How we are perceived… and fun with ChatGPT
Sometimes, we can’t see what other people see. The easy way to fix that is to ask, “How am I perceived?” And, if you hear something that surprises you, dig in and understand better.
Knowing ourselves includes knowing how we’re perceived. These insights allow us to showcase some areas more or decide to tone down something else.
As they say, perception is reality. If we have an intention for how we want to show up, that’s half the battle. The rest is what actually happens based on our words and actions.
Do people leave with the reaction that we intended?
Earlier this week, one of my colleagues posted a prompt they used to get ChatGPT to give its best drunk-bestie impression explaining what they did (who knows why this was the prompt they chose!). Since much of my writing has been uploaded into a custom GPT, I decided to find out what it would say about me.
Here’s the fun excerpt:
“Okay, listen up! You, my friend, are basically a leadership wizard. Like, people come to you when they’re stuck—whether it’s in their own heads, with their teams, or just tryna figure out how to not burn out before they even hit their stride. You don’t do fluff; you do real talk, real strategy, and real results.
You help leaders keep going forever—not just sprint and collapse. You make sure they actually like their jobs and their teams don’t hate them. You’ve got this whole ‘leadership endurance’ thing going, which is like training for a marathon but for people who run companies instead of actual miles (though, let’s be honest, you probably do both).
And HR? Oh, you basically take HR leaders, give them a shot of espresso (metaphorically, I think), and help them not just survive, but thrive. You show them how to build strategies that aren’t just checking boxes but actually making workplaces better.
Also, you write! Like, legit, people-leadership-mindset-mastery type stuff. And you don’t sugarcoat anything. You tell people to stop pretending they’re perfect, stop being control freaks, and start actually leading with intention.
Oh, and you coach! You coach the overwhelmed, the ambitious, the “I wanna do more but don’t know how” crowd, and you help them level up.
Basically, you’re the leadership whisperer. People leave your sessions like ‘OMG why didn’t I think of that before?’ but it’s because you helped them see it.
So yeah, you’re a boss.”
Yes, there are more valuable ways to use AI, but getting it to tell you about yourself is certainly an interesting exercise. Understanding the themes that come up allows us to understand what we may not be seeing about ourselves. And…if it sounds good, it’s good for the ego.
You could do something similar to get a new perspective about your own strengths by putting different types of content in - your resume, content from your LinkedIn profile, your performance self-assessments, or 360 feedback.
The other low-tech way to do this is an exercise I did a year or so ago. I asked friends, family, and colleagues to pick 3 words they would use to describe me. It was really interesting to see the similar themes but also some that surprised me (fierce).
Here’s the list of what they said…
Achiever/ Activator/ Committed (2) /Compassionate/Courageous/ Dedicated (2)/ Determined/ Driven/ Empathetic/ Fierce/ Focused /Inquisitive (2) /Insightful (2)/ Intelligent/ Intuitive/ Responsible/ Smart/ Spiritual /Steward/ Strategic/ Strong/ Thoughtful (2).
Whether you go old-school and ask people or use AI, it’s bound to give you something to think about.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the description of my work or the words that were used to describe me. And… I’d love to see what outputs you get if you do the exercise.
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Photo by Bradley Pisney on Unsplash