‘That’ Question That Showed You What You Stand For Points to Your Personal Brand

Answering these five questions can help you reveal your personal brand genius so you can better serve the world.

Have you ever had the experience of someone asking you “that” question? The one that clarifies what previously had been muddy? The one that illuminates your next step? The one that may even re-energize you to leap out of bed each morning so you can do what you are meant to do? That question points to your personal brand.

The time-proven ETA™ process, which stands for Excavate-Tell-Affirm, uses 10 key questions, one of which often proves to be “that” question for leaders going through the “tell” step of the process. This question helps them articulate what ideals and aspirations they truly hold with conviction.

Here are five of the 10 questions for you to try out. (You can access the other five in this previous post.)

1. What’s your story? If you met friends/prospects/business contacts for virtual coffee, how would you respond to this question? Deepen your answer by also considering what your story will be tomorrow if you met with them again and by simply telling your story in your own, unscriptedwords.
2. What is your current state, and what state do you hope to reach? Where are you now and what are you striving for? How would you give voice to your aspirations?
3. What are your three core values? Typically, people can come up with a pretty long list of things that are important to them. The job here is to narrow that list to just three. The free, science-based Core Values Index assessment may help you reveal your unchanging motivations.
4. What would the topic of your one TEDTalk be? Another way to think about this is: If you were giving your final public performance or last lecture, what would you say?
5. Who are your heroes and why? These heroes could be living or deceased. Even cartoon heroes can be powerful to consider in this exercise. Be sure you take time to think about why the heroes you choose are important to you.

What about this exercise lit you up? Write it down.

If you are doing some soul-searching on how to excel in your career, please sign up for the Revealing Genius e-newsletter. If you are looking to powerfully articulate your expertise and your “why” to fulfill what you desire most professionally, please join me for a complimentary 45-minute webinar to learn more about the ETA process.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Mary E. Maloney, FACHE

An executive advisor, educator, speaker, author and producer, Mary E. Maloney is the founder of Revealing Genius and the expert that accomplished leaders trust for positioning, messaging and brand strategy for themselves, their teams and their organizations. A former CEO and CMO, Maloney guides healthcare C-suite leaders, founders, physicians and board directors to powerfully and strategically message their expertise and “why” so they lead with conviction and achieve their most coveted goals. She is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), one of only ~8,000 in the world to earn the credential, the benchmark for board certification in healthcare management.

Photo by Arek Socha