It’s Time to Go After Awards and Recognition
I have a question for you.
What kind of impact could you make as a known expert?
A big question, I know.
Maybe you’re just finding out what you want to be known for. Maybe you’re already a go-to person in your department or company. But who knows about your expertise outside company walls?
An expert is a person with authoritative knowledge or superior skill in a particular area. They stand out because they’re publicly sought out for their wise judgement and broadly seen as a reliable source of information. Often, they have a slate of awards and external recognition burnishing their personal brand.
We all want more of this special “expert” quality, right?!
The mindset we hold is critical, as it can either steer us toward expertise-elevating activities like awards and external recognition, or cause us to bypass them completely. We conducted a Be Leaderly “Quick Poll” with over 200 respondents, and found that professionals we queried were most likely to hesitate to go after awards or other external recognition due to discomfort self-nominating.
Biggest hesitation to seek out an award or other external recognition:

We also assessed what makes professionals most motivated to after awards and recognition. It turns out professionals are most motivated when a manager encourages them to go after a given award.
Most motivating factor to go after awards and recognition:

Directing your own path to expert status may mean listening and looking for career-making opportunities, broadening the platform that you’re best known for or self-nominating more often. Expert-building recognition comes in all shapes and packages. Within our Be Leaderly community, these are just some of the awards that people hold:
• 40 Under 40
• Women of Influence
• Emerging Leader Award
• Rookie of the Year
• Distinguished Engineering Educator Award
• Top Women in Grocery
• Company Values Award
• Women of Achievement
• Diversity in Business Award
• Engineer of the year
What’s holding you back from seeing yourself as more of an authority in your field? And let me ask you once more, what kind of impact could you make as a known, award-winning expert?
Join our 2019 webinar series and gain immediate access to our webinar, 7 Steps to Becoming a Thought Leader. Hear stories and strategies on positioning yourself as an expert. We talked about how to get clear on your niche, craft your story, identify and go after opportunities, and then promote your fierce expert status.
Selena Rezvani
Selena Rezvani is a recognized consultant, speaker and author on women and leadership. A seasoned human capital consultant, Selena uses workplace culture assessments to help corporate clients be more inclusive and welcoming to women. She’s also the author of two leadership books targeted at professional women – Pushback: How Smart Women Ask—and Stand Up—for What They Want (Jossey-Bass, 2012) and The Next Generation of Women Leaders (Praeger, 2009). Selena has been featured in the LA Times, Oprah.com, Todayshow.com, Forbes, and wrote an award-winning column on women for The Washington Post.

I have a question for you.
What kind of impact could you make as a known expert?
A big question, I know.
Maybe you’re just finding out what you want to be known for. Maybe you’re already a go-to person in your department or company. But who knows about your expertise outside company walls?
An expert is a person with authoritative knowledge or superior skill in a particular area. They stand out because they’re publicly sought out for their wise judgement and broadly seen as a reliable source of information. Often, they have a slate of awards and external recognition burnishing their personal brand.
We all want more of this special “expert” quality, right?!
The mindset we hold is critical, as it can either steer us toward expertise-elevating activities like awards and external recognition, or cause us to bypass them completely. We conducted a Be Leaderly “Quick Poll” with over 200 respondents, and found that professionals we queried were most likely to hesitate to go after awards or other external recognition due to discomfort self-nominating.
Biggest hesitation to seek out an award or other external recognition:
We also assessed what makes professionals most motivated to after awards and recognition. It turns out professionals are most motivated when a manager encourages them to go after a given award.
Most motivating factor to go after awards and recognition:
Directing your own path to expert status may mean listening and looking for career-making opportunities, broadening the platform that you’re best known for or self-nominating more often. Expert-building recognition comes in all shapes and packages. Within our Be Leaderly community, these are just some of the awards that people hold:
• 40 Under 40
• Women of Influence
• Emerging Leader Award
• Rookie of the Year
• Distinguished Engineering Educator Award
• Top Women in Grocery
• Company Values Award
• Women of Achievement
• Diversity in Business Award
• Engineer of the year
What’s holding you back from seeing yourself as more of an authority in your field? And let me ask you once more, what kind of impact could you make as a known, award-winning expert?
Join our 2019 webinar series and gain immediate access to our webinar, 7 Steps to Becoming a Thought Leader. Hear stories and strategies on positioning yourself as an expert. We talked about how to get clear on your niche, craft your story, identify and go after opportunities, and then promote your fierce expert status.

Selena Rezvani
Selena Rezvani is a recognized consultant, speaker and author on women and leadership. A seasoned human capital consultant, Selena uses workplace culture assessments to help corporate clients be more inclusive and welcoming to women. She’s also the author of two leadership books targeted at professional women – Pushback: How Smart Women Ask—and Stand Up—for What They Want (Jossey-Bass, 2012) and The Next Generation of Women Leaders (Praeger, 2009). Selena has been featured in the LA Times, Oprah.com, Todayshow.com, Forbes, and wrote an award-winning column on women for The Washington Post.