Why You Should Bragg. The Benifits and How Too's of Bragging.

                                                          Why You Should Bragg
                                                                        By Patti Wood MA, CSP

                                                Patti is a Body Language Expert and Professional Speaker
My friend Sue and I have known each other since grad school and have always supported each other’s success. She is a wonderful and talented author and beloved English professor and I am a body language expert and professional speaker. Sue arranged for me to speak to the student body of her university. 

On the day of my speech, we went over my intro and I showed Sue how to turn on my 40 sec video that had snippets of newscasters and TV show hosts introducing me on their show.   Then as students and professors came into the auditorium I introduced myself, “Hello my name is Patti and I am your speaker today." "How are you?" Then I gave my speech. After the speech, Pat and I went out and we had a long talk.

My friend said, “Patti, watching you how you set and introduced your self and talked about your work in your speech changed everything I thought about my career.”  She said, “At first I thought, Goodness, Patti is going over the top with all this bragging about herself the intros and introducing herself as the speaker then I noticed how people responded to you even before you started speaking. I have watched 100’s of speakers in that same Venue but they were treating you with a feeling of honor and respect that I have never seen given before."

Sue continued, "l learned something about good self-promotion during your speech too."  She said, "As you spoke, you gave brief specific examples of how you used your body language expertise to solve a client’s problems and I saw how it gave you increased level of credibility with the audience. " Each was just a few line story about a challenge and change that was made, but they were memorable. " Sue finished by saying, "But here is the funny thing Patti, I have had the opportunity my entire career to promote myself the way you did and I have never done it because I thought I would be bragging!

I told her she was a remarkable author and speaker and should own it and start self-promoting because men do so all the time!  I shared that for years I wanted to be a successful speaker but I never bragged telling myself I was shy. I worked hard, but I was not in the big leagues.   Then I looked around and realized that the male speakers would self promote. I know that you may be reading this and thinking, "Patti that's bragging!", but here is why I think it can work for you.

Think about the epistemology of bragging.  (That is whether something you say about yourself can be verified or not. ) Can you self How do I know you’re telling the truth when you claim to have achieved some great outcome?

I recommend   I said, I try to self- promote only with specific hard evidence.  In epistemology, if I do that that it makes it believable.  If there is a second of doubt in the listener's mind, if they think you are lying or inflating what you say is perceived negatively and it works against you. My friend Sue quickly started using specific detailed self-promotion techniques. Doing this, and her hard work, led her to earn a tenured position and the raise she had long wanted and deserved.  

Research supports the notion that you should brag. Recent experiments conducted by Haifa University researcher Nurit Tal-Or examining the impact of bragging about those close to you (i.e. a family member or a colleague) vs. bragging about yourself suggest that people view people who brag about themselves as more competent than those who brag about others. "Bragging" (with specific and quantifiable examples of how you have achieved success) can actually be good for your career brand.

In fact, a 2011 Catalyst study found that the most powerful tactic for women in advancing their career was to make their achievements known. Calling attention to accomplishments led to more career satisfaction and was actually the only reliable factor associated with bigger raises. As much as we believe, or want to believe, that our achievements speak for themselves, that alone isn’t enough. We have to speak about them too.

— Janet Choi, CCO of iDoneThis

A great short article on the proper way to brag actually shows that bragging to strangers is more acceptable that bragging to friends. (Http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight/201009/the-proper-way-brag)

So help your career and brag a little.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.