In Bobbie LaPorte’s March 12 “Calling the Game” video, she focuses on the Who, What and Where of bringing your executive brand to life. The more you practice, the more natural it becomes—helping you to share your value and stand out from your peers.
Implementing Your Executive Brand Platform for Professional Growth and Career Success
Hi, this is Bobbie LaPorte, back with another week of “Calling the Game,” where I share my own experience and insights while giving you valuable tools you can use to call your own game…and plan the best moves for you and your team.
In Part 1 of this executive branding series, I shared how the concept of self-promotion – something that often has a very negative connotation to most leaders – is critical for career success in today’s complex and uncertain environment.
In Part 2, I provided a framework to uncover and articulate your personal brand, a foundational step to practicing authentic, effective self-promotion. A personal brand helps you tell your story to people who can be advocates and supporters of your career.
So just how do you do that?
In this week’s post, Part 3, of my weekly leadership series, I will share an approach to operationalizing your brand and being more intentional about bringing your brand to life to support your career advancement.
Bring Your Brand to Life: Operationalizing Your Executive Brand
It’s called your “Brand Platform” – and includes:
“Who” in your immediate and extended network you target
“What” elements of your brand you share with them, and
“Where” you do this – for example, in your daily work activities, in outreach to your network, and on social media platforms
Here’s a simplified implementation example:
Let’s say you’ve determined that one of the elements of your brand is your curiosity. It can be challenging to hold a curious posture in today’s fast and demanding work environment, but it can be a very desirable attribute that sees past the status quo, opens up opportunities, and fosters innovation.
If you are in a staff meeting, you could say something like: “I am always curious about ways we could do ‘X’”…or “ Let’s see if there is a more innovative way we can approach this issue.”
If you want to share a success that your team had, you could say, “My team recently completed “x”; I always encourage them to be curious about ways we can…..and that was the key to making this a success.”
Note: One very effective way to practice self-promotion is to celebrate the successes of others and your role in enabling them….citing an element of your brand.
You could also include the attribute of curiosity and how you use it to contribute to your company in both your internal and external meetings and on social media.
It takes some practice, but the more you practice intentional, authentic (for you) self-promotion that leverages your brand…the more natural – and impactful it will be. And, very importantly, you will be well on your way to sharing your value and standing out from your peers.
Okay, that’s it for this week’s “Calling the Game.” I hope this helps you gear up for a great week and navigate any curveballs that may come your way!