Posted by Rahna on August 16, 2010 under Branding, Leadership, Personal Branding | 
Summer camp rocks.
You spend all day doing every fun activity you can possibly think of wanting to do—rock climbing, canoeing, hiking, waterskiing, soccer, tennis, sailing, “rocks & ropes,” lacrosse, basketball, kayaking, 24-hour games of “capture the flag,” woodsman adventures, roasting marshmallows for S’mores, arts ‘n crafts, and archery. What more could you want out of life?
Those activities also teach important life skills along the way, skills like teamwork, trying new things, facing challenges, camaraderie, overcoming fears, building friendships and physical mastery of various sports.
My son goes to a camp in Maine that structures its activities and programs around four pillars, one of which is the concept of “Be Your Best.” On Friday nights around the weekly “Council Fire,” the counselors impart wisdom by discussing this principal within the context of the daily fun they are having.
But this principle also applies to your branding efforts. “Be Your Best” is about trying your hardest, doing your best in everything that you do. At camp, this translates into orderly cabins ready for daily inspection and striving for excellence in all activities. For your brand, it means putting your best foot forward constantly improving what you bring to your marketplace.
At camp, counselors are careful to encourage a spirit of friendly competition, one that builds campers up without denigrating the others. In corporate programs that I give, I talk about being professional as a key ingredient to developing a strong personal brand that furthers your business success. You can work to “Be Your Best” in your client dealings, in your presentations and your management of your teams, all the while still honoring the others on your team. Respect your talents (as well as others) and honor the fact that you do things in a unique and wonderful way.
So if you ever went to camp, think back to the days around the Council Fire as you are thinking about building and delivering your brand….and if you never went to camp, just pull your laptop up to a fireside and read this blog post to get the same feel!
Posted by Rahna on July 5, 2010 under Leadership, Personal Branding |
Last week, I conducted a “Lunch ‘n Learn” session on personal branding to a real estate investment company and had a great conversation about personal branding as it relates to those at the VP and above level. The question had to do with how personal branding can help those in leadership positions “take it to the next level.”
My answer? Personal branding is extremely important at the executive levels because it is critical for leaders to convey what their leadership brand is. I have conducted personal branding exploratories with those at the executive level for this very purpose. Usually, someone reaches an executive level because they have core competencies in a certain area; however, leadership requires a whole different skill set. Leaders are not “doing” the work anymore…they are coordinating getting the work done. They must learn how to inspire others to do the work, and for that, they need a strong personal brand.
I presented seven principles of personal branding and discussed how they relate to one’s job search. As it relates to leadership, the same principles apply. All the principles we discussed in the Signature for Success program are invaluable to expressing a leadership brand. Leaders need to ask themselves: Do I lead by example? How best can I share my vision for what we want to accomplish? How can I instill trust in my people—those who report to me, those who work with me, and the leadership above me?
For leaders, the principles discussed are reviewed from a slightly different perspective, as follows:
- Be Clear: What do I stand for? What is my leadership brand? Leaders are visionary and need to be able to convey that to their organizations clearly and effectively.
- Be Professional: Leaders need a whole different set of skills, such as managerial and organizational skills that they may not have had to call upon prior to being thrust into a position of leadership. However, they usually still need to have core competency in the area they are leading so that they can provide sound guidance on how the day-to-day operations get done.
- Be Confident: Who would follow a tentative, wishy-washy leader who seems unsure of himself/herself?
- Be True (Be Consistent): Of course, much has been written about how leaders need to “walk the talk.” In addition, leaders generally need to hammer home their vision over and over again, to repeatedly hold the high goal before everyone so that they are continually motivated to reach those goals.
- Be Bold: Leaders are necessarily leading….That means they are out in front, leading the way, sometimes treading in unknown territory. Boldness in leadership takes courage of a different sort.
- Be Connected: The higher up you go, the trickier the networking gets (and the more important it gets). When you are networking with your peers, you must always be mindful of the messages you are conveying. In general, leaders do not whine or complain about unrealistic deadlines or unsolvable problems to those who report to them. They must find other like-minded leaders to discuss their challenges with, in an appropriate forum. But often, the alliances they form throughout their industries can really be beneficial to the company as a whole. So once you become a leader in your company, being connected gets taken to a whole new level.
- Be Dynamic: Leadership skills are different than professional skills. There are ALWAYS new levels of leadership to be achieved. We are never “done.” While someone in Accounting may eventually be able to “check the box” on skills related to tax implications and general accounting principles, a leader of the accounting department will need to motivate a team of tired, overworked individuals when the end of quarter or end of year crunch-times come around. Motivational skills, listening skills and communication skills are the hallmarks of good leadership, and these skills can always be further honed.
If you’re a leader, then you need to focus on your leadership brand. If you aren’t (but would like to be), then you need to focus on your personal brand. The benefits are tremendous!
Posted by Rahna on September 17, 2009 under Leadership, Personal Branding |
Last week during a leadership conference, I had an opportunity to hear Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Forbes and Zig Ziglar speak from the podium. It was a very inspirational day. One of the things that stood out to me was something Colin Powell said: “It ain’t where you start; it’s where you end up my friend.”
He was talking about how he had a 2.0 grade point average from Community College of New York, and how now, there is a Powell Center named after him. So if you are discouraged about where you are or how you are performing currently, take heart. You are simply on your way to greatness!
Powell was urging the audience to continue to learn and grow because he believes that everyone can achieve greatness. He talked about not bemoaning all the bad breaks that you got in life. “Don’t go through life looking in the rearview mirror,” he admonished. That’s not a quick road to success. I’m reminded that every once in a while, it’s important to take stock of where you are and where you’ve been and celebrate the successes that have come. You may not be exactly where you want to be; you may not have achieved all of your goals in your career and your life (yet!), but I’ll bet you’ve made progress. Celebrate that progress and keep pushing forward. Remember as Colin Powell says, “It ain’t where you start, it’s where you end, my friend.”
Posted by Rahna on September 10, 2009 under Leadership |
On Wednesday, I had an opportunity to hear Rudolf Giuliani speak. It was inspirational, motivational, and chock-full of information for anyone who is either in a leadership position or aspires to be in a leadership position. Since I talk to these types of people all the time, I thought it would be helpful if I shared some of the ideas that he communicated:
1) Know what you believe: He talked about having conviction and courage to stick with what your beliefs are. As a leader, it’s up to you to put forth a vision of what you want the team to accomplish. He gave an example of Ronald Reagan, who believed that communism was evil and cannot be negotiated with. He had a vision of communism much less powerful, and he kept that belief front and center in all his people’s minds. He kept at it until the Berlin wall came down. Leaders have to have a vision. When you see something, have the courage to continue to put the idea forth, to inspire and motivate others as to why this is a good vision and keep at it, even if it takes a long time. It will be worth it.
2) Optimism: As a leader, you must be an optimist. “If you don’t see it that way, you can make it that way.” He talked about how leaders can see a future that others can’t necessarily see. He talked about how, in his work in New York City, he saw hope for a better New York. And then he kept that vision front and center in order to make that come about. “No one follows someone who has no hope.”
3) Practice: whatever it is that you’re trying to do, do it over and over again, and you will get better at it. If you have to give a speech, practice that speech so that you know the material inside and out. This will lessen your fear, and ensure success. He talked about the actions taken by his staff of NYC officials on 9/11 during the attack. While it was instantly obvious to him that they had no crisis plan for this type of attack, they did have other plans that they could draw upon for this situation. Those “other” plans included much of the activities that they needed to activate for this attack—like making sure there was air cover over NYC, and evacuating the city, closing the bridges and tunnels, moving construction equipment quickly, triaging the hospitals,etc. Every decision that they made was based on an earlier prepared plan. He explained that that is why teams practice in baseball or football–in order to get prepared for whatever situations may occur. Be prepared in your work; practice a lot.
4) He talked about communication and teamwork. Leaders love people. Because of this, they understand the importance of teamwork. He said that and the overall scheme of things, there is very little that you can do by yourself, and that’s why people skills are so important. So make sure people skills are part of your focus.
None of these activities should seem out of the realm to you. At the beginning of his talk, he asked if leaders were born or made. He believes very strongly that every one of these leadership qualities is something that you can learn. As a matter of fact, it’s something that you must learn, because first you have to lead yourself. You must know what you believe and have a goal. You must put forth that goal and understand what you’re striving for. By having the conviction that your goal is achievable and preparing for the achievement of that goal, you will lead yourself, and in so doing, you will begin to lead others as you find ways to achieve the various action steps toward your goal. You’ll need to include others in the process, and in the process of doing that, you will learn teamwork and communication skills.
So, who will you lead today? Start by leading yourself and then expand out from there. You’ll be amazed at the impact you can have when you share your vision with others and activate a team toward that common goal.
