you're going to say yeah what i'm doing is wrong it's sleazy it's really not appropriate i shouldn't be doing it and if you come in with that energy that will be obvious to people they will recognize it they will know it and it's going to come through in the way you communicate. So don't do that. Instead, come at this problem, come at this opportunity, excuse me, with the mindset of this is an opportunity for me to learn, to do something different, and to broaden the impact of what we're doing. Because frankly, if people don't know what you're doing, if they don't understand what you're doing, if they don't understand the magnitude of what you're doing, if they don't understand why you're doing it, they're not going to appreciate the work and they're not going to value the work. You're not going to get resources. You're not going to be able to expand the impact that you're creating. So if you're creating impact in your job and your team is creating impact, you want people to know about that. Because you want your team to get recognition, you get recognition, and the impact of the company is greater because people see it, appreciate it, value it, and celebrate it. The things that we celebrate get more resources, you get the opportunity to expand, and you grow your impact at the company. That's not just good for you that's good for the company.

[11:09] So talking about your work, it's important to come from this mindset of saying, I am doing this not out of selfish reasons. I'm not doing it because it's sleazy and I'm just trying to get better at it. No, you're doing this because it is good for your team. It is good for the company and it's good for you and your career. Everybody benefits. It's a win-win-win. Start with that mindset. it. The next thing I want to give you is an idea of thinking holistically about what it is that you want to communicate. And I'm going to put this under the umbrella of a personal brand. Think about what is your personal brand? What do you stand for in the company? Are you an innovator? Are you a disruptor? Are you an out-of-the-box thinker? Are you the kind of person who delivers excellence? Are you really good at execution and delivery? What is your personal brand? What do you stand for? Are you a team builder? Are you a collaborator?

[12:06] I'll give you a simple example of this. One of my clients was working at a very analytical and technical company. They approached everything from a very rigorous analytical decision-making process, thinking about pros and cons, and really rationally thinking through things. Well, this client of mine had that skill. he was good at it, but he also was a very right-brained, creative, kind of non-linear thinking. So he was good at that and he often brought or he could bring that perspective to the table to think at things, think about things from a completely different perspective and a different angle. But when he started at this new company, because that was countercultural to this company, he hid that part of himself. He thought this is not appropriate, especially if there's executives in the room, I need to look executive, I need to look professional, I need to look analytical, because that's what's valued in this company.

[12:59] Through our work together, we got to the point where he started experimenting a little bit more with bringing this non-linear, creative, problem-solving way of thinking about things to meetings, bringing that perspective live into a conversation. And what happened when he did that is he suddenly became known as an innovator, as a creator, as someone who is very thoughtful and could bring a new perspective and add value in a unique way that did not exist elsewhere in the company.

[13:26] He built a personal brand for himself as an innovator and a creative thinker. He found himself getting invited to multiple meetings, which he had very little background on and were not directly related to his task, but he was adding value in those meetings and people saw him as adding value. They wanted him there because they knew he brought this innovative, unique perspective to every conversation. That became his personal brand and that became a path to his growth and success in this company.

[13:58] As you think about talking about your work and helping other people understand what it is that you're doing, be clear about what your personal brand is. What do you stand for? And I would encourage you to think beyond just the technical expertise. For example, if you're in marketing, you don't want your personal brand only to be your really excellent at product marketing. That's good. That's important. That's a baseline. But what are the personal characteristics that you bring? Integrity, honesty. I know when I talk to Rusty, I will always get the straight shot. He's not going to beat around the bush, but he's going to give me exactly his opinion and the way he thinks it. Sometimes that's hard to hear, but I can trust Rusty to be honest and candid with me all the time. That would be a very strong personal brand. What are those things for you? What do you stand for and how do you bring those? So it's not just the delivery of your work, but it's also the characteristics of the way you operate.

[14:56] That is an important part of your personal brand. Then the next part, once you've got that figured out, not just the what you're delivering, but the how you're delivering it, that's your personal brand. The next question is, how do you present that to people? How do you keep it front and center? And I like a very simple concept that I want you to apply. And it's the idea of meals and snacks. You go through the day eating and you have meals where you sit down and you have a complete meal and you have snacks because oftentimes a meal doesn't get us through the whole day, and we want a little snack in between.

[15:28] Think about the way you talk about yourself, your team, and your work in the context of meals and snacks. Most of us think about the meals. We think, when am I going to sit down and do a review? I'm going to do a review with my boss, or I'm going to do a review with the team. Maybe it's part of your annual performance review. I would encourage you to do it more often than once a year. But think about where are the meals? The meal is where you sit down and give a holistic review of these are the things we're doing. These are why we're doing it. This is the strategy we're embarking on. This is how we're allocating resources. This is what we're saying yes to, what we're saying no to, how the team is operating. That is a holistic review. That is a meal. You're going to deliver that meal to your direct boss. You may give it to partners that you work with. It may be something you do in a group setting. You may do it more one-on-one, but it's important to keep people informed. Holistically, this is what our strategy is. These are what our priorities are. This is how we're allocating resources this is what we're saying yes to and no to holistically give that presentation that is a meal what then is a snack a snack is your ability to give short one sentence or two sentence descriptions and boosters to these themes that are coming through in the meal what does that look like.

[16:49] It looks like adding a little sentence at the beginning of a meeting, at the end of a meeting, even in the middle that highlights what it is that you're working on. That sentence could be, well, building on that project that we delivered just last quarter that was really successful, we're taking on something new this quarter that we expect to be even better. All that is, is a little phrase that references a past successful project. It's a way for you to reference your wins, allude to them quickly, briefly, not making a big point of it, but finding a way to doing it authentically. Now, some of you may hear that and you say, oh my gosh, that does not feel like me. I'm not going to make a deliberate point to highlight our successes and our wins. That's the whole point here. It's important to do those things. Think about yourself and think about how much attention you pay to your peers and the people around you in terms of what their wins are, what they're working on, what are their priorities, what are they doing well, not doing well. You might know that to some degree, but I'm sure you do not know that as well as the person who is actually leading that team or running that organization. Because you've got other things on your plate. You're not just focused on them.

[18:02] So this idea of using meals and snacks and the snacks specifically is to keep it top of mind for people because people are going to forget. They're busy. They've got other things that are priorities. They're not focused on you and your team all the time. The snacks is a way to keep it top of mind and for them to remember, oh yeah, you did deliver that project and that was very successful. Or you could say, as an example, I was talking earlier about candor. You could use a little one phrase snack to help remind people that that is one of your strengths. I'm always candid with the people around me. You know me, I'm a straight shooter. I would tell you if this were a problem, but it's not. I think this is a great idea. So keep going with what you're doing.

[18:44] Once again, that's a little way of using a snack, a sentence. It only takes 10 seconds and you've put that idea back out in front of people. So how do the meals and snacks connect to the self brand? That when you think about your self brand, you've got some different components to it. And part of that is the delivery of the work, the what. The other part of it is the how. When you think about the snacks, you want to touch on those key themes that are tied to your self-brand. What you're delivering and how you're delivering it. Both. It doesn't have to be complicated. Your self-brand should have just a handful of things that you're talking about. They become your drumbeat, that you beat that drum over and over again until people start to remember you. You're building your self-brand. People start to remember you when you're in the room or even when you're not in the room. This is what you stand for. This is what you deliver in terms of work. This is how you deliver that work because you're talking about it not only in the meals when you sit down and do a review of everything that you're working on and your priorities, but you're also delivering it in snacks, little snacks in almost every interaction you're having that's touching on one of these key themes.

[19:56] Take the time to organize yourself around this. Sit down, spend 30 minutes, think about what are the characteristics of what you stand for? What is your self-brand? What is the work you're delivering? The what and the how? How are you delivering that work. Identify three to four things. That's all you need. Three to four characteristics that cover the what and the how. And then bring those forward into your day. When you develop a meal, an overview of everything you're doing, make sure those themes come through. When you're delivering the snacks, the small little one sentences, those connect directly back to the elements of your self brand.

[20:36] Be strategic about this, be thoughtful about it, and be willing to lean into the discomfort of doing it. I'm sure you have resistance to it. I've listed a few different types of resistance. Maybe I spoke to what resonates with you, or maybe there's something else. Spend a moment. You can investigate that, but recognize if you believe this is going to support you, it's going to help your company be more effective because you are delivering more value and your team is delivering more value because other people see it, recognize it, and support it, that is a win-win-win. Good for the company, good for your team, good for you. Based on that, lean in. Sure, there's going to be some discomfort. That's okay. That's not a problem. That's progress.

[21:21] The last piece I want to add on this is once again, this mindset thing, which is don't feel like there's only one way to do this. There's not. There's not one way to do it. The best way to do it is your way to do it. The whole theme of doing something different is to find those ways in which you've limited yourself, held yourself back and been less than effective and change them. Do something different. Don't repeat the same old patterns. don't say, oh, I'm not going to say anything because it's uncomfortable and I let the work speak for itself. Stop that. You know that is not effective. You have to find your way of authentically and comfortably and confidently talking about the successes of your team, of you, and the impacts that you're creating. Find an authentic way to do that because that is there. And the more authentic you are, the more you're bringing your true vice to the table, you're going to be more innovative. You're going to be more decisive. You're going to have more and more impact.

[22:23] This is another one of those myths. And this might be a subject for another episode, which is that you have to fit into the culture. You've got to be corporate-like. You've got to be professional in the workforce and you can't make any mistakes and you've got to look good. This whole mindset that covers up your best ideas. And if you can break through that, And this is one of the ways we're just giving you one way to do that in this episode here, which is learning how to talk more effectively about your work. When you can start to break through that, that's just one little crack in the armor, but you start to expand that and the armor goes away and you become more and more yourself. You're free to bring your best ideas, to be candid with people, to give honest feedback, to hold people accountable to high standards, to bring innovative results that drive huge business value and to do it in a way that is more fun and more free for you because you get to be more of yourself and has more balance. You can have all of that.

[23:20] You absolutely can. And it starts with leaning into the discomfort, being willing to do something different that you know serves your growth,

[23:29] your personal growth, your team's growth, your company's growth. You can do that by learning how to talk effectively about your business. Take this, put it into practice, and do something different.