Is Your Image Hindering Your Career Growth?

March 17, 2008

Wondering what's holding you back from getting a senior position in your company? Take a look in a full-length mirror: The problem may be the image reflecting back at you.

Yes, skill and talent are important, says Sherron Bienvenu, a professor emerita at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. But looking and sounding the part of someone who is capable of heading a division or company is just as important.

"You can destroy everything positive about yourself with just one inconsistency, like a bad haircut. Maybe it's just a detail, but if you didn't think your appearance was important, what decisions will you make about product presentations?," asks Bienvenu, a visiting professor in the international MBA program at the Helsinki School of Economics. "If your language is too casual, too formal for the occasion, biased, or anything else inappropriate, how will you talk to the board of directors?

"Bottom line: You don't want to be excluded from a position because of a poor image."

But exactly where does image come from?  How do you build a solid professional image?

According to Bienvenu there are several steps to identifying and refining your image, which she describes as your professional brand-the perception that everyone, all your target audiences, have of you.

Continue reading this article at Knowledge @ Emory.