Coachability
Activity
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Exploring Your Professional Persona

Whether you shape it on purpose or not, you already have a professional persona: the identity, personal brand, and reputation people experience when they interact with you.

1

Fill in your grid

Add 1-2 words to each box (you can choose words from the word bank below). Consider the words you would use to describe your identity as a professional, your personal brand, and your reputation. Complete this for both in person and virtual:

Self:

What words would you use to describe yourself?

Clients:

Step into a recent client experience. What words would they use to describe the experience or interaction with you?

Colleagues:

What is your relationship like with your colleagues or cross-functional teams? What words would they use?

SelfHow would you describe it?
ClientsHow would they describe it?
ColleaguesHow would they describe it?
In-PersonWhat is your professional persona?
VirtualWhat is your virtual professional persona?
Once both rows are filled, compare them. Where do the words shift between In-Person and Virtual?

Example

This is a sample only. Use your own words on the previous page.

Self
Clients
Colleagues
In-Person
Confident
Direct
Reliable
Warm
Sharp
Direct
Virtual
Confident
Direct
Distracted
Rushed
Quiet
Reserved

Notice how "Confident, Direct" holds steady for Self, but shifts for Clients and Colleagues once the meeting goes virtual. That shift is the misalignment worth exploring.

Examples Word Bank:💡 Tap words to highlight them! Positive qualities highlight green; growth opportunities highlight orange.

Reflect on Your Persona

Coachability Interactive WorksheetA proprietary tool developed by Raj Anderson (MBA, MCC).

How this activity helps

This specific activity is a self-reflection tool designed to help you build strategic self-awareness and map out your reputation vs. your identity.

Here is exactly how this activity helps you grow professionally:

  1. 1. It Spotlights the "Perception Gap" There is often a difference between how we think we are showing up (Identity) and how others actually experience us (Reputation). By asking you to write down words for Self, Clients, and Colleagues, this grid visually highlights where those views align and where they clash.
  2. 2. It Uncovers Your "Virtual Tax" Many professionals are highly engaging in an office but unintentionally come across as cold, distant, or disengaged over Zoom or email. As the example shows, someone might think they are being "Confident and Direct" virtually, while their clients actually experience them as "Distracted and Rushed." This activity helps you identify if your professional value is getting lost in digital translation.
  3. 3. It Shifts You from Reactive to Intentional Whether you actively manage it or not, you already have a personal brand. If you don't define it, other people's assumptions will. By identifying words you are unhappy with (using the orange growth highlighter) and choosing areas to work on, you shift from just "showing up" to intentionally shaping your executive presence.

How to get the most out of it right now:

Look closely at your finished grid and ask yourself these three diagnostic questions:

The Consistency Test: Do the words in your "Self" column match what your "Clients" and "Colleagues" experience? If not, why is the real you getting hidden?

The Medium Test: What changes when you move from a physical room to a laptop screen? Do you lose your warmth? Do you become too transactional?

The Action Test: Pick just one orange "growth opportunity" word from your virtual row. What is one micro-habit you can change tomorrow to fix it? (e.g., If the virtual word is "Distracted," the micro-habit could be closing all background tabs before a client call starts).