What Introverts Don’t Get About Bragging!

When introverts like us think about bragging, we immediately conjure up certain individuals in our organization. 

You know who I mean, the one who when you ask how they’re doing they say,

 “ Oh well the Chief Operating Officer stopped by my desk to get my input on their major project and over the weekend I went in Elon Musk’s private jet and then ran a marathon with Bill Gates…”

When we hear that we think the person is annoying and self-serving.

That is the wrong way to brag! 

It’s a long-winded exaggeration that isn’t relevant. 

The right way to brag is to 

Be concise in your statement of your accomplishments.

Be relevant to the topic at hand.

Why is it so important that you do this regularly?

You need to understand that most leaders walk around somewhere between mildly anxious or in full on panic over where they are going to find the right resources to accomplish the latest mandate. 

It is your obligation to inform us if YOU might be the very resource we are looking for!

The only way we’ll know, is if you tell us if you have the relevant experience. 

Look, even your strongest champions can’t keep total recall of your resume in their heads. It is your responsibility to keep us informed if you have skills that might be relevant. 

It’s not bragging. It’s helping your organization. 

All you have to do is state your relevant experience and ask if they want to hear more about it.

Here’s an example:

Last year, I was working with a non-profit on their strategy. One of their focus areas was increasing the number of volunteers. In the discussion I said, “I worked with another nonprofit on that very topic and we implemented a volunteer management program that achieved a 1000% increase in the number of volunteers and $60K+ in corporate grants in 12 months. Let me know if you want to talk more about what we did”. 

You will not be surprised to learn that they in fact did want to talk more about it.