Reinventing You. Dorie Clark

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СКАЧАТЬ of your Google search. If something malicious, false, or inappropriate is out there, someone’s going to find it eventually, and for your sake, it better be you.

      Seek Out Patterns in Past Performance

      You may also have access to hard data about how others perceive you, namely, performance reviews from your job (or previous ones). Not every employer has its act together enough to require formal sit-downs and evaluations, so don’t worry if it’s just not available. But especially in larger organizations, you’re likely to have a paper trail. (If you’ve applied to graduate programs or for specific fellowships, you may also have access to recommendation letters others have written for you, which are a treasure trove of intelligence.)

      First, gather the material, and then take a step back. You’re going to have opinions about everyone who’s written a word about you. Maybe your former boss claimed you were fanatically detail-oriented, but you only acted that way because she was so disorganized; nothing would have gotten done if you hadn’t taken the reins. Maybe your grad school professor criticized you for being late on a few assignments, but didn’t take into account that your dad was diagnosed with cancer that semester.

      It’s natural to get defensive when you see yourself evaluated on paper and attempt to justify any criticisms. Try not to. We’re not concerned with one person’s hobbyhorse issue (“Jeff is a great employee, but he keeps confusing ‘there’ with ‘their’ in his memos!”). It’s when everyone (or almost everyone) says your spelling, your micromanaging, or your lateness is a problem that you should take it seriously, and do the same with your strengths. (Stein, the former Radcliffe career counselor, observes that her clients are often keenly aware of their weaknesses, and find it much harder to appreciate their positive attributes.)

      Are You Too Likable?

      One caveat is to be aware of the “likability conundrum.” Harvard Business School Professor Amy Cuddy notes that many people view warmth and competence as “inversely related”—that is, if you’re very nice, you must be a little dumb.⁴ That’s bad news for female executives, who are often stereotyped as, and culturally trained to be, extremely warm.

      Indeed, a study in a psychology journal revealed that in performance evaluations of junior attorneys at a Wall Street law firm, “technical competence was more heavily weighted in men’s numerical ratings,” as compared to interpersonal warmth for the female attorneys.⁵ Thus, while the women were lauded much more effusively in the comments section, the men received higher overall numerical ratings (and you can guess which was given more weight in determining promotions).

      I remember once overhearing a reference interview for a woman named Kelly, whose former boss praised her as “a wonderful girl” with a “terrific personality” and who was a “delight to work with.” It was clear the boss thought highly of Kelly and wanted to help her win this coveted new job. But at the end of the interview, Kelly sounded very nice—and very weak. No man would ever be described in those terms, and if she were up against a male candidate whose reference instead praised his “extraordinary competence” and “passion for winning,” I was pretty sure I knew who’d get the job.

      So be on the lookout for stereotypes that may crop up. They may or may not be accurate (every woman isn’t warm, every Frenchman isn’t aloof, every gay man isn’t witty), but they’re probably shaping how others view you.

      Bring It Together

      Finally, synthesize your data. Any high-quality pollster strives to get a representative sample (if you have too many senior citizens or not enough Hispanics in the pool, your result can be dramatically skewed). Similarly, be sure you’re assigning the appropriate weight to each variable; rather than obsessing about something one person mentioned, you’re looking for patterns. It’s easy for something negative to stick in your craw (one friend has quoted a critical review of her work to me so many times that I can recite it verbatim, and it was written a decade ago). But the power of one harsh appraisal can cloud your understanding of how you’re perceived in general. Remember: you’re looking for patterns and trends.

      Ask yourself the following questions, and make sure you’re taking into account every category—360 interviews, your focus group, your online presence, and performance reviews and recommendation letters:

       What adjectives—both positive and negative—do people use to describe me?

       What skills do they say I have—or lack?

       What aspects about me or my brand are most frequently talked about?

       Are any aspects of me or my brand cited as unique or unusual?

      Now, most importantly, you have to determine whether you like what you hear. Begin to think about what words you want people to link you with. Notes Cohn, “Maybe people say, ‘I see you as thoughtful, methodical, and nice.’ Those are lovely professional qualities, but it’s not a leadership brand like ‘decisive.’ It’s not bad, but it’s not going to get you to the C-suite.” Our job in the next chapter is to help you identify where you want to go—whether it’s the C-suite of your current company or into a new field altogether—and begin to reshape your brand to get there.

      REMEMBER:

      

If three people say you’re a horse, buy a saddle. In other words, whether or not you believe a perception about you is true, if enough people share it, you’d better take it seriously.

      

Personal focus groups with friends and colleagues can reveal telling insights about you. Think seriously about organizing a gathering or at least approaching trusted colleagues individually to get their perspective.

      

Make it safe for others to give feedback that’s real. If you can tell they’re sugarcoating, beg them for the truth and ask paired questions that let them talk about a strength and a weakness.

      

Google yourself, and don’t stop on the first page of search engine results. Check to make sure there are no smoking guns or false information about you online. (If there are, contact the site administrator and nicely ask for it to be removed. If he stonewalls, you may eventually need to involve a lawyer.)

      

Don’t give too much credence to outlying opinions; instead, watch for patterns.

       CHAPTER 3

       Research Your Destination

      Now that you have a better grasp of your current brand and the strengths and weaknesses that go along with it, it’s time to research your next move. If you already have a working theory (I want to transition СКАЧАТЬ