Category: Excavate Personal Brand

Excavate to identify your executive personal brand. Learn how to make your personal brand stand out in a crowded digital world.

  • Authentic Personal Branding Aid: Know Your Beloved Hero

    Authentic Personal Branding Aid: Know Your Beloved Hero

    Why you choose the people and characters you look up to speaks volumes about your personal brand.

    Authentic personal branding is aided by knowing where to look for clues about what you stand for. One place to look is to the heroes that you admire—and, more specifically, why you admire them.

    First, let’s walk through three steps for using your favorite hero to help with your efforts to do personal branding. Next, I’ll connect you with some tools to help you excavate your personal brand using what you have learned.

    Personal Branding Using Real or Fictional Heroes

    People look up to heroes that are real, either living or dead, or fictitious. First, take a minute to write down several people or characters that you admire. As examples, all these heroes would be fair game: Batman, Oprah and your mom. Think broadly.

    Knowing ‘Why’ Aids Personal Branding

    Now, look at your list. The question you want to answer is, “Why do you admire these people or characters?” Your answer will say a great deal about what is important to you—and about your “personal why”—your reason for being. That “why” undergirds everything about you and what you do. It points the way to your brand.

    Affirming Your Personal Brand With ‘X’ Hero

    Finally, let the reasons you’ve chosen your favorite hero support your personal branding efforts.

    One of my clients came to Revealing Genius because she wanted to be able to convey with conviction what she stood for if she were called for a job interview.

    My client tested with her audience the two-word purpose statement, “inspiring hope” in the context of her heroes. Her personal branding concept was that she was a public servant who inspired hope during times of trial, just like her heroes do. This statement was met with an outpouring of positive responses from my client’s community.

    Supporting Your Branding in Other Ways

    Using the time-proven ETA™ (Excavate-Tell Affirm) process, Revealing Genius offers people nine questions—in addition to the one about heroes—designed to help them have an “aha” moment about their personal brand. Check out these additional blogs about these questions:

    Are you loving these ideas about authentic personal branding? Get more of them delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to our newsletter. Simply add your email at the bottom of this webpage.

    For more tools for excavating and expressing your personal brand, sign up for the Revealing Genius signature 7-Day Summit.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

    Image by alan9187 from Pixabay


  • Building Your Personal Brand? The Value of the ‘Hot Seat’

    Building Your Personal Brand? The Value of the ‘Hot Seat’

    Transform your personal brand and messaging with this refreshingly friendly exercise.

    A lot of times we try to avoid being in the “hot seat.” But when it comes to building your personal brand, the hot seat can be a wonderful place to be.

    When we talk about being in the hot seat, we often imagine facing intense questioning, criticism, scrutiny and maybe even punishment. (Think about the conversations teenagers might have with their parents when they arrive home after curfew on a Saturday night!)

    But Revealing Genius uses the hot seat in a way that’s fun and friendly. This approach promotes having candid, affirming conversations about your personal brand—with the reward of positive, actionable feedback for improving your personal brand message.

    Start building your personal brand with an ‘AUDIT”

    On “brand audit” day during our 7-Day Brand Genius Summit, we never lack for volunteers to be in the hot seat. Participants know that being in the hot seat will get them amazing and actionable feedback on one piece of their brand collateral, such as their LinkedIn page. They’ll get to talk about what they have done with the collateral so far and share a unique brand story that no competitor could tell equally well.

    Online presence reviewed by others

    Next, their classmates review the collateral piece and provide positive feedback. Then the summit cohort has a lively Q&A with the hot seat volunteer about how that brand collateral piece might be improved to better help people answer questions like:

    •   Do I understand, at what, you are the best in the world?

    •   What’s the #1 key takeaway message?

    •  Can I explain what problems you solve?

    The bottom line is if I had to describe my brand to someone else, could I do that?

    Online and offline, personal website, social media, target audience?

    Perhaps one of the reasons that the Revealing Genius hot seat is such a great place to be when you’re building your professional brand is because of our time-proven ETA™ process—excavate, tell and affirm. Positive affirmations that stem from ETA are a key part of our approach to personal branding. In fact, they permeate every Revealing Genius offering, whether that’s the hot seat feedback during the 7-Day Summit or 1:1 coaching with me.

    Are you starting to think that maybe the branding hot seat would be a good place for you to spend time coming up? Especially a hot seat that’s a place of affirmation for who you are, what lights you up and your unique why? Please sign up for a free exploratory call to learn more about how to use the hot seat to help you speak with conviction about your brand.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

  • How Kate Found Her Dream Job

    How Kate Found Her Dream Job

    Thanks to the ETA process, Kate, an introvert, talked comfortably with a hiring manager about her proudest business accomplishments.

    Kate was working for a Fortune 500 firm when COVID hit and she was downsized along with hundreds of others. Little did she know this was paving the way to her getting her dream job.

    She thought for sure that this leadership role was going to be her “swan song,” her final professional engagement before she retired.

    She tried to generate some meetings and interviews. Her observation was that her curriculum vitae was “perfunctory” at best. It was getting lost in a “sea of sameness.”

    “I’ve done so much. How can I describe myself as a subject matter expert and relay it to decision-makers so they ‘get me’ in just a few seconds?” she asked.  

    Kate and I engaged in ETA™, a structured, focused, logical process that enables accomplished leaders to better articulate the expertise they bring to the table so it resonates and converts.

    Her flash of insight came during the “excavate” portion of the ETA process, when she was asked to share her proudest accomplishments.

    As a chief operating officer and call center expert, all of her stories were about facilitating an engaged workforce and the innovation she introduced.

    The next CEO she met with noticed. He created a role for her on the spot.

    Kate was hired during the pandemic, with an increase in salary, in a position where she will have tremendous impact. She said the biggest benefit of ETA was reconnecting with why she chose her career path and what truly lights her up.

    The ETA™ process never fails to shift your thinking about your professional brand. 

    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.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

  • What Quote Resonates With You? It Matters to Your Personal Brand

    What Quote Resonates With You? It Matters to Your Personal Brand

    Your answer speaks volumes about your personal brand.

    One podcast regularly opens with a very special way of introducing the day’s guest. The host asks if guests would share a mantra or quote that they live by. Many guests share. And, when they do, they reveal a great deal about their personal brand.

    What do these quotes tell you about the person who lives by them?

    “If you work your hardest, things will work out as they should.”

    This was chosen by a recently promoted chief economist who provides perspective to an industry.

    “Nothing is impossible.”

    This was chosen by a Gen Z entrepreneur whose new app has already gathered investors and now is signing clients.

    “What doesn’t kill you didn’t try hard enough.”

    This was chosen by a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant and advocate who says he’s fully focused on moving forward—and also tries to keep things light.

    “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.”

    This quote from Colin Powell was chosen by an expert at a vendor that serves other companies and their customers with doing a tough customer service job.

    The quote that Revealing Genius lives by is this one:

    “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.”

    As the founder and principal of Revealing Genius, I live by this quote from author, philosopher, educator and theologian Howard Thurman.

    I am passionate about helping leaders excavate what lights them up. Because when leaders light up, they are on fire—and they change the world for the better.

    I believe, and my experience bears out, that when you are alive you will have impact. And there is nothing more thrilling than impact.

    Revealing Genius clients come alive and make a positive impact through the excavate-tell-affirm ETA™ process of building your personal brand. This time-proven program leverages mantras and many other tools to help accomplished leaders better articulate the expertise they bring to the table so it resonates and converts. Here are some recent examples of client outcomes:

    • A doctor overcame her fear of technology and is now offering an online course.
    • A nurse oncologist landed three job interviews.
    • A retired executive launched a coaching business and landed his first paid client.

    These are successes to get excited about!

    So, what’s your favorite quote and/or a mantra that you live by? Your answer reveals volumes about who you are and your unique genius. It tells you a lot about your personal brand.

    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 sharing more information with you and seeing the impact you’ll make!

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

    Photo by Kristin Kardwick

  • Witness Effective Personal Brand Excavation in Action

    Witness Effective Personal Brand Excavation in Action

    You’ll be inspired by these famous people who have discovered their core purpose and let it guide them to their personal brand.

    If you’re creating your personal brand, you can learn a lot from household brands.

    Every year since 2015, Reader’s Digest, owned by publisher Trusted Media Brands, Inc., has teamed up with research firm Ipsos to ask Americans which brands they trust the most across several categories, from auto insurance to airlines to food to body lotion to pet food, and much more.

    The top brand for 2021? Listerine mouth wash.

    Created in St. Louis in 1879 as an antibacterial cleanser for doctors and dentists, Listerine saw sales take off after a 1920 ad campaign promoted it as a product that effectively kills the germs that cause bad breath. It’s not surprising that Listerine, a product already trusted to kill germs, might continue to do well in a pandemic!

    What if Readers’ Digest did a survey about the brands of individual people? It might ask contenders the question: “What do you stand for?” In its resulting article, the magazine would likely recognize people who have done the work of “excavation,” the first step of the time-proven excavate-tell-affirm or ETA™ process. During excavation, leaders dig deep inside themselves to uncover what lights them up so they can best serve.

    Personal Brand Efforts in Action

    I’d say the following famous people could well be among the winners of a personal brand contest.

    Robin Roberts. The anchor on Good Morning America since 2005, Roberts has brought her viewers firsthand reports on breaking news stories as well as feature reports on everything from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina to First Lady Laura Bush’s breast cancer mission in the Middle East. She has also covered numerous special events ranging from the homecoming of soldiers aboard the USS Roosevelt to the Golden Jubilee at Buckingham Palace to the 25th anniversary of the papacy of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City.

    Roberts would answer the question about what she stands for with “global citizenship.”

    Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D. Lefkowitz is so enthusiastic about science that you will love chemistry after you hear this man speak, even if you did not previously think you could have any interest in the subject. His memoir, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm, recounts his early career as a cardiologist and his transition to biochemistry, which led to his 2012 Nobel Prize win.

    Lefkowitz would answer the question about what he stands for with “good science.”

    Tony Dungy. A former professional football safety, coach, and sports analyst, Dungy served as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts for 13 seasons. He led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy’s commitment to winning isn’t cliché, however, but rather something that permeates his life. We can all learn from his book, Quiet Strength: The Practices, Principles and Priorities of a Winning Life, written after his son died of suicide.

    Dungy would answer the question about what he stands for with “a winning attitude.”

    What do you stand for?

    People who do the work of answering this question discover what lights them up so they may articulate, with conviction, their individual brand and know-how they may best serve themselves, their organizations and their corner of the world.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

    Photo by Anamul Rezwan

  • Top 2 Reasons to Attend the Revealing Genius Summit: Takeaways and Breakthroughs About Your Personal Brand

    Top 2 Reasons to Attend the Revealing Genius Summit: Takeaways and Breakthroughs About Your Personal Brand

    This 7-day program delivers concrete tools and eureka moments.

    Top leaders invest their time and energy in providing quantifiable deliverables to their organizations and the people they serve. They also invest in pursuing the kind of inspiration and self-knowledge that will help them lead others in pursuit of the better world they envision. That is, they pursue understanding of their personal brand.

    Because leaders like you value both concrete takeaways and “aha” moments, the Revealing Genius: 7-Day Summit provides an abundance of both.

    Solid Tools and Strategies for Creating Your Personal Brand

    When you leave the 7-day summit (check when the next one will be offered), you’ll take with you deepened clarity, confidence and conviction about your personal brand. Plus, you’ll have at least these five concrete items in hand:

    1. A two-word statement of your unique purpose
    2. A pragmatic way to manage your energy to project your ideal brand image
    3. A process for identifying your signature brand stories and three core messages
    4. A multi-point critique of your existing brand assets
    5. A proven system for creating compelling positioning statements, including your 30-second elevator speech
    6. A badge certificate noting your completion of the course to post on your LinkedIn profile

    Career-Changing ‘Aha’ Moments

    To help illustrate the kinds of eureka moments you may have during your attendance at the 7-day summit, let’s look at what some past participants have said about their experience with the program.

    Leadership Coach for the pharmaceutical industry, Ana Lucia Jardim, had a follow-up coaching session in addition to participating in the 7-day summit.

    “In a short period of time, I had one of the biggest a-ha’s of my career regarding my purpose and where to direct my career next,” she says. “Mary picked up on subtle cues that revealed a part of my brand which I had always dismissed as unimportant but is in fact what I am best at in the world.”

    Dr. Stella Park, ND, is a medical intuitive who creates individualized treatment plans for her clients.

    “I just completed Mary’s 7-Day Summit ‘Excavate Your Brand Genius’ and truly gained important insights on how to articulate my brand,” Park says. “Mary included a mix of exercises, group interactions, breakout sessions and quantitative assessments that led us as participants through a journey where we had significant breakthroughs.”

    Even experts in marketing and branding can benefit from the program, as the 7-day summit experience of Tara Mogan Blom, MCC, ABC, bears out.

    “Mary’s process is like an archeologist methodically dusting off layers until a beautiful treasure is revealed,” she explains. “I have 25 years’ experience in a field closely related to hers, but I learned something new and useful every day of her Summit.”

    Ready for some great tools and some great inspiration to help you refine and express your personal brand and how you can best serve? Note: Your time commitment is one hour each day for 7 business days from noon to 1 pm EST.  Sign up today!

    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.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

    Photo by Luke Richardson on Unsplash

  • Motivation for Excavation of Your Personal Brand

    Motivation for Excavation of Your Personal Brand

    Quotes to inspire you to discover–then deliver on–your personal brand

    By nature, we are all aspirational. We want to make a difference in a world. We want to have profound impact and leave a lasting, positive legacy. What we want to do speaks to our personal brand.

    Quotes from role models and leaders can be helpful in inspiring us to discover what lights us up so we can reach our fullest potential.

    Consider this quote from Howard Thurman, author, philosopher, theologian and educator:

    “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.”

    Thurman’s quote calls people to figure out their personal brands—what makes them unique—and then come alive to deliver. The time-proven ETA™ process helps us as executive leaders to not only “excavate” our brands, but shows us how to talk about our brands with conviction. When we feel our brands in our bones, we transform ourselves and our organizations. 

    Here are more inspirational quotes for each step of the three-step process.

    Step 1: Excavate Your Personal Brand

    We already have all the answers about who we are and what we are meant to do; sometimes we just need to dig them up. Maybe the words of women’s rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton will inspire you to take the first step in the ETA process, “excavate.”

    “Nature never repeats itself. The possibility of one human soul will never be found in another.” 

    In keeping with this, the famous writer Ralph Waldo Emerson encouraged:

    “Listen to your inward voice and bravely obey that.”

    When you undertake the ETA process, you’ll dig into who you are and what makes you stand out. 

    Step 2: Tell Your Personal Brand

    Can you carry the conversation when someone asks you what you stand for? What if they ask you about it again the next day? Can you continue to tell your compelling brand story, clearly and concisely? It’s not enough to excavate your unique brand. To have full impact, you also need to be able to talk about it. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: 

    “Knowing yourself is true wisdom.”

    The ETA process will help you know your purpose and talk about it with conviction.

    Step 3: Affirm Your Personal Brand

    After you discover your personal brand and as you’re learning how to articulate it, the ETA process helps you to “own” it, with quiet confidence. This is done by capturing affirmations spoken in your own voice, typically “I” statements as “I am often sought out for …” and “I lose all sense of time when I ….”

    The great, non-violent Indian leader Ghandi said:

    “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

    What’s the one quote, mantra or key phrase that stirs your soul? It speaks volumes about your personal brand. 

    If you are inspired by the quotes in this article or 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.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

  • Who Can Benefit From Excavating Their Personal Brand?

    Who Can Benefit From Excavating Their Personal Brand?

    A wide range of healthcare leaders–maybe you can too!

    Truth is, pretty much everyone can benefit from excavating their brand. College students, people new in their careers, stay-at-home moms thinking about getting back in the workplace.

    But here at Revealing Genius, we know our own brand well. Our brand promise is helping accomplished healthcare leaders to transform—or “excavate” as we call it—their unique brands so they can move forward to passionately serve as they are uniquely meant to do.

    That means that our trademarked ETA process—with its key steps of excavate, tell and affirm—is absolutely perfect for healthcare leaders ready for a new chapter in their lives, specifically:

    • Current, retiring, emeritus C-suite executives
    • Board directors
    • PhDs
    • PharmDs
    • MDs
    • MBAs
    • MBAs
    • Nurses
    • Dentists
    • Nonprofit presidents
    • Military veterans
    • Investors
    • Hospital and health system administrators
    • Consultants who are the brand name for their company
    • Healthcare tech | home health agency business owners
    • Public servants

    By using the ETA process, many types of healthcare leaders have already experienced a profound shift in how they think about and present their brands. They are now positioned with purpose. They know how to message with conviction. They understand their personal why and are ready to serve based on that knowledge.

    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.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

  • How Excavating Your Personal Brand Builds Trust

    How Excavating Your Personal Brand Builds Trust

    Delivering consistently on your brand’s identified promise attracts new clients and keeps existing ones coming back.

    A key reason that people do business with a brand is because they trust it.

    People trust a brand that makes a clear, consistent promise of what it will deliver to them—and then actually delivers on that promise, time and again.

    For example, think about these top car brands: Mercedes, Volvo and BMW. What would you expect from each if you bought one? It’s likely that you’d say, in order, luxury, safety and performance.

    More specifically, people who want luxury may trust Mercedes to provide it, whereas folks who place a premium on safety may trust Volvo to best protect their loved ones. In turn, consumers who want to own the “ultimate driving machine” may trust BMW to give them that experience.

    Each of these manufacturers consistently delivers on its unique brand promise—which means it consistently delivers on consumers’ expectations.

    Consistently delivering on a brand promise helps people make the decision to do business with a brand. They trust that brand to deliver for them.

    What is your brand promise? How consistently are you delivering on it?

    Excavating your brand through the proven E.T.A.™ (Excavate, Tell, Affirm) process will help you identify what makes your brand unique—what it can deliver consistently, better than any other brand in the market. When you excavate what only your brand can deliver, you’ll build trust with existing clients so they’ll keep coming back (and insist others should too). Your clear, consistent brand messages that result from excavating your brand through E.T.A. will help build trust with potential clients as well.

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.

  • How Can Excavating Your Personal Brand Help You Make a Good First Impression?

    How Can Excavating Your Personal Brand Help You Make a Good First Impression?

    Going through the ETA process (excavate-tell-affirm) personal brand process will ready you for the key moment of meeting a new contact.

    Think back to the moment you met one of your best business associates. How much time did it take before you made up your mind that this was someone you wanted to get to know?

    In some cases, the sense of connection we feel with another person seems to form instantly.

    Research supports the idea that first impressions are indeed made very quickly. Business Insider reports that people form an opinion of someone they are meeting for the first time within just 7 seconds. Similarly, ExecuNet reports that people make an impression of a person based on scanning a resume for just 6.5 seconds. And Forbes suggests a tenth of a second is all it takes to start determining core traits like trustworthiness.

    All of this suggests that if you want to make a great first impression, you not only have to know who you are and what you stand for but also how to express that information quickly and well. I like to say “concise equals connection.” But who of us is consistently able to be concise when we’re speaking off the cuff? How do we encapsulate a storied career in just one or two sentences?

    While the first step of the time-proven ETA™ process helps people “excavate” who they are, the second helps them “tell” their unique brand story. (Read about the third here.)

    Indeed, the ETA process helps leaders prepare for the critical moment of meeting someone new. Going through the process develops a variety of messaging options that you can deliver depending on the circumstance, such as an elevator speech, a CV, resume, biography, TEDTalk, website or social media content. The framework derived from the ETA process is also essential for preparing for a speaking engagement like a TEDTalk, a podcast or media interview or a board presentation/investor pitch. With your messaging options in hand, you’ll be ready to respond to any new contact’s desire to be convinced that your brand is on-purpose, forward-thinking and focused on innovation.

    My sign-off on this blog is my signature, one of the ways I can quickly express my brand. What’s your signature, and more importantly is it making a good first impression?

    Mary E. Maloney

    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 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.