A few years back, I attended a convention of entrepreneurs with a respected business journalist who was looking for interesting rags-to-riches stories. Word of his pursuit quickly got out among the attendees, however, and the journalist soon had a posse of people following him around, desperate to share their sagas.
At first, I smirked as my friend was cornered by one publicity-hungry businessperson after another. Then I began to closely observe the spectrum of behaviors they used to sell themselves. I saw people engaging in what I’ve since learned is called humblebragging (a famous example coming from the Twitter account of Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush’s White House press secretary, who wrote: “They just announced my flight at LaGuardia is number 15 for takeoff. I miss Air Force One!!”).
I saw people being overly self-congratulatory. I saw people htting the sweet spot and actually winning my friend’s attention.
Don’t get me wrong: As someone who deals with entrepreneurs and business owners on a daily basis myself, I applaud and encourage self-promotion. And I understand that it’s important, a vital component for success is to portray yourself, your team, your organization as bigger, better, smarter, sleeker. (As P.T. Barnum famously said, “Without promotion something terrible happens — nothing.”)
Yet it is how you attract attention, gain clients and create influence that’s important. When does branding become boasting? And under what scenario does pride become pretention? Anyone who has been on the listening side of a “passionate” self-promoter knows that there can be too much of a good thing. Confidence can turn to cockiness quickly and actually do damage to you and your company’s reputation.
So, if you’re worried you’re doing the self-promotion thing wrong, take some advice. Here are the tips I’ve learned on how to sell yourself without turning people off.
Be aware.
I find it amazing when somebody in a small group is talking about himself or herself and doesn’t notice the annoyance or boredom afoot out there in the audience. Irene Scopelliti, co-author of You Call It “Self-Exuberance”; I Call It “Bragging, calls this the empathy gap. “We find…
