Leadership

Dusting off your Brand Box

/ Susan Hendrich / 2 Comments

How fresh is your personal brand box label?

I remember the day I first read Tom Peters’ ground-breaking article entitled, “The Brand Called You,” in Fast Company back in 1997. He wrote,

It’s this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.   –   Tom Peters

Along with millions of other self-improvers, I was inspired and scrambled to decide what my personal brand is and should be. I rushed to select key words and colors and descriptions that perfectly captured who I was and what I wanted to be known for in the world. I branded myself.

And I bought it.

In my little corner of the world, I began building a set of experiences that reinforced that personal brand. I had arrived. And the rest would take care of itself. Or so I thought. 

Within a few months I started to forget about this Me, Inc. company that was supposedly under my leadership. I had drifted to a nap of complacency at the head of the Me-E-O boardroom table. My mistake was that I thought this personal branding thing was a once-and-done kind of deal. I’d figured that since I had that glorious brainstorm after reading Tom’s article, I was forever well-branded. But as fast as my career was heating up, my personal brand was cooling off. I just didn’t take the time to revisit that brand and see if my original descriptors like “scrappy,” “eager,” and “full of pizzazz” still fit the image I wanted to project to the world. A few tought times and a lot of lessons later, I realized that while I was still scrappy, eager, and full of pizzazz, those weren’t the key features I was bringing to my little corner of the world.

It was about that time that Madonna was again making the news for her plucky ability to reinvent herself, just when her personal brand du jour was about to run its course. And this was the same year when an IBM computer beat World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and Mike Tyson bit off some poor guy’s ear. I was not the only one who needed a brand overhaul.

In the spirit of the Material Girl’s reinvention and Darwinian adaptation, I started that branding brainstorm process all over again. New descriptors emerged. New ideas inspired. And a personal slogan even surfaced. I vowed to revisit the Me, Inc. company charter at least once a year, promising to keep a better sense of the relevance of my personal brand.

So, now I’m wondering…How’s your personal brand doing?

Wait, you haven’t unpacked that particular career box yet?  Or maybe, like me, you got started on developing your personal brand, but somehow your deadlines and lifelines took over the shelves in your career pantry. Maybe your personal brand box was relegated to the back of that closet, along with the inflatable exercise ball and the infomercial products that promised to bring nirvana.

Seriously. What ever happened to that brand called You? How does the label on your personal brand box read? Is the brand you show to the world reflective of where you are in your life and career now? Where you want to be? Is your brand sending the kind of messages you want people to receive? Or, perhaps the “best before” date on your personal brand box has long expired. Maybe it’s time for an image overhaul.

Consider this your reminder to check in on that brand of yours and reflect on how your company, “Me, Inc.” is doing.

You know how fire safety experts recommend that twice a year when we change our clocks for Daylight Savings, we also change the batteries in our Smoke Detectors? Well, I’m proposing that you make a pledge to yourself that twice per year, on that same day when you reset your clocks and reaffirm your fire protection, you dust off that brand box of yours. Remember…

We are CEOs of our own companies: Me, Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.  – Tom Peters

So if you’re brand could use a re-look, consider opening two boxes this next Daylight Savings change weekend – one to refresh your smoke alarm batteries and one refresh the brand called You.

15 minutes of Leading Change

/ Susan Hendrich / 1 Comment

Leading Change: We All Play A Role

Anyone who has ever worked for, worked with, or been a leader knows the importance of leading change.

Let’s take a few moments to reflect on ways that you and your colleagues have led change for your teams, your customers, each other, and the organization. Here’s a quick team-building exercise you can do at your next staff meeting to orient your team toward the leadership moments – big and small – that people in your group are causing. It’s a quick and high-impact way of generating examples of how you and your colleagues have noticed each other leading change.

“Recognizing Leadership” Activity Instructions

1. Create

Provide everyone a piece of paper with their own name on it. Instruct the group to pass their individual sheets to the person to on their left, allowing that neighbor to record an example of how they have witnessed you leading change. Group members continue to pass the sheets around the room, allowing colleagues to add a comment on a way they’ve noticed the each individual leading change.

2. Share

Once everyone has had a chance to write on each of the sheets of paper, collect all of the sheets and redistribute them so that everyone receives someone else’s sheet.  Each person takes a turn reading out loud one or two examples that are recorded on their partner’s sheet.

3. Deliver

After everyone has had an example or two read about themselves, return the sheets to their owners to keep. Encourage everyone to review their own sheet for themes, asking themselves, “Which leadership capabilities do people seem to notice?” and “What are areas might I continue to develop?”

I’d love to hear how your exercise goes. Please share your stories…

Where is your autopilot taking you?

/ Susan Hendrich / 1 Comment

Where is Your Autopilot Taking You?

“Autopilot only works if you set your destination ahead of time.”

Are you a frequent user of autopilot in your life? If so, have you thought about where you are heading?

Challenge for you: Re-examine your flight plans and be sure that where your autopilot is taking you is where you want to go.

Now here’s your question: Can you summarize your flight plans in just three words?

Meaningful vision statements

/ Susan Hendrich / 3 Comments

Creating a Power-packed Vision Statement

One key to visualizing success is knowing what that success will look like when you get there. An inspiring vision statement is a vivid description of a desired outcome – it’s a picture of what you want to create. It’s different from a mission statement and works along with a mission statement to help you make choices that are in alignment with your goals.

Research shows that visualizing what you want in great detail will help you achieve it. The brain cannot tell the difference between something that has actually happened and something that is vividly imagined. This tool will help you in developing your vision of success.

Steps

The following vision statement activity is designed to be completed collaboratively. Using the group dynamic to help individual members focus allows for a more casual, less intimidating experience. For a group as large as 30 participants, include the following steps:
1. Label the activity as generically as possible, such as “Reflection for the Year Ahead.” In printed materials and introduction, do not refer to this as an exercise in “Creating a Vision Statement.”
2. Direct everyone to think for a moment about why they, as individuals, chose to join the “world of service.”
3. Hand out a 3″x5″ white index card to each participant. Direct each member to write an overall statement on their card about the impact they intend to work towards over the coming months. This should be restricted to two sentences maximum. Give members five minutes to complete this task.
4. Divide the group into teams of two if you have 10 or less, teams of three if you have 11-15, and teams of four or five otherwise. Hand out a 4″x6″ colored index card to each team. Using the individual cards, have team members work together to create a maximum of two sentences on the “communal” impact they intend to work towards over the coming months. Give teams about 15 minutes to write the final statement. (Some people finish this more quickly.)
5. Ask a volunteer from each team to read that team’s “communal” card aloud twice – so it will really sink in for the listeners.
6. After all cards have been read, lead a discussion on any similarities people heard.
7. Facilitate a 10-minute discussion (or until the group reaches consensus) on the impact members intend to work towards over the coming months. Write notes on flip chart pages as the discussion progresses. At the end of the conversation, write out a clean version.
8. Once you have a one- or two-sentence statement that everyone agrees on, announce that the group has created its vision statement.
9. Facilitator reads the statement to the entire group.

Function
Learning to write a vision statement is so essential that it should be incorporated into the high school curriculum. Vision statements, when done right, have the power to focus intentions and perspectives in personal, passionate ways. The earlier an individual is able to do this, the sooner his life will start to make sense.

Vision statements put on paper what we carry around in our hearts every day. Knowing it’s there is one thing; breaking it down into visual specifics is another. Words on paper have the power to hold us accountable. Here are a couple things to look for when creating a vision statement.

Features
A vision statement depicts a project’s future using all the key elements of your beliefs, values and what you look to accomplish. For example, let’s say you’re starting a company food-bank program. Start by identifying a motto to use as a springboard. A motto for the food bank program could be:

“Our community knows we care.”

This desired impact will be a big part of your vision statement’s objective.

Identification
A well-crafted vision statement will combine the ideal outcome of your project with the value, or belief or passion that fueled it. An example of this might be:

“The ABC Company Food Bank is a community partner offering assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from 3 satellite offices throughout the Tri-County area. We’re here to make sure our community knows ABC Company cares.”

Each identified goal within your statement will be a necessary part of the vision’s outcome and impact. Possible goals for the ABC Company might be:

(1) To ensure our youngest community members have access to healthy foods and supplies through our infant/toddler centers.
(2) To provide our home-bound and elderly community members needed provisions through our Meals On Wheels Initiative.
(3) To meet the educational needs of the young families in our community through health and dietary training seminars.

Benefits
A well-crafted vision statement provides a sense of grounding inside your life experience. It draws from the soul part of your team, connecting you to the very best of what the team represents.

Putting words to the core purpose of your team’s experience provides a sense of direction and force that would otherwise be lacking. The vision statement becomes the heart and reason for your plan.
Important note. This is not a one-time-only process.

This can be revisited as often as necessary. How do you know when you need to revisit it, and create a new vision?
· When things start to feel routine.
· When the actions you are taking on a daily basis are no longer inspired, or when they begin to feel lifeless.
· When nothing is pulling you forward.
That’s the time to invent a new vision.