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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Control the Narrative summary
Lida Citroën
The Executive's Guide to Building, Pivoting and Repairing Your Reputation
17 mins
Brief summary
Control the Narrative by Lida Citroën guides professionals in shaping their personal brand and reputation. It offers actionable strategies to influence perceptions, master communication, and effectively convey one's value in competitive environments.
Table of Contents
Control the Narrative
Summary of 5 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 5
Your personal branding reality check
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when people hear your name? And is it what you want it to be?
Personal branding is about deliberately crafting how others perceive you and understand your value. It’s about writing your story. When you don’t write it yourself, others will write it for you, often incompletely or inaccurately. You might find yourself pigeonholed, overlooked, or mistakenly grouped with others who don’t share your values or capabilities.
The strength of your personal brand comes from consistently aligning your stated values and your actions. Consistency builds credibility that mere statements of values never could. Picture a boss who claims to value work-life balance, but who stays late at the office every day and actively responds to team messages during their vacations. The disconnect between their stated values and actions risks undermining their credibility.
Building an effective personal brand starts with a clear-eyed assessment of your current reputation. How do different stakeholder groups perceive you? You want to find out what stories they tell about their interactions with you.
Where can you start? Gather direct feedback from three distinct groups: trusted mentors who will be brutally honest, peers who work with you regularly, and – if you’re really brave – people who chose not to work with you. Then systematically search your own digital footprint – not just the first page of Google results, but your social media history, professional reviews, and any public comments or content you’ve created – and document both the positives and negatives, without getting overly defensive. The key is to receive all this information as valuable data rather than personal criticism, focusing on patterns and consistent themes.
Your next step will be to craft specific strategies to bridge these perception gaps while remaining true to your core values. This might mean adjusting how you communicate, choosing different venues to share your expertise, or building new relationships that amplify your desired brand. More on this later. The key is making intentional choices that gradually shift people’s perceptions while staying true to who you really are.
Personal branding is an ongoing challenge – not a one-and-done matter. It takes regular reassessment and fine-tuning. Think of it as steering a ship – small adjustments in course can lead to dramatically different destinations over time.
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What is Control the Narrative about?
Control the Narrative (2024) reveals how to strategically shape and manage your personal brand to advance your career objectives. It provides a framework for building, pivoting, or repairing your professional reputation by identifying core values and implementing targeted branding strategies and tactics.
Who should read Control the Narrative?
- Business leaders navigating reputation challenges in a digital age
- College and university students looking to build a strong foundation for their careers
- Anyone who wants their story to reflect their identity and values
Categories with Control the Narrative
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