I had never really seriously considered the concept of personal branding until I came across Matt Church’s books on Though Leadership. Matt talks about “signature style” and the need for it to be consistent, congruent and function.
I was reminded of this recently when Lindy Nelson from the Agri-Women’s Development Trust NZ was visiting Australia. Lindy presented to a rural women’s leadership program we were running and talked about identifying your leadership brand.
One way to get started is to think of some words you would like to come to mind when people think of you in that role. Then think carefully about the “how” you demonstrate this to the world. What have you done, or what will you do, to ensure the brand is congruent with “who” you are.
Asking others is a good way to get feedback and check in with the consistency of the message you are aiming to portray. Ask specific questions so you get clear worthwhile answers. A simple start is “What words would you use to describe me as a….”
As a facilitator, trainer and coach I have been thinking carefully about the brand thats important for me. The words that are important include: professional, inclusive, innovative, creative, outcomes focus, personable and sense of fun.
As Matt Church points out “its an expression of you, rather than an affectation of who you’d like to be.”
Branding must be true to who you are…what are the words that are important for your “signature style” and how do you portray these to the world?
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Comments on: "Branding – How do we want to be seen by others?" (1)
I had another extremely energising coaching session with Jeanette around this very topic yesterday and it really got my brain ticking! A key point that I took away from that session was that knowing clearly within yourself who you are and what drives you enables you to use that as a constant check and measure against what you actually choose to do in life. Taking time to self-reflect about who I am and what my leadership brand is, has really helped me to set some goals and future directions that are in keeping with what is going to work for me and what is going to help me continually develop. It can be quite challenging to be completely objective about yourself, so get your friends and colleagues on board to help with honest feedback!