Brenda Bence

Recently, a client called to see if I was available to speak at a company meeting that she was organizing in 2012.  The objective of the meeting, she told me, was to drive a stronger sense of engagement within the company as a whole.

“Sure,” I replied, “this sounds like the perfect situation for my program on Leadership Personal Branding.

“Oh, sorry!” the client responded immediately. “I probably didn’t make it clear enough. This meeting is for the entire company, not just management.”

I hear this quite often.  To a lot of folks, it seems that the word “Leader” means “Supervisor” or “Manager” and often relates only to those people in a company who have others reporting to them. And, in fact, most people who call us to inquire about the topic of Leadership Personal Branding are indeed focused on developing people at the mid-to-senior management level and above.

But, I see the word “leader” differently. I mean, think about it:  If you aren’t successful at leading yourself, how can you possibly be successful at leading others?

To me, good leadership starts first and foremost with yourself. If you have the desire, discipline, and willpower, you can become an effective self-leader.  And, once you are engaged in developing and leading yourself, you create a strong ‘leadership personal brand.’  That, in turn, places you in a prime spot to be tapped for increasingly greater levels of responsibility that may, or may not, end up with you leading others.

Agree?  Disagree?  I’d love to hear what you think!

The “Power of Three” Personal and Corporate Brand Challenge

I recently ran across a fascinating article about “The Power of Three.” The basic premise of the article is that three; is an important – almost ‘mystical’ – number for a whole host of reasons.

Here are just a few:

• Three shows up in mythology: three fates, three muses, three graces.
• Three is a prevalent component of fairy tales: three wishes, three little pigs, three bears.
• Three is enough to create a series – a pattern of cause and effect.
• There are three stages of truth: first a concept is rejected, second it is violently opposed, third it is accepted as self-evident.
• Three is a basic structure of life: carbohydrates, protein, fat: electron, proton, neutron.
• There are three dimensions of time: past, present, future.
• And three forms the basic structure of stories: beginning, middle, end.

Interesting, isn’t it?

So, as we get ready to enter into a new year, I figured we could benefit from this same ‘Power of Three’ concept to look back and reflect on your own corporate and personal brand building efforts in 2011. Below are a few “three-related” questions to consider… Respond below to any one of these questions, and you’ll automatically be entered into our raffle to win one of three copies of my new book, Smarter Branding Without Breaking the Bank:

• What are the three key actions you took this year that strengthened your brand the most – either your own individual personal brand or the brand of your company?

• Knowing what you know now, what three things would you have done differently in 2011 if you could do them over again?

• Reflecting on your answers to the questions above, what three actions will you take in 2012 to grow your individual or company brand even further?

Of course, after you’ve given these questions some thought, I encourage you to take time out and thank at least three people who have helped you build your brand this year. Who would that be for you?