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As the CEO of an organization, you’re probably thinking about investing in your personal brand, but you’re probably hesitant. My personal branding agency works with her Gen X CEOs all over the world. I can assure you that you are not alone in your hesitation.
As a GenX’er (often referred to as the “forgotten generation”), you didn’t grow up with a cell phone in your hand or the habit of sharing every opinion and whereabouts online. It was. Many of the leaders we spoke to are afraid to put themselves out there publicly because they don’t have an affinity for the spotlight. Instead, they want to focus internally on building a world-class organization, growing their team, and inspiring an enviable organizational culture. And of course, many CEOs recognize the importance of discretion and choose their battles carefully and deliberately to avoid controversy.
Related: 7 reasons CEOs need to develop a personal brand and how to build one.
The importance of personal branding for modern leaders
Still, the world we live in has changed. Hiding behind the proverbial organizational curtain is no longer an option. Research shows that nearly 50% of Millennials expect their CEO to speak, and that number is increasing every year. CEOs who remain silent risk criticism from employees, the media, and, of course, consumers.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer survey, workers report a variety of concerns to their employers, including vaccine hesitancy (84%), climate change (81%), automation (79%), and racial discrimination (79%). It was shown that they are looking forward to their stance on social issues.
As a result, we’ve seen the CEOs of Goldman Sachs, Salesforce, and PayPal speak out about LGBTQ rights. Merck’s CEO speaks out about racial injustice. And Walmart’s CEO took a position on gun control.
Whether it occurs internally or externally, the pressure to make your public profile more visible is greater than ever. And that certainly comes with a myriad of risks that need to be mitigated. The court of public opinion can be unforgiving when it comes to hot-button issues. Just ask his CEO at Anheuser-Busch about that.
And before I use the Brendan Whitworth example as another reason why being inconspicuous is a winning strategy, I’d like to suggest a paradigm shift. I believe that the very reason Whitworth and Anheuser-Busch faced such backlash as we all saw was not because of their public positions, but rather because of opportunistic decisions to capitalize on trends. Assume that it is a thing. Influencer du jour trends.
As you know, when it comes to branding, whether it’s a company or an individual, it’s about first understanding what the brand actually is and what it stands for, and then continuing to “stay on brand” across all marketing efforts. is important. Anheuser-Busch didn’t do that. And so do many of the “cancelled” CEOs that come to mind when you think of your own public presence.
Using their example, we can show you how important it is to go through a brand discovery process, create a personal brand architecture, and coordinate all communications to stay “on brand” at all times. Let me remind you.
It all starts with identifying the brand positioning of your personal brand. By the way, if you find the term “personal branding” too narcissistic to relate to, just replace it with “leadership branding.”
Related: The 3 Biggest Mistakes CEOs Make with Their Personal Brands (And How to Fix Those Mistakes)
brand positioning
What is it? How do you identify yours? Brand positioning in personal branding is how you express who you are or what you represent in a single word or phrase is. To define your beliefs, you need to zoom out. You need to step back from what you do, step back from the industry you serve, and get as close as possible to the essence of your core beliefs.
Personal brand positioning typically reflects the core of:
When you discover your purpose, or in Simon Sinek’s words, your “WHY,” the questions to ask are: “Why?” Forgive the tautology and focus on uncovering what the core beliefs are that promote that purpose.
For one of our clients, his brand positioning is described as “timeless principles.” This reflects his core values. He is someone who believes in the power of a handshake over a signed contract and the power of investing in gold over cryptocurrencies. Another of his brands that we have developed for our clients, his positioning, is “interiority”, that is, “inner space” of the physical space, centered on feelings towards objects. Interiors Her “WHY” as a design entrepreneur is to give people a sense of home, and the core belief behind that “WHY” is that spaces are built from objects, but their The main purpose is to create emotions and memories.
My brand positioning is centered around ‘radical authenticity’. I believe in taking a stand against all forms of censorship, including self-censorship and censorship of any dissent (cancel culture is a nightmare for me).
Here are some exercises that will help you reveal your characteristics.
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Build a “lifeline”. Identify the most important moments in your life, both personally and professionally. Look for patterns. What keeps surfacing for you? If you get stuck, talk to a qualitative researcher or personal branding agency.
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Make a list of your core values. Is there something that represents your true nature?
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Do you have a view on something so solid that you want to defend it at all costs?
Then take your findings to a branding specialist, or put on your creative hat and turn it into a concept you can “own.”
Related: How to build your personal brand in 5 steps
what’s next
This is just step one. This is probably the most difficult piece of the branding puzzle, but it allows you to align all the other pieces of your personal branding architecture. Before stepping into the spotlight, we need to clarify the following points:
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brand descriptor: How do you want to be perceived?
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brand voice: What kind of sound do you want to produce both digitally and offline?
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Pillars of content: What topics do you want to engage with, and which topics do you want to stay away from?
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CEO story: Gone are the days of boring biographies that no one wants to write, much less read. Research shows that storytelling helps release cortisol, dopamine, and oxytocin in the brain. All of these chemicals enhance human connection, empathy, and emotional responses. Replace your corporate-style introductions with ones rooted in storytelling. Use that component when featured on your social media profiles, speaker pages, and events.
I spend my days speaking to CEOs individually and on a global stage about the importance of personal branding. The hesitation is the same regardless of geography, but so is the understanding that personal branding is inevitable for modern leaders. 82% of people are more likely to trust a company if its senior executives are active on social media, and 77% of consumers are more likely to trust a company if its CEO uses social media are more likely to purchase, so the impact on your organization’s perception is: It’s more important than ever. Will 2024 be the year of building and expanding? your Personal brand?
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