Last week I started talking about finding your voice online. As mentioned, I was on a search for nuggets of wisdom that would point me toward this, and I wasn’t having much luck. I’ve also noticed that more and more, who we present ourselves as online, is having increasingly dramatic consequences in our daily lives (Click here and here for examples.)
Why should this matter to you?
As professionals we need to know who we are. Discovering our voice is critical to success in the workplace. As a young pro, it’s part of the stage that I’m at, but I have a feeling that these questions arise throughout our careers. Equipping ourselves with the tools to assess these situations is another important element of our work life.
Rather than simply talk about this, I’ve decided to use myself as a guinea pig. I’m going on a journey–a journey of self-discovery that I hope will help you to find out who you are as well.
So let’s begin…
As John Donne said, “No man is an island.” I’ve enlisted some experts to help me take this trip into my psyche. The first is Murray Comber of Life Concepts, Leadership, Team & Career Development.
Murray is a Corporate Soft Skills Trainer and Career & Work Consultant from Eastern Ontario. Since 2001, he has worked with high level government officials, and leaders everywhere from big business to non-profits, to help them to understand themselves and the people they work with.
Using both temperment and type assessments, he assists individuals in determining their personal career paths, strengthening their leadership competencies, building teams, and encouraging peak performance. He’s been kind enough to agree to help me out next.
I’ll be taking a variety of tests to assess what makes me tick. This could be a bumpy ride! Stay tuned, and make sure to check out Murray’s site while we wait for the test results.
In the meantime, my colleague Nate Riggs (another expert you’ll be hearing more from soon in the Engine Room) from Huber + Co. Interactive in Columbus, Ohio, sent me this link to find out my Myers-Briggs Personality Type. I’ve posted the results on our Facebook Fan Page. Try it out, and let me know your type!
Hey Bryna,
I’ve always been a fan of the Greek Oracle’s advice, “know thyself”, but it does seem that the world has changed, and now one must “know what others know of thyself.” And in some ways this has been one of my own major criticisms of social media.
As you have already mentioned, (https://blog.enginecommunications.com/?p=844) people can’t be genuine anymore and feel secure in that (other than maybe being shameless). It is now a duty to present your identity and protect your identity. This, to me at least, means that in the battle of appearance and competency, appearance has won. There is a complete and necessary justification in place now for self-idolatry. It’s perfectly acceptable to be obsessed with ourselves.
I’m continually impressed that you are willing to be the guinea pig, or at least put your feet in the shoes that have to do the walking, as it were (mixing my cliches a bit). And so, in fearing all these traps, I am about to walk into the arena of social networking. I don’t feel I have a choice, at least. And because of it, I will be needing help. So for that reason I ask you for this advice — how do we balance the need to know ourselves with the need to know our audience or at least our customers? I don’t think they are exclusive, but I certainly can’t see them being the same, either.
I love this question so much, I think I will answer it in a blog post. Stay tuned! It will probably go up today 🙂