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September 2007
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PERSONAL LEADERSHIP: YOU'RE THE BRAND
It should come as no surprise that in an age when knowledge is power, and human resources are being re-evaluated as 'talent', that we have to brand ourselves personally. We have to amplify and then leverage both our real and perceived value. Whether we know it or not, we are living brands.
We know that branded items command far greater marketplace value than generics. This is true from pharmaceuticals to sportswear to watches to hotels...everything. For the same reason that companies have to tell a great story and 'bring it to life', so do we -- as individual value contractors, free agents who sign up for a particular team, and as success consultants for our own careers.
So, from this moment onwards, you and I have to think of ourselves differently. We're no longer 'employees' or 'staffers' at the Hyatt, or General Electric, or Microsoft, or Unilever, or Maersk. You're part of their (hopefully) championship team. But that means you have to shine yourself as a champion if you want to continue to increase your contribution and be signed up for the Big Leagues.
Taking a leaf from Tom Peters' book, we often ask companies to challenge themselves according to the 'law of Dramatic Difference'. That is, we ask them to state in 25 words or less, what makes them distinctive, unique, remarkable. What aspect of doing business with them will grip the imagination of the marketplace and win 'mind share' and 'heart share'? The same logic applies to you, CEO of your own personal value-delivery firm...currently partnering with the company that employs you.
The test of whether your 25 words are worth their salt is to assess whether this is hype or a perceived reality that others who work with you would appreciatively nod their heads in confirming. Would this description light up the eyes of a prospective client, get a vote of satisfaction from a past client (internal or external) who couldn't quite put into words why dealing with you was such a pleasure? Does it get YOUR attention, and inspire you to make it ever more real? If it doesn't do at least some if not most of the above, it's useless.
If I had to mint 25 such words for Lou Gerstner and his remarkable IBM turnaround and make-over, it would have been: 'He exemplified world-class execution and relentless realism and unleashed unprecedented productive imagination and re-invention at IBM." If I had to do it for leading management guru, Tom Peters, it would be: "He passionately demonstrates the criticality of people and imagination in business, he paints management in vivid technicolor and emphatically vivifies it." Play with yours, run it by your friends, bosses, critics, families, internal and external clients.
A key part of this has to involve ways to continue to establish this as a truly experienced reality as well as to meaningfully broadcast it. After all, we have to assume that at minimum in this hyper-competitive age, you can: deliver fundamentally capable work, on time, reasonably close to budget and solve problems capably. We hope that you will ADD to these basics: proactive anticipation of problems, effective synergy with others, being a boundary buster (using one of Jack Welch's better conceptual articulations here), generating inspiring solutions and helping to make where you work a better place to be. That's the least we should all expect of ourselves.
However, necessarily, your way of doing it will be different than mine. Moreover, where you are strongest, your unique talent, your chief strength, will also be different. Leverage these differences and build on them to create dramatic value differentiation!
With that self-definition underway, some big suggestions and some secondary (but non-negotiable ones).
First, make yourself an unwavering self-educator. Education is a life-long crusade. Be easy to coach, fun to educate. Outside of work, read widely, stimulate your curiosity, and take active part in a multitude of fascinating opportunities to build up your confidence, your learning quotient, your flexibility and openness. Even things that don't seem to directly matter, all do. Learning to ski meant I had to challenge my comfort zone, expand physical capacity, deal with failure and frustration, persist, be daring. 7 years of skiing later, it is an excellent metaphor of personal potential for me. It has increased my confidence all around, and whenever something new comes up, it is another basis for my feeling, "I can do this!"
Second, build extraordinary networks, inside and outside the organisation. Our capacity to get things done, depends on the relationships we have. Your organisation will be enriched by the variety and richness of your relationship-pool. And if you get good at transcending boundaries and build solid interactions across the length and breadth of the organisation as well, more people will have reasons to get to know your value, and you will become a master at accessing cooperation and getting things done. People will flock to you as someone who can broker agreements and mediate commitment across the board.
Third, sign up for projects, challenging ones and not just the plum ones. Use projects to meet new people, build new capabilities, understand how the organisation works, to have an arena to exercise followership as well as leadership, and to be able to genuinely feel you've added significant value. Projects are wonderful laboratories for execution and culture-building, which is the final report card for any leader. Let's make sure we use them as such.
Beyond that, try to be impeccable in overall conduct. Try to behave in such a way that you elevate standards all around you. How you answer your phone, how you respond to e mails, the way you come through on commitments, your willingness to share glory, the genuine appreciation you offer members of the team, all of these build not only your brand but your character. In fact, the two are so symbiotic that building one, is at least partially building the other.
People used to say, 'Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.' Beyond dress and grooming, I would say, 'Lead as if you had the job you want, not the job you have.' Doing that will mean you prepare exceptionally for meetings, you'll volunteer to write action or implementation plans (which will get you deserved recognition and visibility), you'll have sleepless nights coming up with solutions that are way beyond your current responsibilities, you'll rally organisational support when no one expects you to for key initiatives you believe in, and you'll begin to be a true opportunity-builder. These are all abilities and distinctions to hone in preparation. It is no surprise that when Winston Churchill took his historic office as the world teetered under the onslaught of fascism, he said, "My entire life has been a preparation for this moment..."
Obviously, since you may not have the magnitude of authority to match your aspirations, it will have to be the strength of your ideas, the inspiration of your commitment, the coalition building and communication skills you deploy, that will have to win the day or at least move the goal-posts. What excellent preparation for eventual authority! Bad leaders use mindless authority. Great leaders use their credibility, their communication power, their relationships, their ability to tap the intelligence and enroll the focused energy of their team rather than imposing hierarchical power...even after they gain it.. Start practicing today!
Do more than write a CV. Build a personal Website. Make sure it helps your company look great as well so no overly temperate soul at work has grounds for complaint. You're hopefully proud of where you work. Drop bridges between company goals and the goals you've been advancing on their behalf. On your Website, tell proud tales of your company values in action, and your own interpretation of them. Think 'marketing brochure' rather than CV. Think of yourself as your own agent or talent scout. But make sure you give yourself a great, value-filled, team-respecting story to tell! This should be a sharing of who you are, what you've experienced and learned...not self-aggrandizing chest-pounding. Why? The world is over-run with big mouths who can't distinguish status from stature. Let's not join them.
Never feel bad about being proud of your legitimate achievements. It's strictly win/win. If you deliver remarkable projects, build stupendous networks, insatiably learn and extend your confidence, start adding leadership value no matter where you are in the organisation, your company certainly will enjoy windfall benefits...so will you and your brand value!
To keep yourself sane and real however, endlessly ask for feedback, not just from bosses but also from direct reports, from peers, from project team members, from suppliers, from external customers. Buy them coffee, and ask for 5 candid minutes of their time. How many people do this? How many listen when some tough feedback is shared? This way, you know how your brand is doing, and how it is being received on the open market. No business would operate without this perception. Don't wait for people to tick off boxes in an annual review. It's your career and life! Go get the information and begin making magnificent improvements while others are still shuddering hoping to skate by with as little criticism or reaction from their colleagues as possible!
Overall, make sure you are producing stellar results in at least four areas, as you add increasing dramatically unique value in ever expanding ways. One, make sure you are a world-class team member and supportive colleague. Second, be an exceptional world-class expert in something of real value. Third, be a visionary, a far-sighted 'imagineer', someone who inspires big picture forward-thinking in everyone. Four, be a 'finisher' and 'follow-througher' par excellence, someone who understands the business and excels at pragmatic results being actually delivered.
It's your brand, it's in your hands. Taking this on board is the greatest gift you can give yourself as well as your company and all its customers and team. With it, you offer yourself and others, passion and hope. Without it, you get mediocrity and boredom. Let these ideas stimulate your own trajectory. Start today. Why procrastinate our future?
Omar Khan,
Senior Partner, Sensei International
Phone: 1 (212) 295 2191, Fax: 1 (212) 295 2121
e-mail: omar@sensei-international.com
Omar Khan is a globally acknowledged leadership development innovator and success coach. He is a sought after change catalyst and a pioneer in transformational learning. He is the author of the acclaimed book SYNERGY as well as the newly released and much awaited, TIMELESS LEADERSHIP.
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