Five great ways to boost your conviction about your executive personal branding
The third step in the time-proven ETA™ process for personal branding for executives—“affirm”—helps you feel your brand in your bones.
When you thoughtfully affirm your brand, you can find deep resonance with it. You will know, without any doubt, your unique reason to serve—and be able to talk about it with conviction in many different situations.
Reaching a belief in something that’s so deep we call it conviction doesn’t happen overnight. I recommend to my clients that they spend time reflecting on their brands and practicing their brand messages. Taking time to affirm your brand means you’ll be able to call on it to help you make decisions, set goals that are on-brand and, ultimately, realize your life’s work.
This is heady stuff in a way. But you can build your conviction in your brand by “steeping” in it with very concrete and approachable methods. Take a moment to make yourself a cup of tea and then read on for five great ways to affirm your brand.
1. Get your two-word purpose statement and reflect on its meaning for your executive personal branding.
My friend Kevin W. McCarthy has created an amazing tool for discovering your brand. Onpurpose.me is a two-minute online survey that will reveal your two-word purpose statement. As part of the program, you will receive 10 follow-up emails with tools to help you refine, reflect on and come to believe deeply in your uniqueness. Each email is a refreshing sip of inspiration and instruction.
2. Take other science-based assessments of your strengths and think about what they tell you about your executive personal branding.
When is the last time you took an evidence-based assessment to help you understand who you are and what you are best at in the world? I recommend that my clients do such an assessment at least once a year, including taking time to think about what the results mean for their executive personal branding.
Here are three assessments of the seven I provide during the 7-Day Revealing Genius Summit. Each of these is free:
- The Enneagram describes personality in terms of nine types, each driven by its own set of core emotions, fears and beliefs. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the survey’s 105 questions.
- The Core Value Index reveals your unchanging motivational drivers and how you are wired to contribute to the world around you.
- The DISC tool helps you understand your personality and your communication style. It aims to illuminate who you are at your core so you can live a more authentic life.
3. Write and affirm your transformation statement—a clear, concise expression of your personal brand message.
Your transformation statement is also known as your “elevator pitch.” This is the statement that helps you answer the age-old business question, “So what do you do?”
You can learn to write an amazing transformation statement during our 7-Day Summit and see the formula for writing one in this blog. Once you have your statement in hand, steeping in it can take many forms. For example, I recommend that executives say their transformation statements out loud many times.
One of my clients, a multi-lingual (five languages!) board member, investor and CEO of a category/region for Procter & Gamble, has it on display in an antique typewriter in his office in Switzerland!
4. Establish a supportive network that understands the process of executive personal branding.
As a leader, you probably already have a network of professionals that you turn to when you need a sounding board. Some of these people will probably be helpful when you want feedback on your executive personal branding efforts.
I also recommend also having a cohort that is familiar with the ETA™ process, so they can speak your language about branding. Revealing Genius offers several ways to connect with leaders who are on a similar path with executive personal branding. These include attending the 7-Day Summit and networking with others you meet in our free webinar.
5. Participate actively in the 7-Day Revealing Genius Summit, which focuses on executive personal branding.
I’ve mentioned the 7-Day Summit several times already in this post. And that’s because the summit has so much to offer when it comes to steeping in your developing personal brand. I encourage you to sign up and experience the benefits. Read more here about the agenda for each day of this summit.
Hopefully, you have found something in this content that will support your effort to do executive personal branding. One last resource before I sign off—be sure to sign up for our free monthly Revealing Genius newsletter by adding your email in the box at the bottom of this webpage.
I’d also welcome the opportunity to talk with you 1:1 to support you in building your executive personal brand, discuss ways to steep in it to build your conviction and, ultimately, help you realize the personal and professional benefits of having clarity about your purpose.
