How do your peers, supervisors, employees, friends, family members see you? What do they think are your strengths, weaknesses and most valuable skills? What is your personal brand? Does their assessment correlate with yours?

If you’re like me, it’s probably a lot easier for you to develop a strong sense about the value that other people bring to the table but your self-evaluation is a little fuzzy.

The folks at Reach Branding Consulting (www.reachcc.com) offer a FREE analysis tool named 360 Reach(tm) which allows people who know you to anonymously provide feedback and help provide focus. Over the past month, I took advantage of it and I thought you might find the results instructive.

I felt pretty good that the response rate for my personal 360 Reach assessment tool was 10% higher than the average response rate of all people who have used the tool so I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to participate and to share their opinions with me. Here’s a summary of the assessments of my personal brand by colleagues, peers, managers/supervisors, employees, friends: (71% of those who participated were colleagues & peers, 12% of those who participated were either former managers/supervisors or employees):

My Top 5 Brand Personas:

1. Expert
2. Rock (reliable; I do what I say I will)
3. Truth-Teller (honest, trustworthy)
4. Structurer (organized, methodical)
5. Visionary (I see the Big Picture)

My Top 5 Leadership Competencies:

1. Relating (meeting/connecting with colleagues, employees,customers; build trust & respect)
2. Expressing (clear & consistent 2-way communication)
3. Inspiring (nuturing, empowering, developing others)
4. Visioning (developing & executing strategy)
5. Developing (personal development, growing professionally;staying fresh, adopting new & relevant
habits)

All the people who participated in this survey were also asked to describe my strengths and weaknesses in their own words. Here’s what the had to say:

My Strengths (verbatims):

-Ability to manage
-Ability to cover chaos with calm
-Being methodical
-Business knowledge
-Community-mindedness
-Forward thinking
-Intelligence (2 mentions)
-Seeing the big picture, managing any situation, always has a goal in mind
-Speaking
-Vast knowledge & experience
-Wisdom
-Analyzing (2 mentions)
-Caring professional and encouraging to others
-Experience (2 mentions)
-Market knowledge
-Imagining what needs to be done and getting the job done
-Knowledge
-Knowledge of industry
-Likeability
-Media smart
-Problem solving
-Strategic planning

My Weaknesses (verbatims):

-Being methodical
-Difficulty selling himself
-Occasionally opinionated
-Probably overqualified for a lot of available jobs in the area
-Talking over people who are already talking
-Too nice
-Delegating
-Irritating people
-Making quick decisions
-Not following through
-Organization
-People skills
-Speed of learning or change
-Stubborn
-Too fast to respond. Needs to listen more.
-Too formal.

Being human, I immediately focused on the weaknesses and felt a little hurt or dismayed by some of the comments but I’m still grateful for the honest evaluations. It’s also interesting to see how some people perceive me as having weaknesses in certain areas while others see me as having strengths in the same areas.

You might want to try this yourself. The initial analysis is free although you can get more granular by upgrading with paid options. Find the 360 Reach Personal Branding Analysis at www.reachcc.com

Recommendations:

“Having known Buzz for a couple of decades, it was hard to determine where my recommendation fit. The reason I’ve chosen to recommend his work as a media consultant is that he has done it all and done it well. He’s been a top on air talent, an innovator at MTV, one of the most intelligent managers in radio and a marketing expert throughout. Besides his many skills, I can also say he’s one of the nicest men in any business.” July 23, 2009 Denise Oliver , Media Consultant/Content Developer , Oliver Media was with another company when working with R. E. “Buzz” at Brindle Media

“My challenge is to limit this recommendation to the small space allotted. I have worked with and for Buzz Brindle. He consistently sees and correctly analyzes trends, then develops a plan to take advantage of these trends. He has done this with great success in various media in the past and continues seeing trends today that others will not see for months. As a manager Buzz provides leadership, but at the same time encourages individualism and creativity. Last but certainly not least Buzz truly is a “Great Communicator.” If you have any projects or positions in which you believe Buzz would be helpful, grab him now.” June 22, 2009 Marc Kaplan , Director of Communications and Advocacy , Alzheimer’s Association of NENY worked with R. E. “Buzz” at Regent Communications of Albany (WGNA, WTMM)

“Ronald “Buzz” Brindle is one of the most talented programming executives in the radio industry. He has great depth of knowledge and has provided professional guidance and advice on multiple projects. We worked together at NBC radio, Warner Amex (MTV/The Movie Channel) and on projects and business plans. I highly recommend contacting Buzz for media projects..” July 27, 2007 Andrew Kaplan , CEO , MediaMensch Networks was with another company when working with R. E. “Buzz” at Regent Communications of Albany

“I have had the pleasure of working with Buzz several times over the years in various roles, first at WGY where he reinvented the station to a market leader, and later as a colleague at Siena College as we served as advisors to the broadcast program. He is a strategic media executive who has an uncanny knack to understand market dynamics and develop a cohesive, organized plan to win. His approach to execution features solid leadership, articulate vision, great organization and the ability to build the team using a comfortable mentoring approach. Buzz brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that is a great addition to a team.” June 27, 2009 Rich Redmond , Director, Strategic Marketing & Business Development , Harris Corporation worked directly with R. E. “Buzz” at WGY

“Buzz impressed me from the very beginning of our working relationship. He was transitioning the format of WYJB, and had spent months researching every aspect of programming neccesary for the station’s success. The results spoke volumes about both his professional insight and the management skills required to lead the entire team to success. Since then, I have worked with him at the New School of Radio and Television as well. Buzz is both a thinker and a “do-er”” June 21, 2009 Diane Donato , WYJB B95.5 Morning News Co-host, Community Affairs, News Director , Albany Broadcasting reported to R. E. “Buzz” at WGY

“Buzz brought me to a significant level of my career by hiring me as entertainment critic for WGY, a position I have had for 21 years at this writing. Throughout the time I reported to him, I always found him extremely fair, creative and communicative, offering thoughts and pointers that have served me well ever since — and not only at WGY. I am a very grateful beneficiary of Buzz’s wealth of professional expertise.” June 21, 2009 Jay Bobbin , Entertainment Critic , WGY Radio, Albany, N.Y. reported to R. E. “Buzz” at WGY

“I have known Buzz both as a colleague at NBC as well as in the early days of MTV. I found Buzz to be totally organized, creative as well as logical, and intelligent. What sets apart Buzz is his humanity and his understanding that people come first.” April 5, 2009 Bill Sobel , Supervisor/Video Services , MTV Networks/Warner Amex worked indirectly for R. E. “Buzz” at MTV Networks