In the last decade or so, personal branding has become such a buzzword, particularly in leadership and executive circles. For some, it has presented a pathway to notoriety and fame previously only reserved for those in the creative and entertainment space.
For more conservative leaders, it is perceived as nothing more than a charade and a vanity fair by peers they often view as less substance-focused. Yet both the former and latter groups entirely miss the point of a personal brand.
And so, come a select few. A crop of leaders who’ve found their footing somewhere in the middle of opposing narratives. A thriving group of leaders who view personal branding as it truly is: a strategy to perpetuate value, impact, and ultimately create institutions and culture.
In a brand/search-conscious world — where a 2014 Forbes study shows that 65 percent of people see online sources as the most credible source of information on people as well as organisations, 70 percent of consumers would rather do business with a company whose CEO has a social presence (social sprout), and 65 percent of consumers say a company’s CEO and employees influence their decision to buy (Edelman), how “flighty” really is personal branding?
If your profile (visibility) and reputation (brand) as a leader have a direct impact on your organisation’s success (same applies with non-profit organisations), and forms the basis of the decision to work with or engage with you between 65 percent and 70 percent of the time, what’s the cost of neglecting your personal brand?
I supposed in a digitally-driven and search-hungry world, when it comes to the question of profile and reputation, a closely related question would also be what does a simple “Google search” say about you?
The answer to this goes far beyond great search engine optimisation and right to the heart of two things:
What is the sphere of influence or sub-sector within your industry where you are driving conversation and transformation a.k.a. your impact-focus?
How many of your colleagues, top players in that sector, industry, and related fields, or the audience you are targeting know or acknowledge you as a genuine impact driver in that space?
The answer to these two things represents the state of your personal brand today. Being Google-searchable is simply an expression of these two things.
So, contrary to what many leaders believe, it is not simply enough to do the work and have the solutions. You must also be intentional about taking active ownership of the narratives around both the problems in your space, your contribution to the solutions, as well as your vision for the future of your sector. Without a deliberate intention to proliferate the latter two, you can’t build the momentum you need to create platforms and find the right partnerships and relationships to drive true transformation, which is all leadership is really about, and which will ultimately define your brand (who you are and what you’re about).
So by all means, do the work. But for the love of impact and transformation (not self or vanity), let it be seen and known. Only then will it be understood as a clarion call for collaboration and a new direction among those who have a part to play.
The summary is this: the currency called a brand is no longer merely social currency, but business and career currency because in today’s world, driving impact – widespread and considerable impact — requires platforms, and chief of every platform for you as a leader is your brand.
Teresa Aligbe is a brand strategy and public relations professional
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