Leadership Brand: Would you follow you? (Part 1)
By: Ian Pestelos
Tags: Branding, Leadership, Leadership Development, Leadership Brand

The Influence that Brands Wield

What first thoughts come to mind when you look at each of the logos below? What emotions do you feel for each of them?

All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners.

Each of these companies evoke thoughts and emotions at first glance. This is their reputation from your view, and it influences how you respond to their products.

These companies also have espoused brand statements, intended to influence your impression and action towards their products.

Apple : To challenge the status quo; to think differently

To challenge the status quo; to think differently Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person and one cup at a time

Disney: To create happiness for people of all ages, everywhere

Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world (*if you have a body, you are an athlete)

Lego: To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow

How aligned is their brand statement with your perception of them?

The brand also helps align the values and actions of the company, most importantly on day-to-day operations and decision-making. It serves as a guide for its employees especially when complex situations are involved.

Your leadership brand is the same. It is evident with every action you take or decision you make.

Would You Like To Be Led By…?

Take a moment to imagine being part of the core team of the following leaders:

Nelson Mandela, Bob Iger, and David Marquet

Each leader have his own style of leadership.

Who do you want to lead you, every day, for the next year?

As a leader, every day is a performance review — David Horth, Leadership Brand

What is Leadership Brand?

Your leadership brand is how others experience your leadership — how those you lead and influence perceive, think, and feel about you.

While by definition it is highly influenced by others’ perception of you, your Leadership Brand is also something you can and should design and align with deliberately for important reasons:

Personal Brand Strategy. You make a deliberate choice to focus on core attributes that make your leadership uniquely you, and strengthens your integrity by aligning your thoughts and actions to it. Think of it as your key strategic choices in your leadership identity.

You make a deliberate choice to focus on core attributes that make your leadership uniquely you, and strengthens your integrity by aligning your thoughts and actions to it. Think of it as your key strategic choices in your leadership identity. Communication and Identity. Your leadership brand enables you to communicate consistently, and lets your team and colleagues know who you are, what you stand for, and how you work.

Consider for example the following leaders’ brand statements:

Oprah Winfrey — “To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.”

Sir Richard Branson — “To have fun in [my] journey through life and learn from [my] mistakes.”

Amanda Steinberg, founder of dailyworth.com — “To use my gifts of intelligence, charisma, and serial optimism to cultivate the self-worth and net-worth of women around the world.”

In Mastering the Brand Called You, author Brenda Bence makes a compelling claim that “Nike and Starbucks have a “TM” after their names so, why shouldn’t you? Place a ™ after your name, and think about what you want your brand as a leader to stand for.”

So how do you build your leadership brand?

How Others Experience ‘You’

Let’s break down what leadership brand is with its most important parts:

Others — your team, your peers, your boss and his/her bosses, your customers, and everyone else who has a stake in your leadership

— your team, your peers, your boss and his/her bosses, your customers, and everyone else who has a stake in your leadership Experience — is the entirety of how they feel, see, hear, and get affected by your leadership

Your leadership brand is not what you preach; not what you speak of; not what’s printed in your posters, email signature, or funky shirt slogan.

It’s how others experience it.

Your leadership brand statement will play an important part. However, one usual mistake that leaders make is assuming what they speak of becomes the reality to others.

An excellent starting point to baseline your leadership brand is by discovering how you are currently perceived.

How to build your Leadership Brand?

I always find it useful to lay down our assumptions before getting input from others. This allows you to introspect first and be surprised (or not) by what input you will get from others.

Get started by thinking of the following people and imagine how they will respond when they are asked what type of a leader you are:

A team member who you believe admires your leadership skills

A team member who you believe is most critical about your leadership

Your peer in the leadership level that interacts with you the most

Your boss

Your response for each one of them yields important insights on what your current brand of leadership from the perspective of those who experience your leadership the most.

Starting with these questions are important to provide yourself a baseline assessment of yourself, by yourself. It is an important step to expose your self-perception ahead of actual input from others.

Then to get input from others, a simple assessment could be:

Recruit a partner to get the feedback from others in your behalf

Gather a 360 feedback assessments

Just ask for it directly

Your leadership brand only exists because others perceive it and responds to it, so your best starting point is to find out what it is from the perspective of those you lead and serve and improve from there.

Steps to Build a Leadership Brand

In his HBR Article on Leadership Brand, Norm Smallwood details a 5-step approach to build a leadership brand. Below is a summary of the steps, which I am reproducing for reference and comparison. You may refer to the full article for details.

Steps to Build a Leadership Brand (Smallwood)

What results do you want to achieve in the next year? Take into account the interest of your customers, investors, employees, and organization. What do you wish to be known for? Pick six qualities that are both natural to you and are important to your position. Test them with your peers. Define your identity. Combine these six words into three two-word phrases that reflect your desired identity. Construct your leadership brand statement. Start with the format “I want to be known for being _____ so that I can (deliver) _____”, then test it. Make your brand identity real. Check in with those around you and get feedback on how your brand is embodied into your day-to-day work.

Grace Windsor of Brightwork has a similar approach to building a leadership brand, with an inside-out approach starting with your values.

Steps to Build a Leadership Brand (Windsor)

Identify Your Values. What do you stand for and want to be known for? Understand Your Current Brand. Assess how others perceive you, and ask feedback from others. Decide Where You Can Make a Difference. What impact do you currently have and would like to deliver in the next year? Craft Your Personal Mission Statement. Create a concise statement to communicate ‘who you are, what you stand for, and how you work.’ Live Your Brand. Share you statement to others, commit publicly, and get feedback.

Another interesting resource for values-based brand is Horth’s introspective approach in “Leadership Brand: Deliver on your Promise”

Map vs. Territory

Both approaches above are working on similar principles:

How you are perceived today

What your values and qualities are

What you intend to achieve

What concise statement captures your brand

But… the map is not the territory .

These are good starting points to designing your brand; however, like any good design, the real value comes when the rubber hits the road — when others experience your brand and form their image of your leadership.

“Get out of the building!” — Famous slogan in the Lean Startup community

In the next post, I will explore an approach that focuses on how you can communicate and adapt your leadership brand.