Are You the Weakest Link?

While at the agency one afternoon, I received a call from reception that my guests had arrived and were waiting for me in the office’s lobby. It was my opportunity to meet the publisher and editor-in-chief of San Francisco’s most influential business publication.

Immediately outside my office are two workstations. My marketing coordinator sat in one and Kayla, who assisted the president of the agency, occupied the other.

Making small talk with my guests as we headed back to my office, we rounded the corner from reception to find Kayla sitting at her workstation with one foot propped up on the edge of her desk. She was clipping her toenails. I did a double take…I was mortified!

As the three of us passed, Kayla looked up, smiled, and said hi, all the while continuing her grooming. My guests looked at me as if to say, “What kind of a dog and pony show are you running here?”

Albeit an extreme example, Kayla is a reminder that many of us have behaviors that alienate people from wanting to associate or do business with us. This is the type of conduct that gets discussed at the water cooler and is BAD for the BRAND!

Oddball behavior reflects poorly on our personal brands and on the organizations in which we work. Kayla was oblivious to how her disgraceful behavior affected her personal brand, mine, and the agency’s. Avoid the following weak-link behaviors:

• Checking email or texting during presentations, meal times, and while driving
• Gossiping or lack of discretion in conversations, including carbon or blind copying individuals unnecessarily in email conversations
• Speaking so loudly in public areas–hallways, airplanes, restrooms–that others are exposed to your conversations
• Untempered rage, including the slamming of doors and being short with an assistant or colleague
• Unprofessional attire–ill-fitting, too casual for professional environments, threadbare, or too revealing
• Coming to work sick
• Poor hygiene, blowing your nose or clearing your throat obnoxiously, flatulating, grooming outside the lavatory
• Poor mealtime etiquette–talking with your mouth full of food, eating off others’ plates, and not waiting for others at the table to receive their food

Evolve your personal brand by being cognizant of and ridding yourself of behaviors that could prevent someone from referring you opportunities.

Follow