0:00

Lots of people equate personal brand to

0:02

the skills that you have , the strengths that

0:04

you have , whether it be technical skills or

0:06

soft skills . It's really a combination

0:08

of those hard and soft skills that

0:10

you have in the workplace . But then also

0:12

, how are you being perceived with those hard

0:14

and soft skills ? You may think that you

0:17

are really good at a particular topic

0:19

, at a particular subject matter . But

0:21

if others don't think that way about you , then

0:23

there's a disconnect and you don't really have a solid course

0:25

for brand .

0:31

Welcome to PH Spotlight , a

0:33

community for you to build your

0:35

public health career with . Join

0:37

us weekly right here , and I'll

0:39

be here too . Your host , sujani

0:42

Siva from PH Spot . Hey

0:46

, richard , welcome to the PH Spot podcast

0:48

. This is a long time coming

0:51

episode for you and I . We've

0:53

connected on LinkedIn maybe probably

0:55

more than a year ago , and we've talked about getting

0:57

together , recording , collaborating and bringing

0:59

some excellent value to my community

1:02

, so I'm very happy you're here . So thank you

1:04

for joining us .

1:05

Thank you for inviting me . I think it's like

1:07

probably two years , if not more

1:09

, since we first connected and it's such a fabulous

1:11

place to not only find your tribe

1:13

but really make professional

1:16

relationships , those friendships , strategic

1:19

finding , strategic partners , collaborations

1:21

so many , so many different ways .

1:25

It is . I think I was telling somebody recently

1:27

if you needed proof that you

1:29

can build meaningful relationships

1:31

on LinkedIn , go see all

1:33

the people that I'm recording episodes with

1:36

and the conversations I'm having them , because I'd

1:38

say 90% of them I've met on

1:40

LinkedIn , engaged with them , chatted with

1:42

them , built friendship with them , and then here

1:45

we are on an episode just talking

1:47

about the things that we would talk about if we're not recording

1:49

.

1:50

Yeah , absolutely , absolutely .

1:52

So it's rare that I bring on

1:55

someone without a public health background on this

1:57

podcast , so let's mention that first

1:59

to our listeners . Richard does not come

2:01

from a public health background , but she does come from a

2:04

background . I think that's super important

2:06

for all of us , as we're working in different

2:09

organizations , building

2:11

a career , and there

2:13

are certain things I think that

2:15

we don't get taught when we're

2:17

in school especially , I know , in public

2:19

health we don't get taught a lot of these strategies

2:23

for how to really show

2:25

up in the workplace , be

2:27

our authentic self and use our authentic

2:30

self as kind of like the strengths for

2:32

the work that we do . And I know

2:34

for me personally , I look to

2:36

other industries when I want to do

2:38

anything in public health or my community and

2:40

even the online community that

2:42

I end up building , the Public Health Career Club . It was

2:44

inspiration from

2:46

the ways that other industries or

2:48

other organizations that weren't in public health

2:50

were doing things differently

2:53

, and then kind of like bringing that within

2:55

the public health world . And Richa

2:58

, you work with like incredible

3:00

women in various different organizations

3:02

and you yourself you know you don't come from public

3:04

health . You come from , kind of like the corporate

3:07

world of business and tech and

3:09

you built a career on

3:11

helping other women kind of build

3:13

their careers right , and the topic

3:15

that we wanted to talk about is going to be personal branding

3:18

in the workplace . But before we jump into that

3:20

, I wanted everyone to kind of hear

3:22

from you about who you are and what

3:24

it is that you do .

3:25

Yeah , thank you . Thank you for that . As

3:28

you rightly said , I don't come from public health background

3:30

but I'm hoping that by sharing my journey

3:32

and as we get deeper into the topic of conversation

3:35

today , we'll be able to bring some

3:37

some tactical , tangible strategies

3:39

that I've seen work in the domains that are I work

3:41

then , and really apply that to

3:43

your listeners in the public health space

3:45

as well . So I spend a majority

3:48

of my career working for the energy industry

3:50

and then I worked for in the tech

3:52

industry as well . I've worked 10 years of experience

3:54

working for two of the largest Fortune 500

3:56

companies Shlombajay and Amazon and

3:59

really rising the ranks all

4:01

the way from when I started my career as a

4:03

field engineer so , as I used to work on

4:05

offshore oil rates at the time and

4:08

from there stepped into engineering management

4:11

. I have had a very sort of nonlinear

4:13

career where for some time I moved into supply

4:15

chain , then I moved into manufacturing

4:17

, then I moved into management , then corporate strategy

4:20

, then at Amazon I did recruiting programs

4:22

and now here I am . I'm

4:25

a career and leadership coach and , more specifically

4:27

, I focus on helping women advance

4:29

leadership . My mission is to close

4:31

the gender gap in the C-suite . A lot

4:34

of it is inspired by my own journey

4:36

, being one of the only women around the leadership

4:38

table for most of my career in oil

4:40

and gas and in energy space and

4:42

I so often see women being

4:45

held back by many color sabotaging

4:47

things that happen . Some of

4:49

it is in our control , some may not be , but

4:52

many of it is , and my goal is to

4:54

bring awareness to that and give

4:56

really practical strategies to women

4:58

so they can start to command the career

5:00

and compensation they truly deserve .

5:02

Awesome . We were kind of prepping for

5:05

this episode . You had lots of great

5:07

topics , but the one that

5:09

kind of popped out for me because I think

5:11

I've never covered it on the podcast

5:14

or it's something that I know

5:16

personally has benefited

5:18

me , but I think I haven't found

5:20

a way to bring that experience

5:23

of that knowledge to my audience in my

5:25

community . So I'm really happy to have you here

5:27

to talk to us about it , and it's about

5:29

personal branding in the workplace , and I

5:32

think it's a term we've all probably

5:34

heard . You need to build a personal brand . What

5:36

is it essentially when we hear the

5:38

word personal branding ? Let's start

5:41

there , with the basics , and then we'll get into some

5:43

of those practical tips that we talked about .

5:45

Such a great question and one of the

5:47

most common questions that I get that

5:50

I know . Everybody say that

5:52

it's important to have a personal brand but

5:54

really , what is it and how

5:56

? to go about one creating

5:58

a personal brand and maybe shifting it as

6:00

we go and get some professional

6:02

maturity . There is time in our career that

6:04

we also need to shift it . So let's start with

6:07

what really is personal brand , and personal brand

6:09

is really what others are saying about

6:11

you when you are not in the room

6:13

. Lots of people equate personal brand

6:15

to the skills that you have , the strengths

6:18

that you have , whether it be technical skills

6:20

and soft skills . But it's not just these

6:22

skills that you have . It's really a combination of

6:24

those hard and soft skills that you

6:26

have in the workplace . But then also , how

6:28

are you being perceived with those hard and soft

6:30

skills ? So it's really like a combination . You

6:33

may think that you are really good at

6:35

a particular topic and a particular subject

6:37

subject matter but if others don't think that

6:39

way about you , then there's

6:41

a disconnect and you don't really have a solid course of

6:44

brand . If you think that you are ready

6:46

for a leadership position , but others don't

6:48

think that way others don't think that

6:50

you are strategic , you're ready , you

6:53

don't embody some of those characteristics that leaders

6:55

have , then there is a disconnect in your

6:57

personal brand . Others are not thinking

6:59

or saying the things that you think about yourself .

7:02

And why is

7:04

that important for someone

7:06

to figure out their personal branding ?

7:09

Yeah , because you get in the workplace what you

7:11

sell . Selling is really about having

7:14

the right product , which is you right , and

7:16

others perceiving the value of that product

7:18

. And that's why it's so important

7:21

for others to perceive the value that you bring , like

7:23

be aware of , to be aware of the values that

7:25

you bring into the table .

7:28

So here's a question . I think sometimes

7:30

learning that theory is one thing , and

7:32

then hearing some personal examples might

7:34

be easier to kind of understand this concept

7:37

. What would you say was

7:39

your personal brand when you were in the workplace , like

7:41

, what was that for you ?

7:43

Yeah , I'll share my own personal example , right . And

7:45

so back in 2014

7:48

, 16 period , I want to say , I was a

7:50

mechanical engineer at the time working for Slumjet

7:52

, and it had been over

7:54

two and a half , three years and I had been

7:57

. I was feeling ready for the promotion . I

7:59

had asked for promotion a couple of times with

8:01

my manager , kind of made everybody acutely

8:03

aware that I am ready for a promotion and

8:05

I was promised like it's coming , it's coming

8:08

, it's coming , but it never did . And

8:11

then I really didn't think deeply about like what's going on

8:13

and I asked a few people around

8:15

me like you know , what do you see are my core strengths

8:17

? How do you perceive me ? I got a lot of

8:19

. You know you're a hard worker , you get

8:21

stuff done , your results are oriented

8:23

and all of these terms that are

8:25

, you know , most often used for the

8:27

workforce the person who

8:30

is the steady in the team , who would

8:32

get stuff done . The primary feedback

8:34

was getting was that you get stuff done and

8:37

to move to that next level , to

8:39

that leadership role , you have to change that personal

8:41

brand and how people perceive you as

8:43

this is the person who

8:45

is customer focused , not messaged

8:48

results focus , but they are customer focused , they

8:50

are a problem solver , they are a leader , they

8:53

are a visionary , they are

8:55

a blue-side thinker . They will be able to understand

8:57

the different problems that we are having and

8:59

connect the dots to how the work that

9:01

we are doing with the organizational

9:04

goals Right . So there's a shift

9:06

between how an individual contributor is often

9:08

perceived and the type of personal brand they

9:10

would have to . What a personal brand and

9:12

leader would have .

9:13

And so how did you end

9:15

up changing the way people thought about

9:18

you ? Because you probably believed in yourself

9:20

that you could be that person

9:22

who had the strategic vision and the

9:25

ability to lead a team and saw

9:27

how the day-to-day functions

9:29

of individuals then accumulated

9:31

into moving some

9:33

sort of larger goal ahead . So how did

9:35

you then change that ?

9:37

The very first thing I would say is I

9:40

started speaking up more in

9:43

meetings about the things that are not

9:45

just the problems that I was solving in the meeting

9:47

that I was invited for , but

9:49

also speaking more about how this

9:51

potential solution or

9:54

what I'm observing here , how can that

9:56

be applied to solving other problems

9:58

that I may have seen in other

10:00

teams or other projects or whatnot , and

10:02

, by Seversa , how I've seen something

10:04

work , let's say , in one of my previous roles where I

10:06

worked as a field engineer . How does

10:09

that apply to problem solving here ? And

10:12

so , like that cross and be able to show

10:14

that I , like you , know I am understanding

10:16

how these different moving pieces work

10:18

together . How can I bring solutions

10:21

from some of the work that I may have done in

10:23

the past or something that I'm seeing happen in other

10:25

teams , and how can I apply it here ? I

10:28

started asking to be invited to more leadership

10:30

meetings where they talk about these

10:32

are organizational goals . I

10:34

started asking my manager like what are some of

10:36

the goals that are important to you ? Can

10:39

I have a copy of not just my own goals

10:41

, but can you do you have the

10:43

goals document , the KPI

10:45

document , to share with us ? Because

10:48

in that KPI document , which was set

10:50

at the leadership level , not only you get to see

10:52

your own goals , but you get to see your manager's goals

10:54

as well . You get to see your Scripps goals as

10:56

well . That gives you a better sense

10:59

of where the organization is going , so that

11:01

you can then start to learn

11:03

how to connect the work that you're doing to

11:06

how I'm meeting the goals of the organization .

11:08

So it sounds like understanding

11:12

where you are with your personal

11:14

brand comes from asking the

11:16

people around you and maybe doing some internal

11:18

reflection , and it sounded

11:20

like you were somebody who got things done

11:23

. That was kind of the brand that you had

11:25

built for yourself at that time . And then is

11:27

it accurate to say then that the

11:29

brand you were trying to build was

11:32

of a leader

11:34

, a visionary , somebody who could manage

11:36

a team , or were there other words

11:38

that you were working towards , because it's often

11:41

important to know where you are and where you want to go

11:43

? And then how would you put that

11:45

personal brand into words if

11:47

you could ?

11:48

Yeah , absolutely . So . Really

11:50

, the personal brand should be forward-looking . So

11:52

, as you said , there is first the awareness

11:55

of understanding where am I right now

11:57

, how am I being perceived at work right now

11:59

, what do people think are my core skills

12:01

right now , and who knows about some of the results

12:03

that I'm creating right now ? And then the next

12:06

step is where do I want to go and how

12:08

do people want to perceive somebody

12:10

who is at that next level where I want to go

12:13

? And now , knowing what I know now

12:15

, through the journey that I've gone through , as well as

12:18

hundreds of women that I've supported through

12:20

coaching , I'm going to distill this

12:22

personal branding into what I call

12:24

my power framework . So I'm happy to share

12:27

what that power framework looks like , and

12:29

it's really a tool to give structure

12:31

to understanding what your personal

12:34

brand should be . So this is kind of like what the

12:36

power framework stands for . So it

12:38

helps you understand what your core purpose is

12:40

as an individual , but as

12:42

a leader as well . What are your core values

12:44

? So , when things get far , when the

12:47

answers are not so obvious , what

12:49

are some of these core values you're not

12:51

starting that you default to for making decisions ? It

12:53

allows you to think about your winning skills . So

12:55

what are your top key skills ? And

12:58

not just the skills that you have now , but in

13:00

this one you want to think about what

13:02

are some of the skills that your manager

13:04

has , or the position that you aspire for ? What

13:07

kind of skills are demonstrated at that level ? Then

13:09

the E in the power stands for what

13:11

I call embody . Are you embodying

13:13

the leadership styles ? Are you showing up as a leader

13:16

in the way you think , the way you act

13:18

, the way you speak in meetings , the

13:20

way you dress up ? You know one of the things

13:22

I started to do when , you know , just in an effort

13:25

to shift my personal brand , I would dress up to work

13:27

. Whenever I was not going to the workshop

13:29

, I would put on a dress and put on heels

13:31

and put this little like makeup that I do

13:33

, and people would tell me it looks like we're

13:35

going for an interview and I would tell them

13:37

I am dressing up for where I want to be

13:39

Right . So are you

13:41

embodying how your leaders show up

13:43

? And finally , the

13:45

results . You know , so , your quantitative

13:48

business results . So what are some of the big

13:50

business results you're driving and who

13:52

knows about your business results ? Take

13:55

a stock of all of that , to

13:57

really kind of break down what you're all about

13:59

. What are some of the skills you have ? Is there a

14:01

gap between where you stand right now and

14:04

where do you want to go ? So , like , where's how you perceive

14:06

right now how you want to be perceived ?

14:08

I'm curious if you remember any

14:11

examples or stories from

14:13

the individuals that you've worked with kind

14:15

of using this framework and how they've gone

14:17

from having a personal brand that

14:19

was ex to you know how you worked

14:22

with them and then brought them through this framework . Yeah

14:24

, absolutely .

14:26

I'm kind of thinking about this one client I'm working

14:28

with right now and , without obviously

14:30

naming any names , she works for

14:32

a very large tech consulting firm . So

14:35

she originally comes from this small startup

14:37

that was acquired by this very large tech consulting

14:39

firm and she is generally a very

14:41

like technical person in

14:43

nature , but then she's also done a lot of sort

14:45

of consulting work which is business focused

14:48

. In particular , one of the things

14:50

that we were working through is she does a lot of demos

14:52

, like client demos , so that why a

14:54

client should buy a certain ERB system . So

14:57

there's the technical part of it . So we need to really

14:59

start technically , but at the same time you need

15:01

to understand where the customer is coming from and then also

15:03

be able to demonstrate what's the business kind

15:05

of case here . So one of the things that we worked

15:08

through was the power of framework and helping her

15:10

realize that her core strength is not just technical

15:12

skills that she is really really strong at

15:14

, and she had a lot of pastoral syndrome around that

15:16

too maybe a conversation for another day . She's

15:19

really strong technically but really

15:21

where she wanted to go next in

15:23

her career , she wanted to level up in

15:26

her career to a leadership role that she

15:28

has to demonstrate also coming

15:31

into this new team . That she was what . After

15:33

that position was complete , that she's not

15:35

only a technical person , but she also understands

15:37

business fully . Our technology

15:40

applies to business . So the shift that

15:42

we are working through , that she had to work through , was

15:44

how the shift from being known as the technical

15:46

expert , because that's how she was introduced the

15:48

first time her manager introduced her to

15:50

the team . To that . No , she's not

15:53

only the technical residing technical expert

15:55

, but then she is the solutions architect

15:57

.

15:58

So I think it's becoming

16:01

a little bit more clear to me at least , kind of understanding

16:03

the framework and how somebody could go from

16:05

, and I think that's probably

16:07

a lot of people's examples

16:09

, right . They spend five

16:12

to 10 years in a technical

16:14

role . They get really good at that and

16:17

then they start kind of reflecting about

16:19

the next steps in their career and then they

16:21

want to kind of shift towards being

16:23

known as a leader within their organization

16:26

and now they need to kind of shift a few things

16:28

. I'm curious how

16:30

or what sort of personal

16:33

branding things people in early

16:35

in their careers should focus on , especially if they're

16:37

like graduating or

16:39

just graduated and it's their

16:41

first kind of full-time job in this career

16:43

that they're building . How do they approach

16:46

personal branding in the workplace ?

16:48

Yeah , I think , one of my best tips

16:50

for anybody who's just starting out in

16:52

their career , so this is a tip that I would have

16:54

shared with my 20-something

16:56

poll . But keep your ears

16:59

and eyes open to how

17:01

your leaders are thinking , behaving , acting

17:03

what's important to them and how

17:05

they're going out . Very often

17:07

when we are first coming into

17:10

the workplace , or even when you're

17:12

first coming into a new role , new company

17:14

, we want to obviously make a good impression

17:16

, so we emphasize

17:18

on doing the hard work like doing the

17:21

work , and don't

17:23

pay so much attention to reading the room . The

17:25

skill of reading the room can start

17:27

as early as when you first entered the

17:29

workforce . So , as you

17:31

said , in meetings don't just take

17:34

notes . Instead , keep

17:36

your ears and eyes open and start

17:38

learning the skill of reading the room . Who

17:40

is speaking up ? How are people

17:42

listening when somebody is speaking ? How are

17:44

they speaking ? What are some of the skills that

17:46

others are proceeding as being

17:48

important ? What makes this person particularly powerful

17:51

? Why are others in the

17:53

room compliant to or requested by a certain person

17:55

, even if they don't have authority , direct authority

17:57

over somebody ? These kind of questions

18:00

asking right from the beginning . It

18:02

takes time to build that skill set .

18:05

And I think what I heard you say in the beginning

18:07

is that personal branding should be forward-looking

18:10

, and so I think it's a really good opportunity

18:13

when you are very

18:15

new in an organization , regardless

18:17

of if it's your first day on the job or fifth

18:19

year in the job kind of sitting

18:21

and looking at people who inspire

18:24

you and looking at individuals

18:26

who you'd one day want to become

18:28

. Five years from today , I want

18:30

to become very similar to

18:33

that senior epidemiologist at

18:35

the table or that senior

18:37

advisor and I'd like to be like them . So

18:39

kind of understanding the way they

18:41

do their work and

18:44

kind of getting yourself set up to

18:46

be like them could be a very good

18:48

strategy , especially early on in your career

18:50

.

18:51

Absolutely Early on your career , just really looking

18:53

up to the folks who inspire you and motivate

18:55

you and , as you get that professional maturity

18:58

, doing deep self-reflection

19:00

on how do I take what I see and

19:02

combine that with who I am authentically

19:05

, because at the end of the day

19:07

, its inspiration is

19:09

one thing and then but you also need to be authenticated

19:11

. I really do think

19:13

that comes a little bit with that professional maturity

19:15

, because we have done the work We've

19:19

been trying for a little bit .

19:20

Yeah , like talking through this

19:22

is reminding me of the first few

19:24

years of my career and I'd

19:26

been part of a team for about five years and

19:29

then was ready to move into a different

19:31

team within the same kind of like

19:33

larger organization . But I was going to go

19:35

to a different department and one

19:38

of the kind of senior individuals on my

19:40

team said you know , this is a good opportunity

19:42

for you to become the person

19:44

that you were shy to become here , because I think

19:47

times you can be

19:49

so stuck in the way people have

19:51

perceived you and you feel the pressure

19:53

to want to continue like

19:56

just keeping up with that you

19:58

know person that they think you are , but then

20:00

when you join a new team , it's a really

20:02

good opportunity for you to , you

20:04

know , put that person to rest and maybe

20:07

actually step into the person that you wanted to . I'm

20:10

curious if you have any tips

20:12

or advice on how you

20:14

can break out of that within the organization

20:17

that you're part of , because you know it's not

20:19

always that you're going to get a new job and

20:21

move into a different organization and you can

20:23

start fresh and be somebody new . I

20:27

think , if I think back to

20:29

kind of the five years I spent in that team

20:32

. I was someone who was very quiet , I

20:34

didn't speak up , and so those were the

20:36

things that I decided I needed to change when I moved

20:38

into the new team . So I'm curious

20:40

if you have any advice on like how

20:42

can you make those changes

20:45

when you feel compelled to kind

20:47

of keep that like old identity of yourself ?

20:49

It's such a great question because it can be

20:51

very unnerving to change

20:53

and change drastically if

20:56

you would want to do that , because

20:58

people will always try to pull you back , knowingly or unknowingly . They

21:01

may say I hope it . You

21:04

used , I thought you were the quiet one in the team and

21:06

now suddenly look at Sujani

21:08

, she's speaking up and you may feel the

21:10

pressure to just conform and go back old

21:12

ways of working . I think

21:14

that's why it's so critical to get some

21:16

outside perspective , to have a sounding board . Okay

21:18

, and for that I'm going to

21:21

work . Like having a mentor it's a great

21:23

place to start , but then eventually to finding

21:25

your community and finding perhaps

21:27

even a coach who can give

21:29

you this real , raw feedback

21:32

that in these ways you are limiting

21:34

your growth when you're staying at the team and , as you

21:36

said , not always do an opportunity to choose

21:38

our manager or choose our team , okay , and

21:40

so for somebody to have your back and keep telling you

21:42

no , it is going to be hard and challenging

21:45

in the beginning , but you keep at it . Okay , so like I

21:47

think that is very powerful , the on the same lines , the other thing that could

21:49

be very powerful is to have allies , to enlist

21:51

allies in the workplace . So

21:54

let's say you're trying to make a change . Let's

21:58

write this example where you're generally

22:00

a shy , quiet , reserved person in the workplace and now you're

22:03

trying to be a little bit more vocal let's

22:06

say meetings you enlist a friend

22:08

or a colleague or even your manager and you let them

22:10

know hey , this is this one change I'm trying to make . I've

22:14

noticed for myself that I'm usually more reserved

22:16

than meetings and quiet meetings , but I

22:18

have many ideas and in

22:20

this upcoming meeting I would like to share this one or two ideas . You

22:24

know , if you find me hesitating , call me out or pull me up . Okay , and

22:28

just enlist allies that way

22:30

so that they can say hey . So , johnny , you know

22:32

, do you want to share that idea we spoke about this morning , and that

22:34

would be very powerful as well . It's

22:37

really whenever you start something new

22:40

, do something different for the very first time . It

22:42

can be very unnerving , but the more you practice

22:44

that , the faster you will be able to get

22:46

comfortable with making that change .

22:47

Yeah , Even when you stay in that currently

22:49

, yeah , and I think what

22:51

I heard from all the examples that you

22:53

gave is not to do it alone , right , Like

22:56

whether it's a mentor , an ally or a coach

22:58

. I think having somebody to help you out with

23:00

this journey of figuring out your personal brand

23:03

and then helping you work towards that Like

23:05

new personal brand that you're working towards

23:07

, I think is super important and I think , with

23:09

just growing in your

23:11

career , I think we have this . I don't

23:13

know what it is . I think you know maybe it's the way

23:15

society has portrayed it , but sometimes we feel like

23:17

we need to do it all alone and it's like a

23:20

journey that we need to do by ourselves . But

23:22

I think bringing people along and

23:24

telling people the changes you

23:26

want to make or the places you want to go

23:28

, the goals that you have , people are going

23:30

to be very , very willing to help you

23:32

out with that .

23:33

Yeah , yeah . There's a saying that I

23:36

often like to say that quiet ambition

23:38

kills careers . So

23:41

it goes on for asking for

23:43

help but then also just being quiet about

23:45

where you want to go , what you want to do . You

23:48

don't tell anybody . Nobody can help

23:50

us . That's why quiet ambition

23:52

kills careers . So if you want to go

23:54

places , you enlist support , you

23:56

enlist sponsorship , you enlist mentorship

23:59

, you enlist a coach , you enlist your allies so

24:01

they can take you and you share with them what your aspirations

24:04

are . Yeah , and what are you doing

24:06

to get towards that ? And then they will all support

24:08

you . People want to support . I remember

24:10

reading the stat and I may be miscoding

24:12

the stat a bit , but in HBR there was an article

24:14

about 90% help

24:16

in the workplace is given when it's

24:19

asked Right , and so people

24:21

want to help . It feels good to help others right

24:23

, Like we personally feel good to

24:25

help others .

24:27

I think people want to help . You just have to break

24:29

out of whatever it is . I don't know if it's like shyness

24:32

. I remember being very

24:34

shy early in my career to

24:36

tell people kind of my career goals

24:39

are like the places I want to go or the skills

24:41

I wanted to build , and I think

24:43

something was holding me back . But I realize

24:45

now that you know the more

24:47

I do it , the more help

24:49

I get and the more I progress in my career and

24:52

you don't need to be shy about it .

24:53

Yeah , absolutely . I think the right question to ask is why

24:56

am I hesitating ? To speak

24:58

about what my goals

25:00

are , what my ambition is . Why am I hesitating

25:02

to ask for help ? And it

25:04

could be maybe because I don't

25:06

know how to ask for help , but there's a strategy bit

25:08

that's missing , or maybe it could be the included

25:11

mindset issue for that case . Especially

25:13

women of color have been taught to just do it

25:15

all by themselves and put their head

25:17

down and work hard , and that's what pays . So

25:20

why should I ? even talk about what I do , because my heart works , should

25:22

pay . Sometimes there is these deep rooted

25:24

beliefs that we need to learn

25:26

and sometimes as well as a strategy

25:29

issue , where we can define them . Okay

25:31

, this is exactly how you ask for help . This is how you

25:33

frame your ass . And I'll give you an example

25:35

. I often hear people

25:38

hesitating when they want to reach out for international

25:40

chat on LinkedIn . I support a lot of people

25:42

with job search as well and

25:44

they would say I don't know how to even

25:46

reach out to my network , let alone whole

25:49

networking . I don't even know how to reach out to my

25:51

network for support and ask

25:53

for help , and oftentimes there's a strategy

25:55

issue there . But they're not themselves clear

25:58

on what they want to ask . So when

26:00

they are not clear on what they want to ask , they feel like

26:02

the other person is wasting their time and

26:04

they wouldn't be able to help . So how can you make

26:06

it easy for them to help ? You box your

26:08

ask , what I call it . Box your ask

26:11

, where you define exactly what you want . So

26:13

this is the type of role that I want at

26:15

this level . These are my core

26:17

skillset . This is the industry I'm looking for roles

26:19

in and these are the results I've created . And

26:22

, just as an example , I'm looking

26:25

for people management roles

26:27

in technical program management

26:29

. I have experience in tech industries

26:31

and energy industry and my

26:33

core skillsets are actually enterprise-wide

26:36

transformations . If you know of any roles

26:38

that are coming up in your organization

26:40

or on your LinkedIn , keep me in

26:42

mind .

26:43

And see how you box your ask now .

26:45

So your ask is so much clearer , so the other

26:47

person . So you know now how to help me . You

26:49

can look out for any technical program

26:51

management roles that are on a leadership

26:53

level and suddenly you will think about oh

26:55

, this would be a good fit for Richa . And then you can

26:57

think it through .

26:58

Yeah , exactly .

26:59

Make it easy for the other person to help you , and that's

27:02

how they can help .

27:04

Yeah , and I think when we like take this

27:06

back to that personal branding

27:08

and getting people in

27:10

your organizations to help you

27:12

get to where you want to get to , and I

27:14

think that this is a great way to

27:16

approach it too . Right , Like box , the ask

27:18

to say you know , in three

27:21

years from now I'd like to manage a team

27:23

of two to three people and I

27:25

would like to work on skill

27:27

one , skill two , skill three . If there

27:30

are any opportunities for me to like practice

27:32

those skills , could you keep me in mind

27:34

? Right , and I think that's a really good

27:36

way to frame it for this topic

27:38

as well .

27:39

Yeah , and you can extend that to . You

27:41

know , support that you didn't get from your manager . So

27:43

not only keep me in mind for any skills that

27:45

should be working towards . So

27:47

that . I can go to my goal of being

27:49

at this particular role in two to three

27:51

years . You can also , you know , box your

27:54

asking terms up . I saw this person

27:56

is at this level . I saw you are connected

27:58

with this person . Can you help me make an introduction ?

28:00

Yeah , that's a really good one too , yeah

28:03

, and kind of like seeking out mentors , going

28:05

out and asking them for the same thing , right

28:07

, like I'm here in my career . This

28:09

is where I'd like to be . I see that you've

28:11

done X , y and Z . I'd

28:14

love it if I could ask you a few questions , right

28:16

, and the ask is purely

28:18

just a 30 minute Zoom chat

28:20

with them . I think whenever you can make

28:23

it very easy for the person to say yes

28:25

and you do all the research

28:27

and everything that needs to be done before you

28:29

go out and message the person , I think it makes it so

28:31

much easier for them to help you out , absolutely

28:34

so . I know personal branding is a huge

28:36

topic , richa , and you know our

28:38

30 minute conversation barely

28:41

kind of scratches the surface . Maybe

28:44

I will start by asking

28:46

you if there's anything else

28:48

that you'd like to mention about it . I love

28:50

the framework that you provided , the Power

28:52

Framework , and I know you're gonna share

28:54

this resource with all of our listeners

28:57

so they can download it and kind of learn a little

28:59

bit more . We'll definitely put all

29:01

of your social media handles so then people can

29:03

learn more through all the great teaching

29:05

that you do , especially on LinkedIn , because that's where

29:07

I follow you . But is there anything

29:09

that people maybe should keep in mind to

29:12

just even get started with thinking

29:14

about their personal brand ?

29:16

Everybody should get started with taking a stock of

29:18

what their personal brand looks like . And

29:21

so use the PowerFavor that I shared

29:23

with you all and think

29:25

about putting it in a statement that goes

29:27

as I do X to get

29:29

Y results . Oftentimes people stop

29:32

at I do X . Okay , so if I ask

29:34

you what do you do , people will say I'm a mechanical engineering

29:37

, what do you know ? Defined by your company

29:39

only . So the PowerFavor gives you more vocabulary

29:42

in terms of what are the some of the things that you value

29:44

, what are some of your big skills , what are some of the big

29:46

results ? And so take that that

29:48

statement extended to I'm a mechanical engineer

29:51

and I create great products

29:53

so that we can really go in more efficiently

29:55

, going back to more pulling gas days . So

29:58

just really kind of take that I do X

30:00

to create Y impact and

30:02

start there . And then

30:04

, in terms of , yes , where people can

30:07

find me , as you said , I'm very active on LinkedIn . I

30:09

post daily on LinkedIn . There's a lot of strategies

30:11

that I post regularly that

30:13

you can pick up essentially the day you read them

30:15

and implement them . I try to make them small

30:18

and tangible . So that people

30:21

can actually take action , because you can listen

30:23

all you want , but we don't take any

30:25

action . Nothing's going to change . So

30:28

yeah , absolutely , I would love to have

30:30

you reach out to me on LinkedIn and

30:32

I would connect back there .

30:35

And I know you were doing a bit of work with

30:37

women in public service as

30:39

well and I don't know if you're continuing that as well , but

30:41

I know that's kind of another place that I found

30:44

you , yeah .

30:45

I am we're actually super

30:47

proud of the work that we're doing there we

30:49

do women's leadership development program that

30:51

is on across the public sector in

30:53

Canada . So this particular program

30:56

, we're now doing it for the work 30 departments

30:58

including , you know , IRCC

31:01

and FinTrack and DND

31:03

and RCMP , CSC

31:05

like over 30 departments , 150

31:07

women , so it's a six months

31:10

leadership program that is specifically

31:12

tailored for the women

31:14

in the federal sector , the public sector , in Canada . So

31:17

we're still doing that , and then I

31:19

also have my private coach and

31:21

private practice for anybody who is interested

31:23

to have a chat .

31:24

That's amazing . Thank you so much , richa , and

31:27

I think there's just a list of other

31:29

topics that you and I need to come

31:31

on again and talk about , everything from

31:33

overcoming imposter syndrome to

31:35

how not to you know , set

31:37

ourselves short in the workplace , and I'm sure we'll

31:40

find other opportunities to talk through

31:42

this . But thank you so much and

31:44

looking forward to having you on again .

31:47

Thank you so much for inviting me on your platform and

31:49

I really enjoyed the conversation today , thank

31:52

you .

31:56

Hey , I hope you enjoyed that episode and

31:59

if you want to get the links or information

32:01

mentioned in today's episode , you can head

32:03

over to phspotorg slash

32:06

podcast and we'll have everything

32:08

there for you . And before you go

32:10

, I want to tell you about the Public Health Career

32:12

Club . So if you've been looking

32:14

for a place to connect and build

32:17

meaningful relationships with other public

32:19

health professionals from all

32:21

around the world , you should join us in the Public

32:23

Health Career Club . We launched

32:26

the club with the vision of becoming the

32:28

number one hangout spot dedicated

32:30

to building and growing your dream

32:32

public health career . And in addition

32:34

to being able to connect and build

32:36

those meaningful relationships with other

32:39

public health professionals , the club also

32:41

offers other great resources for

32:43

your career growth and success , like

32:45

mindset coaching , job preparation clinics

32:48

and career growth strategy sessions

32:50

in the form of trainings and talks , all

32:52

delivered by experts and inspiring

32:54

individuals in these areas . So

32:56

if you want to learn more or want to join the

32:59

club , you can visit our

33:01

page at phspotorg

33:03

slash club and we'll have all the information

33:05

there . And you know , as a space

33:08

that's being intentionally curated to

33:10

bring together like minded public health

33:12

professionals who are not

33:14

only there to push themselves to become

33:16

the best versions of themselves , but also each

33:18

other . And

33:21

with that I can't wait to see

33:23

how this is going to have a ripple effect

33:25

in the world , as we all work together to

33:28

better the health of our populations

33:30

and just have immense impact

33:32

in the world . And I hope you'll be joining

33:34

us in the Public Health Career Club .