Welcome to Branding Room Only, the podcast where your personal brand gets a front-row seat. I'm Paula Edgar, and if you're here, it's because you know your brand isn't just about what you do. It's about how people experience you. In each episode, you'll hear stories, strategies, and lessons from leaders and influencers who built their brands and made their mark. And I'll share the tools you need to do the same. Let's go.
Welcome to Branding Room Only. I'm Paula Edgar. Let me ask you this. When someone compliments you on a big achievement, do you quickly say, "Oh, it was nothing," or shift the spotlight somewhere else? If so, you're not alone. Many professionals are taught to downplay their accomplishments, to keep their heads down, to do the work, and let the results speak for themselves. But here's the truth. Every time you shrink from your wins, you're shrinking the potential of your personal brand. That comes at a cost.
Now, there are lots of reasons why this happens. Some people are afraid of being labeled as braggy or arrogant. Others grew up in cultures or work in environments where humility is praised, but visibility is treated with suspicion. Then there's good old imposter syndrome, which whispers, "You just got lucky," or "This really wasn't a big deal." All of that creates a habit of deflection. Instead of saying, "Yes, thank you, I worked hard on that," people brush it off, or worse, sweep it under the radar.
The danger in hiding your wins is that it can undermine your credibility. I'll give you an example. In one of my personal branding strategy sessions, I was preparing to help a law firm partner amplify their LinkedIn presence. You know I love LinkedIn. As I did my research, I found out from Google, not from them, that they had received a prestigious industry award. It was on the record, it was published in press releases, but it wasn't anywhere in how they described themselves, not in their bio, not on their LinkedIn.
Now, if I, as their personal branding strategist, had to dig to find that, imagine how many opportunities they potentially lost simply because they hadn't put that win out there. Here's another story. I worked with someone who was excellent at their craft, truly outstanding, but every time we discussed their wins, they minimized them. They would say things like, "Oh, oh, that client project just worked out," instead of recognizing that they had strategized, negotiated, and led the effort.
So together, we practiced reframing. We built out what I call their elevate story, positioning the situation, their actions, and the results in a way that was factual and clear. Here's what happened. When they finally shared one of these wins during a legal team retreat, their colleagues were stunned. People literally said, "I had no idea you did that." That moment shifted how they were seen inside the organization from someone who quietly got the job done to someone who was recognized as a leader and a strategist.
That's the point. Strategic self-promotion is not about bragging. It's about aligning how you show up with your professional path and your goals. If you want to be considered for leadership, you have to make sure your wins are visible. If you want to grow your professional trajectory, you have to articulate results so colleagues, internal and external, understand your value. You can't stay true to your goals if you keep your achievements hidden.
The key is reframing how you think about sharing. Bragging is all about ego, "Look at me." Strategic personal branding is about facts and impact, "Here's what happened. Here's what I did. Here's the result." One is about making yourself bigger. The other is about making your contributions clear. While you connect the wins to the broader impact, when you do that, the team's growth, your client's success, your organization's progress, it doesn't come across as self-centered. It comes across as leadership.
So how do you actually do it? Start by one of my favorite strategies, which is keeping a wins file or wins folder. I tell my clients, open up a simple document or note where you track your wins as they happen. Don't wait until performance review season or when you're updating your bio, because by then, you may have forgotten the details. Write down the project, your role, and the outcome. Screenshot complimentary client comments or social media amplification of your impact.
That way, you're building a bank of receipts for your personal brand that you can tap into when you need to. Then when you talk about your wins, use a structure. One of my favorites is situation, action, result. So instead of saying, "I closed a deal," you'd say, "The client faced a stalled negotiation. I took the lead on reframing the terms, and the result was a signed agreement that saved both sides six months of delay."
Or here's another one. Instead of saying, "I mentored a junior colleague," say, "One of our associates was struggling with a new client relationship. I stepped in to coach them through the communication strategy, and the result was not only a smoother client interaction, but also a boost in that associate's confidence and performance." Do you see what I did there? Those things and those kinds of stories are clear, credible, and memorable.
Here's the part that people miss. You can't just save these stories for your resumes or your annual review. I'm going to keep saying that. You need to weave them into your everyday visibility strategy. Mention them in team meetings. Share them in one-on-ones with your leaders. Post them on LinkedIn. Add them to your bio. Even practice saying them out loud with your peers or mentors until it feels natural.
The more you practice, the easier it gets and the less it feels like bragging because a lot of this is an internal issue, not an external issue. Speaking of that, let's talk about annual reviews for a moment. That is a perfect time to go back to your wins file, wins folder, and to make sure you're including the things in your self-evaluation that amplify your impact and show how you've met, or even better yet, exceeded your goals.
Unfortunately, too often, people's humbleness and strategically self-promoting during reviews leaves them unseen, underappreciated, undercompensated, et cetera, et cetera. Why? Because most evaluators only remember what's most recent or what directly impacted them, not the full scope of your contributions. You know your impact better than anybody else. Nobody can tell your story better than you. So seize the opportunity.
Whether it's in a self-evaluation, an interview, or an introduction, showcase your wins. The key is being thoughtful and strategic about how you do it. I want to be clear about this. If you don't make your wins visible, you're not only shortchanging yourself, you're also shortchanging the people who could benefit from your story or by working with you directly. Your colleagues, your clients, and others in your professional and personal community need to see what's possible.
Your wins are not about you, they're evidence that progress can be made, that challenges can be solved, and that value can be created, and it already exists with you. So let me leave you with this. Every time you shy away from your wins, you're not just being humble, you're potentially weakening your personal brand, and you know I don't want to have that. You've worked too hard for that. Your wins are the proof of your value.
They remind you, especially in the days that are challenging, that you have had wins. We need them because we definitely have seen some challenging days. So this week, here's your homework. I want you to pick one win, big or small, and share it. Maybe that's you post it on LinkedIn. Maybe you bring it up in a one-on-one. Maybe, hopefully, you update your bio. But please take that step because staying true to your path and your goals requires you to make your achievements visible.
Your personal brand deserves to be seen, and your wins are how you show the world exactly who you are and what you deliver. So boom. I hope you found this helpful. If you did, and I hope you did, send it to a friend so they can hear it because they need it as well. Please go to ratethispodcast.com/branding so others can learn how to amplify their wins too. Until next time, I will see you in the branding room, and remember always to stand by your brand. Bye.
That's it for this episode. I appreciate you hanging out with me on Branding Room Only. Now, please do me a quick favor: head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding so more people can join this conversation. And make sure to stop by at paulaedgar.com/events to see what's next. Whether I'm live, online, or in person, I'd love to see you there. See you next time in the Branding Room. And until then, stand tall, shine bright, and always stand by your brand.
