What is a brag book?

A brag book is a tool for advocacy in a professional setting. People out on the internet have a lot of different thoughts on what should and should not go into a brag book, but I think you can include it all as long as you keep it organized. This can include things like positive feedback, successful initiatives you’ve driven, professional development activity, and results. At its core, it’s just a big list of things you’re proud of.

How do I put together a brag book?

Developing the brag book could be a task that comes up after discussing wins or blockers in your regular 1:1 meetings. A particularly good win, or a blocker that they were able to work through or be coached through could also make a nice addition to the brag book.

There’s a lot of different methods for how to tell each story: STAR format, SBAR, CAAR (that I learned from Andrew Lacivita), etc. But in the end, you want the person hearing these stories to know why it mattered, what decisions or actions you took to make it happen, and what happened as a result.

Why should I make a brag book?

There’s some pretty obvious benefits to having a brag book. You can take a look at it when you’re feeling down, you can make a better pitch for a raise or promotion, and you’ll be prepared for other job interviews that come up.

But we’re here to talk about management. As a manager, in your current role, how does the brag book benefit you? When I wrote about imposter syndrome, I was talking about how important it is to talk to your team. With a good brag book you can work through a bout of imposter syndrome, and it could become a talking point in a future meeting. Whenever I feel imposter syndrome creeping up, I think about all the things I’ve learned over the years, the projects our team has completed, and the value we’ve created for users. Could an imposter do that?

Why should people on my team make brag books?

Everyone on your team should be adding to their brag book whenever they feel proud of something. When big changes happen, your team is going to be doing a lot of learning and growing. If you take time to celebrate those wins, the team will be motivated to keep the momentum going.

Wins are good for morale, and morale is good for doing the hard things. If your team approaches hard problems with excitement rather than fear and exhaustion, you’ll be amazed at what can be accomplished in a short time.

My department is fiercely ambitious, but also supportive. We record shoutouts in our weekly meetings so that people are recognized for their growing contributions. As their manager, I can also take those shoutouts and use them to advocate for their raises and promotions. It not only helps me advocate for them as their manager, but it could also help them advance in their career at our company or elsewhere. And yes, as their manager, you should be happy if they find another job. If we celebrate our people all the way to the day they walk out the door for the last time, I like to think that we’ll have lifelong connections, and that goodwill comes around eventually. Even if it doesn’t, I’d still be satisfied because good people are out in the world scaling their impact.