• Start Here
    • Power Definitions
  • Blog
    • Social Strategies
    • Career Strategies
    • Dating (Women)
    • Dating (Men)
    • Relationships
  • Resources
    • Reviews
  • Speed Learning
    • Store
    • Power University
    • Courses
  • Forum
    • Join In!
    • RegisterLogin
The Power Moves
  • Start Here
    • Power Definitions
  • Blog
    • Social Strategies
    • Career Strategies
    • Dating (Women)
    • Dating (Men)
    • Relationships
  • Resources
    • Reviews
  • Speed Learning
    • Store
    • Power University
    • Courses
  • Forum
    • Join In!
    • RegisterLogin

Career Strategies

Home » Brag! Notes & Review

Brag! Notes & Review

brag by peggy klaus

Brag!, whose full title is “Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It”, teaches readers how to effectively self-promote without coming across as a big show-off.

Contents

  • Brag! Summary
  • CONS
  • PROS
  • Brag! Review

Brag! Summary

About the Author: Peggy Klaus is a communication and leadership coach who works with Fortune 500 corporations to help executives improve their self-presentation and promotion.

To Brag Effectively, Know Yourself

To brag effectively, you need to know what you should be bragging about.

Peggy Klaus provides the readers with twelve questions to go through. 
Once you know the answer to those questions, you will better know yourself, and what to market about yourself.

Here are my favorite ones:

  1. What are your five personality pluses?
  2. What are the ten most interesting things you have done?
  3. What do you like/love about your current job/career?
  4. How do you use your skills and talents in your job and career?
  5. What projects are you working on right now that best showcase your skills and talents?
  6. What success are you most proud of?
  7. What obstacles have you overcome to get where you are?
  8. What have you learned from your mistakes?

A Job Well Done Does NOT Speak for Itself

Some people believe that doing a good job is all the promotion they need.

My Note: It Actually Depends on The Situation
Some jobs to speak for themselves, while some others, don’t.
If you have the spotlights on you and people see you struggling and achieving, for example, you don’t need to brag. Let others do it for you and it’s much more powerful. 
But in cases where people only get to see the result, without the hard work and skills, then you do want to add some promotion.

Humility Does Not Get You Noticed

Yes, being humble can be good.
But if being humble means never promoting yourself, then that does not work.

Few people have managed to combine humility with the need to self-promote for success.
Don’t be one of those people who fail to self-promote and hides behind humility as if it were a virtue.

Sell Stories, not Numbers

No matter how good your numbers are, they do not make you sound impressive.

Klaus says that you want to talk about how you achieved those numbers, weaving a good story around them.
How it started, the challenges you overcame, how you insisted and maneuvered and, only after all the tribulations, how you managed to turn into a win.

Mix Bragging With Interesting Content: A Bragalog

If you only brag, people will think you’re a showoff and they will not like you.
If you only tell facts, you are boring. 
And if you only tell interesting stories, you are an entertainer, but you’re not marketing yourself.

Peggy Klaus says that the solution is to mix an entertaining story with your bragging strong points.
Then people will want to hear more about your marketing and, while you sell yourself, you also come across as intelligent and likable.

One example of a bragalogue, for a NASA engineer introducing himself:

Hi, I’m Dan.
I’m one of those rocket scientists everyone always makes jokes about. I work on the space station program for NASA

CONS

  • Confused willingness to stay silent with a failure to brag? 

The author shares an example of a guy who “failed” to brag effectively.
On a plane, she asks him what he does, and he replies “management consultant”. The author asks in what field, and for what company.
The guy keeps replying with short sentences in spite he has a lot of strong points to brag about.

The author then stops, saying that he is failing at selling himself and making it interesting for her.

To me, it obviously looked like the guy just didn’t wanna talk. 
And by providing short sentences he did the right thing: he clearly sent the message he didn’t want to be bothered.

  • Does not differentiate between the time to brag and the time to show strategic humility

There are situations when humbleness is the ultimate bragging.
For example, when you others touting your own horn, that’s the perfect time to say little and come across as bigger than life.

I wished the author differentiated between the two scenarios: when you need to brag, and when it’s best to be self-effacing.
That’s true strategic thinking, but I didn’t see it here.

PROS

  • Lots of examples, some of them good

The book lists a lot of examples of how to turn descriptions, facts, and accomplishments, into effective self-promotion messages.
Some of them were good.

  • Wonderful idea of mixing entertainment with bragging

There is one great idea I take away from this book, and that’s to mix entertainment, storytelling, and bragging.
That was an eye-opener for me.

Brag! Review

“Brag!” is a good book, with some good ideas and examples.

Most of all, I loved the idea of the “bragalogue”, which is a mix of bragging, storytelling, and entertainment.
That was really a great idea. 

Check the:

  • Best communication skills books

Or get the book on Amazon

author avatar
Lucio Buffalmano

The author holds a master's degree from La Sapienza, department of communication and sociological research, and is a member of the American Psychology Association (APA).

He studies psychology, persuasion, social strategies, and anything related to people and power dynamics.

Lucio's approach combines science, critical analysis, and a continuous quest for first-hand experience. He loves all three aspects, and believes that to be effective at teaching social strategies, the three must go together.

You can learn everything Lucio has to teach with Power University

Previous post

Hardball for Women: Notes & Review
March 17, 2020

Next post

The New Rules of Work: Notes & Review
March 25, 2020

You may also like

best books for women book cover
Best Books for Women’s Empowerment
14 January, 2021
underboss book cover
Underboss: How to Thrive in The Mob
13 January, 2021
I'll make you an offer you can't refuse book cover
I’ll Make You an Offer You Can’t Refuse: Franzese’s 9 Business Tips
10 January, 2021

Categories

  • Power Dynamics (295)
    • Case Studies (36)
    • Dating (Men) (59)
    • Dating (Women) (40)
    • Influence & Persuasion (19)
    • Leadership (7)
    • Power Theory (47)
    • Relationships (60)
    • Social Skills (49)
      • Body Language (7)
    • Workplace Power (26)
  • Reviews (485)
    • Business (56)
      • Entrepreneurship (31)
    • Dating Resources Men (46)
    • Dating Resources Women (26)
    • Leadership (21)
    • Learning Tools (11)
    • Persuasion (45)
      • Negotiation (13)
    • Power & Strategies (96)
      • Career Strategies (28)
      • Manipulation (42)
    • Psychology (145)
      • Dark Triad (42)
      • Evolutionary Psychology (18)
    • Red Pill (25)
    • Relationship Resources (32)
    • Self-Development (139)
      • Biographies (12)
      • Critical Thinking (17)
      • Wealth (15)
    • Social Skills Resources (80)
      • Body Language Resources (8)
      • Communication (32)
  • Self-Empowerment (10)
  • Social Science (5)

Recent forum posts

Vocal Practiceby Matthew Whitewood58 mins ago
Power Showdown: How to Avoid Fema …by Lucio Buffalmano2 hours ago
occam's journal - what brought me …by ZenDancer18 hours ago

popular for men

man breaking free of control

Women most read

man chasing a woman

Popular Courses

Power University

Power University

I started life as an underdog....
662 students enrolled



Login with your site account

Continue with Facebook
Continue with Google

Lost your password?

Not a member yet? Register now

Register a new account

Continue with Facebook
Continue with Google

Are you a member? Login now