Branding is no longer only a business marketing strategy. It has evolved over the decades into a personal strategy as well.

In a nutshell, branding is how something or someone differentiates itself from other somethings or someones. For instance, for those of us over 50 will remember when the Kleenex company became quite well-known for its tissue products. And over time, we watched the word “Kleenex” become synonymous with the word tissue – regardless of which company was actually making them.  Excellent branding is when your name becomes the standard within an industry or business space.

Leadership branding is now a common success strategy for people within corporations having higher aspirations to climb the company ladder. This concept is featured by author, William Arruda (the cofounder of CareerBlast), on Forbes.com. His article is titled “How to Brand Yourself as a Leader at Your Company.”

Arruda states, “You have the power to define your authentic leadership brand regardless of your current organizational role.” He then shares how Stacey Cohen (CEO of Co-Communications) recommends that every employee – not just the C-suite – should develop a leadership brand. And don’t think it’s just for extraverts! It’s just as important for introverts too.

There are four strategies Arruda provides to begin walking down the leadership branding path:

1. Explore your voice – you don’t have to say tons to speak volumes
2. Upskill yourself and your community – recommend learning tools and platforms to your colleagues
3. Spotlight your expertise – offer to do a presentation to cultivate your leadership skills
4. Request feedback – use 360-degree feedback receive an outside perspective

You can read the entire Forbes article here to learn more about each of those four strategies.

If this article was helpful and prompted you with an increased desire to improve your effectiveness as a leader so you can take your team to the next level, contact us to learn more about our Aepiphanni Ascend Leadership Development program. Fill out the form below and we’ll be happy to schedule a Coffee & Consult to chat in more detail about how we can help.

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