Leaders: Discover the “You-Incorporated” Brand

Aug 30 Leaders: Discover the “You-Incorporated” Brand

“What makes you unique makes you successful.”
 

(William Arruda – Reach Branding Guru)

Every leader today needs to discover and get to know their personal brand, even if they work in a corporate environment. That’s because your personal brand or “You-Inc.” is your personified business reputation. You had it prior to taking your job in corporate. You enhanced it while in corporate. Now you want to strengthen it so you can take it with you if you ever leave your current position for something more lucrative and exciting. Sure, whatever company you work for will want you to be a reflection of their brand – and by all means we work to incorporate that important element into your executive presence. But you also have your own valuable brand – and if it is strong it will actually add credibility to the overall corporate brand! 

I love to work with my clients to explore their personal brand potential. It’s fun to see the many facets of their personalities and to hear the delight in their voices when they read something amazing that someone wrote about them in a testimonial or in the media. But many people say they work or specialize in personal branding despite the fact that they don’t really have any legitimate personal branding certifications. Unfortunately there are many self-anointed personal branding specialists out there advertising their services – and the trend is growing as more people find themselves out of work and trying to reinvent themselves in a down economy by launching a consulting business on the Internet. 

But the brands they create are generic and one-dimensional and don’t distinguish their clients from the herd or prepare them for the limelight or for real executive leadership challenges.

That’s one reason why I incorporate the 360° Reach Branding Assessment Tool into my executive presence and personal branding consultations. This is a great tool to help leaders identify their strengths, talents, attributes, gifts, passion, vision, and mission in life. What can be a more valuable discovery than to uncover and identify the unique contributions that you have to offer to the world?

Here are a few of the ways I work with my top platinum clients to leverage their personal brands for more career success: 

1. Delve into the 360° Reach Branding Assessment Tool to help discover your brand reputation in the marketplace. 
2. Draw up a marketing plan to ensure that your online virtual presence communicates your brand. 
3. Design an authentic personal image package that silently communicates your core messages to build instant rapport.  
4. Develop greater visibility and confidence within important business settings, when talking to the media, or on radio and TV.
5. Display a unique charisma to bring you greater success. 
6. Discover secret tools that will transform you from invisible to influential. 

Branding today isn’t just the latest buzzword – it’s a critical tool and strategy that every leader and high achiever must invest in to ensure their career success. Don’t wait until after the economy has turned around to discover your personal brand. By then those who have already been using theirs to market themselves and leverage their opportunities will already be in the positions you were hoping to land.

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Sarah Hathorn

Sarah Hathorn, CEO of Hathorn Consulting Group, is the go-to-expert in working with leaders and companies to create successful corporate DNA. As an executive coach, consultant and speaker she collaborates globally with clients and brands such as Deloitte, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and other leading organizations.

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