Be your own advocate: A short guide to self-promotion

Rabbi Hillel the Elder is credited with saying, “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?” I mention this to students who are about to enter the workforce, and it applies as well to readers of our newsletter. The Harvard Business Review tells us as much in “How to Self-Promote (When You Don’t Lik to Self-Promote)” by executive and team coach Jenny Fernandez.

Toss your illusions

Illusion number one: Your work will speak for itself.

No, it will not.

As you move up in a company, you are judged by your ability and willingness to speak up about what you did well and how it benefited the organization. Fernandez advises those reticent to speak up to reframe self-promotion from a “me, me, me” mindset to a mindset of self-promotion as a means of owning and communicating your achievements.

Determine your value proposition

As I tell students, a listing of your achievements—without a theme—is just a bunch of disjointed facts. You want to use your achievements to convince others that you are a valuable commodity and should move up.

In conducting an inventory of your achievements, divide them into strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities:

Strengths. What experiences, skills, and expertise can you learn from others? I would add that you determine how you can improve—even if incrementally—on your strengths.