Expert Advice: Stop Hiding Your Credentials and Start Claiming Your Authority

Are you unintentionally hiding your credibility? 

Allison Lane breaks down one of the most common mistakes authors and experts make: minimizing their credentials. Whether you’re a PhD, MD, or sought-after speaker or seasoned leader, the way you introduce yourself shapes how people perceive your authority.

Learn how to confidently present your expertise in conversations, media pitches, and online profiles, without feeling arrogant. If you’ve ever said, “You can just call me [first name],” this episode will change how you think about visibility forever. 

Listen now to learn how to claim your title and attract the recognition your work deserves.

Allison covers:

• [00:00] The biggest opportunity you’re missing when introducing yourself
• [01:30] Why women experts often downplay their credentials
• [03:45] How to position yourself as credible with one sentence
• [05:15] Quick fixes for your email signature and social media profiles
• [07:20] Allison’s closing PSA: stop hiding, start owning your authority

Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Allison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonlanelit/ 
• Visit Allison’s website for book coaching and marketing programs: https://www.lanelit.com/ 
• Get Allison’s free Essential Bio Package template: https://lanelit.com/package 
• Contact at allison@lanelit.com 

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Transcript

Speaker View: 0:01

Hey, it's Allison, your literary Sherpa. I am here for you and I'm here in this shorty episode because I have a bone to pick. Mostly because when people introduce themselves, they never do it in a way that makes you lean forward. The biggest opportunity for you to make an impression is when you introduce yourself. And I know you know this. So, before you say, hi, my name is Allison. When someone says, Hey, everybody, let's go around the Zoom. Everybody introduce themselves. Yes, sure you want to know my name, but you want to know why do I want to know you? And it's my job in one breath say to you, here's why. So, I need to use the credentials that I have in a way that lets you know that I am legit. Correct? Okay. So, if you are a speaker, a thought leader, a recognized authority, those are credentials. Y'all! This should not be a surprise. Now, if you are a PhD or an MD, please for all that is holy, introduce yourself as doctor. If I had a nickel for every time, I work mostly with PhDs and MDs, and medical insiders, and a lot of researchers. And most of them will say, oh no, you can call me Amy. You can call me Lauren, like you're a surgeon. I'm not going to call you Lauren, you went to medical school. At least, I'm going to call you Dr. Lauren. This is a real example. And it's so diminishes the achievement of going to medical school and becoming a surgeon if you're not allowing the people around you to revere you'cause it's a big effing deal. You are a big effing deal. And I know if you're in academia, you think, well, everybody has a PhD. No they don't. Just the people you know. You don't know everybody. How dare you shrug it off, this achievement that you have that most people don't. Now, this goes for if you are a speaker, you can say, I'm a saada after speaker, or I am a frequent media contributor. These are also credentials. You must use your credentials. And if you don't, no one will know them. It's no one else's job to go and dig around to find out about you. Oh, did you know Allison? She didn't say this about herself, but she's a neurosurgeon. Like, why wouldn't I tell you that? I'm not. I don't even have a master's. I have a master's in life. But if I did, wouldn't it be rude of me to make you do the work? Or did you know that she speaks on stages all over the world? How thoughtless of me to not allow you to get to know me in that way? Other than, oh, I'm Allison, and I am trying to be a writer. So, when we hide our credentials, we are hiding ourselves and still assuming that someone is going to come and pluck you out of the crowd like Courtney Cox and Bruce Springsteen, you know. By the way, I think we know now. That was not a happy accident. She was cast for that. But no one is plucking you out of the crowd and you have to be the one to stand up, and present why you are credible and how you matter. And sometimes that's literally by saying, I'm a frequent media contributor. My name is Dr. Allison Lane. I am a psychotherapist. Whatever it is, please stop hiding. And then, hoping or expecting that other people will do the job to be your marketer. They don't care. So, this goes for auto signatures. If you're a doctor, freaking put doctor. And it is okay to say I'm an MD. But if you're pitching agents, sign that pitch letter doctor, please. You can explain later, oh, I got my PhD at whatever university. But just know that the fastest way for someone to get to know you is for you to claim the doctor part, not make them read later that you went to university of Wisconsin and got your doctorate in journalism. There are all kinds of reasons that people step back and they want to explain, oh, I am a doctor, but I'm just a PhD. I don't want people to think I'm saying that I'm an MD. Nobody's thinking anything. They just want you to introduce yourself in the fastest way possible. Sometimes the fastest way possible is your social media profile. So, if you have an MD or a PhD, please put Doctor before your name, for the love. Sometimes it's your auto signature. Sometimes it's your name tag, wherever you go, please. This is particularly for women, every woman I've ever worked with who has an MD or a PhD, every one of them says, you can just call me, whatever. You can just call me Lori. No, I refuse. How dare you. The other thing, and this makes people really uncomfortable. If you have spoken, you are a speaker. If you have contributed to media, you are a media contributor. No one is going to bestow upon you the sash that says frequent media contributor. You have to claim that. Other terms you can use leading voice, thought leader, recognized authority, public voice. There are a ton, you can ask ChatGPT, I wrote a bunch down and I will think of more of them. So, I'm going to talk about this a lot. You have to claim it. Please do this for us because unless you take that opportunity, we are not going to dig in to understand your relevance. It's your job to present your relevance when you introduce yourself, whether that's social media or a media pitch, or querying an agent, or a publisher, or on a name tag at a conference. Even before you get to verbally say, I am, people are getting to know you by even just how you sign your name. Okay. My PSA is over. It's a public service announcement, and a rant, and a scolding. Because you are a big effing deal. And if you cannot present yourself as that, we will not know that. So, it starts with you. I expect to see some changed social media profiles. And when you do, I would like for you to DM me. I'm at Allison Lane Lit on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, all the places, youTube just DM me. Send me a picture of your new profile, please. Okay. You're awesome. I know, you know, you are. But God, your humility is just killing me. And is boring. And you are far from boring. Okay. My rant is definitely over now.