In this latest edition of the Masterclasses in Managerial Excellence, we welcome Marie Beauchesnecommunications expert and founder of the feminist brand Ypsylon. She shared her tips and methods for mastering the art of personal branding, a key skill for promoting yourself authentically and in line with your values.
Ready to discover how to promote yourself effectively without sacrificing your authenticity?
Promoting yourself: a means to an end, not an end in itself
Personal branding is often misunderstood. According to Marie, it’s important to remember that it’s a means to an end, not an end in itself. It’s a tool for communicating better with others and for building relationships. The key? Align your current identity with the one you aspire to become and the way others perceive you.
Values as a guide
Personal branding starts with identifying your values. Marie suggests going beyond generic values, such as “justice” or “authenticity”, and identifying those that really resonate with us, those that are at the heart of our lives. A simple method for formalizing this approach is to ask ourselves some concrete questions: What value guides my decisions? How important are they in my life? This enables us to better understand the driving forces behind our choices and guide our future actions.
Santa’s list
For those who find it difficult to plan their career, Marie suggests an exercise called “Santa’s List”. The aim is to list everything you’d like to achieve, whether in professional or personal terms. The next step is to prioritize these wishes and assign them a time horizon. The idea is not to lock ourselves into a rigid plan, but rather to have a global vision that guides us and helps us make decisions in line with our deepest desires.
Find your strengths
To stand out from the crowd, it’s essential to know your strengths. Marie recommends an exercise based on three stages: past, present and future. First, we reflect on our past successes, then on what we’re currently doing well and, finally, on what we hope to achieve. To get the full picture, Marie suggestscombining introspection with extrospection, i.e. gathering external feedback.
Tip: Ask the people around you what they remember about you when they talk about you in your absence. This reveals aspects of yourself that you don’t always perceive.
The right formulation
The way we present ourselves plays a crucial role in personal branding. Choosing the right words can transform the way others perceive us. Marie stresses the importance of precisely defining one’s professional identity. For example, saying “I’m a salesman” doesn’t evoke the same image as “I’m a customer relations specialist”. By choosing the right words, you can better align your presentation with the identity to which you aspire.
A collective approach
Personal branding is not an individualistic approach, but a collective one. Talking about one’s career and experiences is a way of opening up to others, creating links and contributing to a community. Marie reminds us that the great ideas that have changed the world have always been driven by committed individuals. By telling our story, we embody the values we hold dear.
The role of images and AI
Marie also stresses the importance of image in personal branding. A well-chosen image can create an immediate impact and reinforce your message. As for artificial intelligence, it can accompany the creation of content and the development of your brand image, but it cannot replace introspection and self-understanding.
Tips for getting started
For those hesitating to take the plunge, Marie recommends starting by defining your values and your objective. Next, identify a specific angle for communication, choosing subjects that we are passionate about and that are in line with our identity. Finally, it’s importantto find a mode of communication that suits you, whether it’s speaking, writing or creating visual content.
Marie Beauchesne offers us a refreshing vision of personal branding: an authentic approach, aligned with our values, that helps us gain self-confidence and better communicate our potential.
Don’t miss our next Masterclass!