Who do THEY think you are?

I had an interesting chat with my Mother in law this week. A good friend of hers has a son who is very senior in a major UK company. As he would be a great be a great contact for my Leadership coaching and Innovation development business I asked for an introduction. After a bit of an awkward silence she said that she was not comfortable as she didn't know what I did? I was amazed, I assumed that after 16 years she would have some idea (beyond plumber, shelf fixer upper, taxi driver and son in law).

I guess the key point is you are whatever people think you are not what you believe you are.

This is really important in all aspects of our lives non more so than our professional lives in the current climate.

• Your boss is going to make decisions about your furure based on what S/HE thinks of you!
• Your current clients will only offer you new business if THEY think you can do it.
• Your network will only recommend you to others if THEY know what you are.

I have experienced that sense of frustration when clients have told me how hard it was to find a leadership consultant, exec coach, innovation consultant etc. for a major project!

OK deep breath, calm "Why didn't you ask me"-- Embarassed silence "Oh, I didn't think of you! I thought you just did training!"

The reality is that only you can manage what others think of you. If it is important to you personally or professionally YOU have to take responsibilty for what others think of you.

This often involves a raised awareness of how dress, what you say, how you say it and how you behave. There are dozens of ways to manage these things, far too many to go into in a blog, but perhaps the simplest place to start is to ask questions (the right ones of course).

Who have you put into a box that might be too small for them?