If you aren't managing your own professional image,others are says Prof Laura Roberts of Harvard Business School. It's not just that they're checking out your behavior, but they're also forming theories about your competence, character and commitment. This is not merely an issue of "dress for success."
Roberts' research show that the most favorably regarded characteristics are trustworthiness, caring, humility and capability. This research is of high value for personal success, and it is supported by much historical research carried out by scholars in communication studies.
Her research emphasizes two issues. Your professional image is the set of qualities and characteristics that represent the perceptions of your competence and character, with emphasis upon perceptions. What you think about yourself may or may not be the actual perception that others hold of you. You'll never know completely what others' perceptions of you may be, but you can draw inferences about your image based on the input of key constituents.
The second issue of importance is that you can, to an important degree, become the author of your identity. That involves, for example, identifying your ideal state in terms of competencies and character traits, and making an effort to emphasize those traits. Not only will you need to monitor your behavior, but learning how to self-advocate will become an important skill.
A professional image will respond to strategic action over time. In future blogs, I'll detail some of the steps you can take to strategically focus and improve your image.