Enhancing Your Executive Edge by Kim Zoller

Author:Kim Zoller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw Hill LLC
Published: 2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

DO YOU DEVELOP YOUR BRAND?

Figure 11.1 shows the five steps in developing your brand. Each of the steps is explored below.

FIGURE 11.1

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CLARIFY YOUR PERSONAL BRAND GOAL

As you are building your Executive Edge, enhancing your personal brand continues to be critical. What is your personal brand goal? How do you even know how to go about developing that brand goal? Grab a piece of paper, and write down one to five people you admire.

Write down what you admire about each person and then put a star by the characteristics or behaviors you would like to emulate. If you are not sure, ask yourself, “If I could wave a magic wand, how do I want people to see me? How do I want people to respond to me?” Do not worry about how you are going to get there at this point. Just focus on the characteristics you want to be known for in your career.

Go through those traits and put a check mark next to the traits that you feel are natural and authentic to you at this point. Circle the traits that you know will need more work because they are not as natural to you but you could see yourself portraying them. This is the beginning of defining your personal brand goal.

You may be exhibiting some of these behaviors and traits right now, which is great. Many of us are living some of the parts of our brand goal and are not even aware of it. Even if you are, there are very few people who do not need to develop their brands more, or if anything, tighten them up. As discussed before, you have a definite brand, but it just may not be the one you want to have. Can you change your brand? Of course. Think about how many companies change their brands. Look at Harley-Davidson and Apple. These two companies completely changed their brands. What about people? Here are a handful of celebrities who decided to change their brands to be more positive: Drew Barrymore, Rosie O’Donnell, Greta Vaughn, and Jay-Z. Take a look at the infamous Kardashians. Whether you love them or hate them, they have done the most incredible job creating a brand for themselves. Coming back to reality, think about someone in your company who at one point did not have a positive reputation or a reputation at all and now does. What did the person do?

I (Kerry) remember a client who started working for an image-driven company and was immediately assigned to an image consultant to help her. My client quickly learned how important her appearance was to sell how good she was at her job. It has changed her life for the better, and she is now the vice president of that company.

The key is to really define your brand and then consistently support it over a long period of time. Rebranding does not happen in a snap. It takes time and consistency. The minute you go back to the old brand, people think the other behavior is a fluke.

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