The Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ process can help you envision fully—and then leave to achieve—your next milestone.
Top leaders talk a lot about having a good exit strategy. Whether they’re making a career move, selling a business they’ve founded and built, or getting ready to retire, they need to expertly transition from what they’re doing now to what they will do next. Executive personal branding using the time-proven Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ from Revealing Genius can help.
Let’s look more deeply at three key times when having a solid exit strategy grounded in executive personal branding can help healthcare leaders like you take the next right step.
Don’t Just Change Jobs; Make a Strategic Career Move
Executive personal branding using the Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ from Revealing Genius is designed to help you excavate not only who it is that you most want to serve, but also the unique transformation that only you can make. Once you’ve done executive personal branding, you will be able to authentically answer the question of whether the career move you’re considering is just a job change or whether it’s a strategic career move that dovetails beautifully with your brand.
During the tell step of our executive personal branding process, you’ll craft and refine your transformation statement, writing down what you’ve excavated earlier in the process. Next, you’ll affirm your brand in the big picture. In all, the process can help you know whether taking a particular promotion, making a lateral move, jumping to another company or even shifting to another industry is—in the big picture—the right move for you.
If you just want to change jobs, you can do a Google search and read lots of articles about such logistics as emptying your workspace well ahead of your departure. What we’re talking about here, in contrast, is using executive personal branding to envision your full potential—and then letting that vision for who you are and what you are uniquely meant to do lead you through.
Moving on From Your Business to the Next Right Thing
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional definition of business exit strategy is “a plan that moves a business toward long-term goals and allows a smooth transition to a new phase, whether that involves re-imagining business direction or leadership, keeping financially sustainable or pivoting for challenges.”
While you can find lots of other online articles on business exit strategy, what’s often left out of them is a personal playbook for the founder or CEO once they step aside. And that’s where executive personal branding comes in.
If you’re a CEO or founder who has done executive personal branding, you will have excavated your personal “why.” You’ll know your North Star and be able to tell others what you stand for. You’ll have done science-based assessments to affirm your brand so you believe in it with conviction.
Equipped with your executive personal brand, you’ll be more ready to make sound decisions about the best next steps for your business and yourself.
Re-tirement Means ‘Getting New Tires’
One of our clients who is retiring often says he still has “lots of gas in the tank.” Other leaders think of retirement as a time to “get new tires” so they can go do something new and rewarding.
You may be a leader who feels the same way. You’ve had a successful career. You know it’s time to move on to the next great thing—and you think you might be one of the many leaders who find the “just take some time off” strategy to be sorely lacking. Doing executive personal branding can help you clarify how you can best step into a highly rewarding retirement.
In this article from Chief Executive, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith and his daughter Kelly say there’s no time like now to work on your retirement exit strategy. They recommend considering these three variables: 1) making sure the company or your team is in the best possible shape when you leave, 2) working to develop a great successor and 3) planning for a great rest of your life.
Unfortunately, the Goldsmiths write, “Many CEOs who we have met get outstanding scores on the first, mixed scores on the second and dismal scores on the third.” They recommend investing “significant time and energy in planning” your life after top leadership. They emphasize the importance of considering options you will find meaningful and love doing. You’re probably seeing by now that doing executive personal branding can help here too.
Step Into Executive Personal Branding
Ready to clarify your brand in support of building the best exit strategy for your next transition?
We can help. Sign up for our complimentary Excavate Your Brand webinar or invest in our newly released online course or 7-Day Summit. We provide 1:1 executive coaching options too.
