This dialogue is only slightly exaggerated, but fairly typical of working with people who want to develop their personal brand and make it visible on social networks. Most of them are rather modest and rarely praise themselves. First of all, it's pretty nice that someone doesn't praise themselves to the skies, isn't it? It's just a shame that they are blocking themselves from many opportunities by doing so - especially the opportunity to bring their own concerns and messages to the world in a powerful way.
Critical self-images versus praising external images
Even if a person in a familiar workshop group believes that he or she praises himself or herself too much, this self-description is usually still far below the assessment of others.
It may be that the selection of people in the corporate influencer projects I support is not always representative. But it is striking how much more positively the competence of a specialist or manager is often assessed by colleagues than their self-description.
The so-called imposter syndrome, which has been bank data studied since the late 1970s, is apparently as widespread today as it was then.
It is therefore worthwhile for people who are working on their personal brand to get external opinions in order to find out how they come across to others. The 3-hashtag exercise, for example, can provide initial aha moments.
The 3-Hashtag Exercise
In a private setting, for example in your circle of friends or in a social network of your choice, ask your friends/contacts to tell you in a comment or private message the first three terms (“hashtags”) that come to mind when they think of you.
There is no good or bad result in this exercise. However, you might think about your self-perception, especially if the terms mentioned surprise you and deviate from your self-image.
By the way, most people who have done this exercise so far have been mostly positively surprised.