“The greatest value that you can add is to become more of yourself, and to make your content feel more like yourself.”
—Sally Hogshead
Sally Hogshead, creator of the Fascination Advantage System, teaches how to discover your natural ability to fascinate. Why some people is more engaging than other? What makes some people be more natural compelling than other? What part of your personality is the one that drives more attention? The personality assessment helps you to discover how people perceived your communication and personality, so the world can see you at your best. The system is based on the 7 triggers of fascination:
- Power: Take command
- Passion: Attract with emotion
- Mystique: Arouse curiosity
- Prestige: Increase respect
- Alarm: Drives urgency
- Vice: Change the game
- Trust: Build loyalty
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0WiP5ux1Q&w=600&h=390]
I need to say that I have always been a little bit skeptical about these type of assessments; where you answer a bunch of questions and it tells you something magical about yourself. I’m not a big fan of this type of psycho-technical tests. However, I’m really impressed with the Fascination Advantage Assessment, not only because the amazing results, but also because the practical application for building your “personality brand”. When I say personality brand, don’t think that is a mistake, or that I was meaning personal branding. According to Sally, “personal branding” and “personality branding” are two different concepts:
Your “personal brand” is based on the impression you want to create. It’s about packaging yourself in a certain way to appeal to a certain audience.
Your “personality brand” is based on who you actually are. It’s about identifying and expressing your unique personality strengths, so that you can express those true strengths in a way that connects and communicates.
In my own words, “personality branding” is your true expression and “personal branding” is applying make-up to your personality.
What I personally like about the concept of “personality branding” is it’s authenticity. I’m not saying that is better or more important than building your “personal branding”, both strategies are complementary and mutually supportive. In fact, I don’t think that you can build your “personal branding” based on a fake personality. So don’t try to change who you are to become successful. You just need to find your specialty – that unfussy, but real flavor that makes you stand out from the crowd.
If you have experienced difficulties trying to find the right words to describe yourself, this assessment is a good way to discover what part of your personality adds value. In my case, my fascination advantages are Prestige and Mystique. Some of my values are: excellent listener and observer; thoughtful and analytical; ambitious; and results-oriented.
It is a good start for building your positioning strategy and unique selling proposition. How is your personality different? Build your story or compelling picture of how you want to be perceived. Then make it an essential part of your elevator pitch, your resume or any other channel to describe yourself.