Why professional credibility has to come from within (and why brand-borrowing isn't an effective shortcut)
TL;DR: The kind of credibility that will genuinely further your career has to come from the inside out. Brand-borrowing your credibility without addressing your underlying confidence issues or skill gaps will, in the long term, compromise your confidence and decrease your chance of reaching your goal.
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In my last session, my client said the topic they wanted to focus on today was how they could continue building their credibility as a music teacher while also working multiple part-time music admin jobs. In particular, they wanted to discuss whether or not they should get a doctorate.
I heard them say, "I just feel like I won't have the credibility I need if I don't have that PhD title or can't say I'm working for [insert impressive music school here]," and I had all the information I needed to take us to the next step.
What this client was describing as "what would make me credible" is brand-borrowing: attaching your brand to a well-established brand that already provokes a positive emotional response in your overlapping audience, so that - emotionally - That audience begins to associate their positive feels with Your brand as well.
For example, most people who make products would be amped if their product ends up on Oprah's yearly "favorite things" list, because people shopping off that list are doing so because of the trust they have in OPRAH's brand, not the trust they have in YOUR product. They are "borrowing" how people feel about Oprah in order to expand their market saturation, which allows them to skip several steps.
There is nothing wrong with brand-borrowing, AND you have to be careful that you are using brand-borrowing to AMPLIFY your credibility, not to ESTABLISH your credibility.
The right way to do this:
Your product/service is already banging (even if it has room to grow and could benefit from and fine-tune as a result of more customer feedback) , but not that many people know about it yet. How do you get your already-good-thing into more people's homes? Brand-borrowing from a brand that is already IN those people's homes.
The unhelpful-to-you way to do this:
Your product/service isn't at a level that makes YOU feel really confident about selling/delivering/offering it, so YOU "borrow" confidence IN YOUR OWN product/service/skill from something external to you, like a doctorate title, or working for an impressive person/institution.
If you go into that doctorate or pursue the job at the fancy school with the intention of gaining experience and turning that insight into action by actually improving your thing - awesome. Go for it. (Although, as a separate note, I believe - and studies have shown - that doctorate's are a waste of time and money for most people. There are of course circumstances where that isn't true, and I'm happy to chat about that if you're interested. The general idea here is brand-borrowing is fine if you're relating to it as an opportunity to get more practice, and therefore more experience that advances your skill and ability.)
If you are pursuing those things IN PLACE of / as a shortcut to doing the work of getting better at your service/skill or improving your product through real production/testing/ feedback/reworking - not awesome. Do not go for it.
With my client, I asked: "In your experience as a voice student, what makes a teacher credible?"
His answer got us to the real work right off the bat:
Knowledge and the ability to comfortably apply that knowledge
Innovative and willing to look outside the box, paired with experience
Learning in order to better serve or understand your students
So I asked, "Where could you expand your knowledge/ experience as a teacher in a way that helps you feel more comfortable and able to APPLY that knowledge to your students’ benefit?"
By the end of the session, he had a long, exciting-to-him list of ways that he could improve his ability to apply all of the extensive knowledge - a list that included a variety of entry-points, so that he always had an option that matched whatever "I just finished working two jobs" energy level he came home with: creating presentations and worksheets for a future studio, watching videos to go deeper in certain areas, reading articles, offering free workshops to friend-guinea-pigs to solidify his ability to teach a particular subject, etc.
He felt excited instead of overwhelmed, because he refocused on how he could build his OWN feelings of credibility by learning and practicing and teaching more of the work/knowledge he's incredibly passionate about.
No more dread about all the imagined future homework associated with the doctorate he "needs" for greater credibility.
Instead, excitement at the prospect of building HIS OWN confidence, by pursuing topics HE is passionately curious about, in ways that allow him to respond to HIS own energy and leveraging HIS learning styles, at HIS own pace.
Real, sustainable confidence comes from the daily practice of making decisions and taking actions that make you feel more like YOU.
Real, marketable credibility comes from consistently, confidently delivering ACTUAL VALUE to your clients/students/customers (which - oops - THEY determine, not you. Hard to borrow your way out of that).
And trying to take a shortcut around credibility that comes from within will only result in more confusion and insecurity - which will make your desired outcome take LONGER.
3 questions you can ask yourself to begin building credibility from within:
Professionally, where do I FEEL I’m “not good enough”?
Protip: Your brain doesn’t care about what you know, have, or do. It only cares how you FEEL about those things. Note that how you feel about your skill level isn’t necessarily a reflection of your actual skill level - but either way, feeling like there’s a lack is hurting your personal credibility, and doing something to address the perceived lack will help your confidence. That confidence opens the door for you to shift from WORRYING about not being credible to PLANNING to become more credible.
What knowledge, skill, or practical experience do I need to gain/improve in order to feel more confident in that area?
Protip: 100-billion-% confident doesn’t matter - just aim for more than you have now!
Within the professional area I want to grow, what am I most curious about?
Protip: It will feel less effortful if it’s an itch your brain already wants to scratch than if it feels like an obligatory upgrade. Even in an area we’re not super-duper-stoked to spend time on, there is usually something that feels more curiosity-inducing than resistance-inducing. Follow your curiosity!
