All-Star Humble Brag Champ

And the Award that Means the Most

Source: worldwideinterweb.com

If you, dear reader, can get through this whole blog post and actually read every nonsensical word, you will get a gold star. Ready, set, go!

As the title suggests, there will be some gratuitous humble brag stuff, but it’s not actually all about me—I promise!

Sidenote: Most of it is.

I’ve always been ambitious, but also a perfectionist and a bit of a workaholic. I know my skills and my strengths and have strategically leaned into them since I was a kid. I’d never raise my hand to do a math problem, but let me come up to the board to draw something and I’ll run up there in a heartbeat. I knew my talents and went after those easy gold stars.

I still need to add this to my LinkedIn.

Yet as I got older, as with most people, those skills and strengths changed, and there were plenty of times when I felt like I wasn’t actually good at anything. Cue the pitfalls of perfectionism.

They told me I was gifted and talented so what does it mean when I am suddenly barely scraping by?

At one point I even dropped out of college and felt like a complete failure.

But through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (maybe not blood, but definitely sweat and tears), I got back into college and within my second semester back, I made the Dean’s List—a total shock, but also a desperately needed boost to my self-confidence.

That recognition meant a lot because it wasn’t something I had pursued; it wasn’t me going after something I knew I was good at or expected or even knew the criteria to be considered.

Sidenote: I still don’t, but I did it!

It relit that fire of determination that had been extinguished over the years and propelled me to graduation.

Trade the Gold Stars for Better Business Cards

Good grades and gold stars are great, but fast-forward to a real career and my ambitious pursuits turned to a more monetary sort. Promotions, raises, bonuses—those are the appropriate affirmations I wanted for a job well done. Sure, I’ll take a pat on the back, but my student loans ain’t gonna accept that as a form of payment.

Source: Reddit

But going back to skills and strengths, I have been incredibly fortunate to work for agencies and companies that recognize team members beyond the projects they launch and deals they close.

I cannot stress enough to employers how important this is: motivation is not always monetary.

Think “the Dundies” from the Office—who doesn’t want a Dundie?

Positively giddy to get this award

As a project manager, I won the “Positivity Award” in 2015, which greatly helped battle the pessimism that would creep in for me as a PM. That recognition kept me going and I must credit it as part of the reason I eventually got promoted—I didn’t just lean into my skills as a project manager, I was reminded that soft skills were equally a strength to grow and mature.

And I’m not alone in my belief that these sometimes silly little honors and awards make a big impactful difference:

• Recognition has shown to increase employee engagement, productivity, and performance by 14%

• 50% of employees believe being thanked by managers not only improved their relationship but also built trust with their higher-ups

• 69% of employees reported that they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better appreciated and recognized

• Organizations with sophisticated recognition practices are 12 times more likely to have strong business outcomes

• 69% of employees report recognition and rewards as top factors that keep them at their current employers

That last bullet was true for me, but receiving industry recognition outside of my company actually sparked the opposite effect—what I like to call the “hot commodity” effect.

Feeling like a hot commodity

In 2018, this effect set in when I was named one of the “32 Under 32” presented by Ad 2 Dallas, an affiliate of American Advertising Federation of Dallas (AAF Dallas). I was honored as one of the inaugural class...and realized that I could be considered a hot commodity in the market. I walked away from the ceremony empowered to reach beyond the easy gold stars and go after new challenges.

Another big point to employers on this: if you don’t show employees recognition, somebody else will.

It’s Not All About Me (Seriously)

So far this blog is living up to its title: I really am an All-Star Humble Brag Champ. Art, education, attitude, industry—so many gold stars! Jeez whiz, why do I still suffer crippling imposter syndrome?

Sidenote: Don’t worry, dear reader, that’s another blog for another day.

Jump forward to 2021—after three years working at a tech company in Austin, I found myself suddenly leading its Marketing department in January, starting off as a stressed out team of one (oh hey, that’s me!), but slowly grew to a team of five amazing Marketing members over the course of the year. A brand new team facing an avalanche of to-dos and nonstop requests, but each and every one of them brought their own scrappy determination to tackle that avalanche and, my god, we were doing it.

And for our achievements, came recognition: I won Coach of the Quarter, an honor beyond words for me. Going from being an individual contributor to leading a team wasn’t something I had pursued—it had unexpectedly fallen into my lap and I had to figure it all out on the fly.

But for all those moments of imposter syndrome throughout the year, something must have worked because there I was accepting an award for leading this incredible team to achieve more than Marketing had ever done in the three years I had been at the company. That award really wasn’t about me, even if my name was on the certificate.

But that still isn’t the honor that means the most to me.

And Finally, the Award that Means the Most

Spoiler alert—it’s not actually my award.

My first hire as Marketing leader was a Marketing Specialist named Kori, who excelled so fast that we quickly promoted her to Marketing Operations Analyst and she led our efforts to transition to a more robust marketing automation tool and create a better marketing attribution plan with sales. All that stuff I would never raise my hand for, she flourished in.

And she rightly earned the title of MVP of the Quarter, announced right after I walked up to receive Coach of the Quarter.

Kori being recognized as MVP is the award that means the most to me. She deserved every ounce of that recognition outside of any of my coaching—in reality, I was honored just to be her coach. For all the gold stars I’ve gotten in my lifetime, nothing compares to the pride I felt seeing her succeed.

That is my most specialist humble brag: I hired the MVP.

So here’s your gold star, dear reader. Good job and keep it up—I know there’s a MVP inside of you just waiting to be recognized.

Source: Tenor