Brenda Bence

CHICAGO – Brand Development Associates International (BDA) has been ranked #23 in the Independent Consultants/Trainers/Coaches category of Leadership Excellence’s annual ranking of the top 500 leadership development programs in the world. The Leadership 500 is a ranking of the best individuals, teams, and organizations in leadership development practices and employee motivation-productivity today.  BDA’s 2012 ranking is up six places from last year’s ranking of #29.

This year’s Leadership 500 was published in the October 2012 Edition of Leadership Excellence magazine, a publication founded by business greats Ken Shelton, Stephen R. Covey, Ken Blanchard, and Charles Garfield. The issue was sent to almost 200,000 of the world’s “movers, shakers, and decision makers.”

“We are thrilled to move up in the rankings this year,” said Brenda Bence, BDA’s Founder and President. “To be recognized by a publication that is as well-respected as Leadership Excellence and alongside so many other accomplished companies and leadership thought leaders, means a great deal to us.”

To determine the Leadership 500 rankings, Leadership Excellence evaluated organizations based on seven criteria: vision/mission, involvement and participation, measurement and accountability, design-content-curriculum, presenters-presentations-delivery, take-home value, and outreach.

Brenda Bence founded BDA in 2002 after more than 20 years of building mega brands for Fortune 100 companies Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers  Squibb. During that time, Bence – who holds an MBA from Harvard Business School – was a senior executive responsible for billion-dollar businesses across four continents and almost 50 countries.

Today, only ten years after its founding, BDA does business across 30 countries and maintains offices in both the U.S. and Asia. The company provides training, coaching, and speaking services to clients located on six continents, including such companies as, Credit Suisse, Danone International, Deutsche Bank, KFC, Kraft, Lilly, Mattel, Microsoft, Sheraton Hotels, Standard Chartered Bank, RBS, UBS, and the U.S. Department of State.

Brenda Bence is a Certified Executive Coach, as well as a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). She is the author of five marketing and branding books, which have collectively won a total of 21 international book awards.

Brenda Bence is available for television, radio, and press interviews to talk about leadership, coaching, and personal / corporate branding. Visit www.BrendaBence.com or www.BDA-Intl.com, contact +1-312-242-1830, or email Interviews@BrendaBence.com for availability.

Here is a link to my latest article that outlines five powerful assets you already have to build a successful brand as a small business owner or solo-preneur, at low cost or no cost at all.

Whether you are a coach or not, the information I share in this article can help you increase customer loyalty, strengthen your brand, and grow your revenues. Let me know what you think!

http://tinyurl.com/8zu3fn8

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!

Let’s face it: As a leader, you want to be liked, but you also want to be respected. And it really is important to have both if you’re going to be effective on the job. But accomplishing both can be difficult, and maintaining a balance between the two can be even more challenging.

If you spend too much time trying to be liked, chances are you aren’t leading effectively – you’re not making the truly tough decisions (that may not always be popular) and assuring that everyone is doing their job well. Maybe you avoid confrontation and cower at the thought of having to deal directly with workplace issues and problem team members. Or, perhaps in your efforts to be liked, you stick with the status quo, not wanting to “rock the boat.” Outcome? Your team members don’t grow, and you end up with mediocre business results.

On the other hand, if you spend too much time trying to be respected without caring enough about being liked, you may struggle to get your team to support you. Leaders who don’t care at all about being liked may cause their employees to feel like victims. Issues aren’t raised up to you until they have turned into crises because people are afraid of your reaction. Or maybe team members don’t come to you with any new ideas, anticipating that you’ll just put them down anyway. Outcome: Horrible morale and escalating employee turnover.

As tough as it may be, leaders with great Leadership Personal Brands work hard at maintaining a balance between the two poles. It requires weighing every situation carefully and thinking about how your actions and reactions will likely be perceived.

So, what to do? Here’s an exercise:

1. On a piece of paper, draw a horizontal line with a “1” at the left end and a “10” at the right end. Now, think about how you operate as a leader. If “1” represents a 100% focus on being respected, and “10” represents 100% focus on being liked, where would you fall in that continuum? Do you worry too much about how much YOU™ are liked? Or do you try to earn respect without worrying at all if your team likes you? Be honest with yourself: How balanced is your leadership style between these two poles?

2. Based on your schedule for the upcoming week, write down a plan that concentrates on creating a balance between being liked and respected. What actions can you take that will promote this balance? What opportunities might arise that will help you maintain the kind of like-vs-respected balance you want? Think about your options, and weigh the consequences of each. Consider which choices will be most likely to bring you this important balance, strengthening your Leadership Personal Brand in the process.

Inside my latest newsletter… Join me in my ‘parting ode’ to the South African World Cup by reviewing top Leadership Personal Branding lessons from Nelson Mandela. Clear up any confusion around key marketing terms, including how a “brand” is different from “brand positioning” and “branding.” I share the top 10 most common branding mistakes entrepreneurs make, and also how to more powerfully align a company brand with employees’ individual personal brands…. Something for everybody, I hope… Let me know what you think! http://tinyurl.com/28g59km

With all eyes turned to South Africa and the World Cup over the past weeks, I thought it would be interesting to revisit a 2008 interview with Nelson Mandela regarding leadership. Published in Time Magazine, the article outlined eight leadership principles that Mandela used to build his distinguished career – and his very powerful leadership personal brand – as an activist and politician. All eight are interesting, but I want to focus on two of Mandela’s principles and how they apply to building a leadership personal brand in the business world.

Principle #1:

“Lead from the back – and let others believe they are in front. The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. The chief’s job, Mandela said, was not to tell people what to do but to form a consensus. ‘Don’t enter the debate too early,’ he used to say.”

What Mandela is doing here is advocating a democratic, or participative, leadership style. Let’s face it: As a business leader, there may be times when you have to use an authoritarian style and make a fast – and sometimes lonely – decision. But, the majority of the time, it makes sense to include direct reports in the decision-making process. Otherwise, why have you hired them in the first place? Great leaders know that they, too, are learning and growing every day in the job – even from those who are in subordinate positions.

So, build your leadership personal brand by (1) allowing others to have a say in decisions, and (2) getting clear on when you need the expertise of others in order to make the most informed choices.

Principle #2:

“Nothing is black or white. Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors. To look for simple explanations is the bias of the human brain, but it doesn’t correspond to reality. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.”

This is an important reminder for all of us in every aspect of life – both personal and business. It’s fundamental to success to be able to see the nuances in any business situation, whether it involves launching a new product, dealing with a challenging employee, managing a tough boss, etc. The mind naturally wants to categorize everything in black or white terms, so most of us have to constantly remind ourselves to stop and look at all aspects of a situation. Otherwise, it’s easy to fall victim to making decisions based on tunnel-vision, and that can lead to costly mistakes. Make sounder, smarter business decisions by pointing out nuances and contradictions to your team, and they will begin to see the situation more multi-dimensionally as well.

Applying these leadership principles can strengthen your leadership personal brand.

(Here is a link to the entire article: http://tinyurl.com/6pgaeb.)

It’s just the sheer nature of the beast. At your level, everyone you turn to for advice has a hidden agenda. No matter how hard they may try, their perspectives cannot help but be “biased.” This includes your spouse, your children, your boss, your Board of Directors, your subordinates, and your peers. So, where can you go for an impartial viewpoint? Who can you turn to for a truly objective discussion?

Executive Coaching may be the answer. There is an unfortunate myth about Executive Coaching that it’s only about “fixing problems,” but nothing could be further from the truth! Coaching isn’t consulting, counseling, or therapy. It isn’t about regretting a past that can’t be changed. It’s about focusing on a future that can be changed. Executive Coaching helps leaders who are already successful achieve even more in the future.

The original definition of the word “coach” was a vehicle – usually horse-drawn – that took someone from one place to another. More and more executives are recognizing that this is what they can gain from an Executive Coach – a means of getting from where they are now to where they want to be. They understand that the skills which got them their current positions may not be enough to advance their careers or even keep them competitive at their present level.

Here are just a few of the top reasons that executives turn to coaching:

• Develop stronger leadership skills / core competencies.
• Transition successfully into a new position.
• Help high potential employees succeed.
• Reduce / better manage stress.
• Improve time management and work/life balance.
• Foster better self-coaching behaviors.
• Implement a new strategy, vision, or direction.
• Develop conflict management skills.
• Create a more positive workplace environment.
• Achieve greater overall business success.
• Find a truly objective sounding board for ideas and issues.

So, how do you find the best Executive Coach for you? First and foremost, do your research. Look for certified coaches at the website of the International Coach Federation (www.CoachFederation.org), and interview a few coaches until you find one who feels right. Ask to see training certificates and testimonials. Talk to past clients, if possible, and request a free trial session. A coach may be very talented, but the chemistry between you needs to be spot-on in order for you to achieve your goals.

Here are some questions you might ask an Executive Coach before you hire them:

• What types of people and situations have you worked with?
• What kind of results did you achieve?
• What is your coaching model and process?
• Where did you get your training?
• Is there anyone you would turn down as a client?
• How would you define the difference between therapy and coaching?
• What is your greatest strength as a coach?

Cost and Payout?

What does executive coaching cost? The range varies widely across the world, and depends upon the coach’s level of experience and track record. Harvard Business Review has reported that rates range from $300-$3,500 USD per hour. One thing you can do to keep costs down is ask for a volume discount if your company has multiple managers who need coaching.

Make sure you get a good return on your investment (ROI) when it comes to executive coaching. Two recent large-scale independent studies amongst thousands of executive coaching clients across the world said the return on their investment was anywhere from 600-700% of the cost of the initial investment. Nonetheless, take the time to quantify the results of hiring an executive coach. The costs of weak leaders in today’s marketplace are great, but the benefit of having strong leaders is priceless.

In this article, I want to address the issue of executives and their planned holidays that simply turn into “working somewhere other than the office.”

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you?

• You choose your hotel or resort because it has a wireless connection that will allow you to check e-mails on a regular basis.
• The plane lands at your holiday destination and, immediately upon turning on your cell phone, you see 14 missed calls from various members of your team.
• You miss breakfast because you’re busy putting out fires via e-mail at the start of your day.
• Your spouse becomes upset because you’re taking calls while you’re on the beach, at dinner, at the museum – you name it.
• You have to leave your family and return to your hotel room for a Skype conference with your boss.
• You find yourself more stressed after your holiday than you were before you left because you spent your time away trying to juggle work and leisure.

These are common scenarios in these days of inexpensive and easy connections via e-mail, mobile phone, and video conferencing. But, this often means your holiday becomes more of a temporary office set up in a faraway location rather than real time off.

The Vacation Solution

The first step to solving this problem is to sit back and think about what it is that is really holding you back from completely disconnecting with the office while you’re away. Is it that you don’t trust your team to do a good job? Is it that you secretly don’t want them to survive – let alone thrive – while you are gone so that you can prove you’re irreplaceable? These are tough questions to ask yourself, but taking the time to think about your answers is critical and will have a big impact on whether you end up taking a holiday that truly serve its intended purpose: to recharge your batteries and remind you that you are far more than just what you do for a living.

Take some time to examine your thoughts around being gone from the office. Remember: Smart leaders know that when their company, division, or department runs smoothly during their absence, it’s a sign of excellent management on their part. If things go well while you’re on holiday, it doesn’t make you unimportant. It simply means that your team is well enough trained and able to handle situations so that you can afford to be gone for a few weeks. If you want to, you can still hold off making the most important decisions for when you return.

For a lot of executives, being interrupted repeatedly on holidays is simply a result of not having laid out clear enough boundaries up front so that they can be left alone to enjoy their breaks in peace. Here are some tips:

1. Notify people. Tell everyone many weeks in advance what the dates of your holiday will be, and let them know that your intention is to truly “divorce” yourself from the business for that period of time.

2. Enlist others’ help. Get everyone involved in helping you to have some real downtime. Ask them for help to prepare for a true break. That way, they become part of the solution, not the problem. (Bring back some gifts to the office as a way to say ‘thank you’ for their help!)

3. Anticipate. Think about what activities and projects will take place while you’re away, then prepare your team and everyone else who needs to know about them. Ask them to proactively think about any questions or issues that they will need to address during that time so that you can handle them before you leave.

4. Set clear expectations up front. One week before you depart for your holiday, send a notice to all people who regularly send you e-mails, SMS messages, or who call you on your cell. In this note, set clear boundaries and guidelines about how you will manage communications while you are gone. For example, you might say:

• You will only check e-mails once every three or four days – whatever frequency you choose. You may decide that you won’t check e-mails at all. If so, great! Make that clear, and let everyone know.
• Ask people to refrain from sending you “nice to know” e-mails. If they absolutely must, ask them to put “Nice to Know” in the subject line so that you can ignore these e-mails until you return to the office.

• You will only accept phone calls regarding urgent matters such as: (a) a strategic issues that have long-term business ramifications, or (b) something that could dramatically impact the business like potentially losing a big client account, or (c) an emergency that impacts safety (a fire or an injured employee, etc.).

5. Don’t just manage down – manage up as well. Alert your boss or your Board of Directors that you will be leaving matters to your team in your absence. You need to set boundaries with everyone in order to claim your well-deserved downtime.

If you have taken the time to train your team well, trust them. It may take some work the first time you go away using these new guidelines but, after sticking to regular guidelines, you should be able to take holidays with greater ease.

What would you say is the most critical success factor for business growth in your company? If you’re like 91% of the respondents in a recent study of CEOs in North America, Europe, and Asia, you would say “developing leaders.” In this article, we’ll explore why leadership development has become more vital to business success than ever, and why companies are now overwhelmingly choosing a previously-untapped resource – Executive Coaching – as a key part of the solution.

Executive Coaching On the Rise

In a Fortune 500 survey, 43% of CEOs and 71% of senior executive team members said that they have worked with a coach, 63% of companies said they plan to increase their use of coaching over the next five years, and 92% of leaders who have used a coach in the past plan to do so again.

Why? The statistics indicate a clear answer: Coaching works. In a study of 370 participants who had worked with executive coaches, the group went from the 50th percentile in performance to the 93rd percentile. Amoco Corp./BP evaluated the impact of executive coaching over a ten-year period and discovered that managers who were coached received 50% higher average salary increases because their performance was so much better.

So, what does this mean for you and your company? It means that coaching is a powerful option when you need to transform managers into leaders who can handle today’s ever-changing world. Executive Coaching allows you to dramatically improve your leadership bench strength.

But why turn to an outside source for developing leaders? A brief history of business over the last three decades may shed some light.

Leadership Skills – Yesterday and Today

In the 1970s and 1980s, corporations used a pyramid structure with the CEO at the top. Most executives had three or four direct reports and could therefore spend quality time providing on-the-job training for them. If you had solid functional skills during that era – marketing, finance, and sales, for example – that was all you needed to win as a leader. Termed “hard” skills, these were considered most important, while “soft” skills like team management and communication were deemed of lesser value, if not altogether dispensable.

Then the 1990s arrived. Wall Street became tougher on companies, demanding better and better results. Most markets had tapped out domestically and started to look internationally. All of this brought about a surge of mergers and acquisitions resulting in larger and larger organizations. These huge conglomerates, too big to use pyramid structures, turned to flattened matrix organizations. The result? Managers suddenly had 8-12 direct reports, less time to train each individual, and they also found themselves with different bosses in different locations for different functions. The complexity of doing business had increased dramatically.

Other critical changes took place at the same time, intensifying the pace and challenges related to change:

• More and more women entered the workforce, resulting in more diversity in the workplace.
• People were living longer so, for the first time in the history of modern capitalism, four generations were working under the same roof.
• The rapid changes taking place in technology meant that the “work week” had become 24/7 for many organizations.
• Working across hemispheres created the need to manage time zones and cultural diversity, upping the importance of strong people skills.

Dramatic Changes in Such a Short Period – The Outcomes?

In this environment, functional skills have now become the price of entry. Previously considered “soft” skills are now the “hard” skills that are vital to becoming a successful leader. Universities and MBA programs rarely teach those skills, and the flattened organizations of today allow little or no time for the busy leader to receive direct on-the-job coaching.

As a result, employee loyalty has dropped dramatically, bringing the average tenure in any given job to three years. Employers find it increasingly difficult to retain their best employees. The pace of change and increased scrutiny – including new regulations from government – are relentless. Last – but not least – as baby boomers (the largest group of people ever in the work force) begin to reach retirement age, companies are starting to realize an even greater shortage of good leaders for the future.

The result of all of this means many companies and HR departments are turning to outside executive coaches to develop and strengthen their leaders.

What is Executive Coaching Anyway?

There is a myth about executive coaching that it’s about “fixing” behavior problems. Nothing could be further from the truth! Coaching isn’t consulting, counseling, or therapy. It isn’t about regretting a past that can’t be changed. It’s about focusing on a future that can be changed.

An executive coach is a skilled professional who develops an ongoing relationship with the leader-client and focuses on helping that individual to take action toward bringing to life those stated goals. A coach serves as a combination of a mentor, manager, personal trainer, and sports coach. A good coach doesn’t provide solutions to the client. Instead, the coach draws out solutions from the client. This helps already successful leaders achieve positive, lasting changes in behaviors that allow them to transform themselves and their teams, ultimately leading to better overall business results.

How Can an Executive Coach Help?

A recent survey revealed the top two reasons that companies engage executive coaches:

• 48% said they used a coach to develop high potential employees or facilitate a successful transition into a new position.
• 26% said leaders used a coach as a sounding board.

So, what exactly can an executive coach help today’s leaders accomplish? The list is long, but here are just a few examples:

• Strengthen leadership skills/core competencies.
• On-board managers into a new company or position.
• Improve time management and work/life balance.
• Reduce / better manage stress.
• Develop more productive work relationships.
• Enhance conflict management skills.
• Implement a new strategy, vision, or direction.
• Build an existing business or launch a new one.

What to Look For in an Executive Coach

It’s one thing to know that an executive coach can be an asset in developing leaders within your organization. It’s another thing to know how to choose a good coach. Make sure the coaches you consider are…

- Well-trained. Ask to see training certificates from an accredited coaching school.
- Certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF). See www.CoachFederation.org.
- Trained or certified in assessments like MBTI, StrengthsFinder, FIRO-B, LPI, EQI, CPI.
- Versed and experienced in both business operations and human/organizational behavior.
- Non-biased, non-judgmental, 100% focused on the client.
- Able to maintain 100% confidentiality.
- Open to allowing you to speak to past clients. At a minimum, you should read past client testimonials.

How Do You Know if a Coach is Right For a Specific Leader?

Good chemistry is key to success with an executive coach. A coach may have stellar credentials but may not be the right “fit” for the leader in question. So, request a free trial session when you have narrowed down your list of potential coaches. Then, don’t be afraid to ask some tough questions:

• What types of people and issues have you worked with, and what were the outcomes?
• What is your coaching model and process?
• Is there any client you would turn down?
• How do you deal with resistance?
• How would you define the difference between therapy and coaching?
• What is your greatest strength as a coach?
• What is your plan for keeping key stakeholders in the loop?

Cost and Payout?

What does executive coaching cost? The range is wide depending upon the coach’s level of experience and track record. Harvard Business Review has reported that rates range from $300-$3,500 USD per hour. One thing you can do to keep costs down is ask for a volume discount if your company has multiple managers who need coaching.

Make sure you get a good return on your investment (ROI) when it comes to Executive Coaching. Two recent large-scale independent studies amongst thousands of executive coaching clients across the world said the return on their investment was anywhere from 600-700% of the cost of the initial investment. Nonetheless, take the time to quantify the results of hiring an executive coach. The costs of weak leaders in today’s marketplace are great, but the benefits of having strong leaders is priceless.

The Starbucks brand of coffee can teach you a lot about your own brand as a leader. How? Well, consider this for a moment … When coffee is in its natural coffee bean state, it’s a commodity that sells for just 1-2¢ per cup. When you add packaging and a brand name to it and place it on a grocery store shelf, the price of that coffee goes up to 5-25¢ per cup. Throw in service and personality by offering that coffee at, say, Dunkin Donuts, and the price rises to around 75¢ to $1.50 per cup.

But then, there’s Starbucks coffee, which sells for $2-$5 per cup. How does Starbucks do that? And what does Starbucks have that those other cups of coffee don’t?

It isn’t just a better tasting cup of coffee. What Starbucks offers is something so much more than taste – it offers a rewarding coffee experience. When we buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, we’re paying for the experience of taking a break during the day … the experience of enjoying a jolt of java with friends … the experience of relaxing with a mocha latte after a night at the theatre. It’s those experiences that differentiate Starbucks from so many other coffee brands.

The same is true of you and your own leadership personal brand. If you want to earn more money, advance in your career, and keep moving up the corporate ladder, think about the experience you offer as a leader in the workplace. If you could step into the shoes of those you are leading, what would it feel like to be part of a team with you at the helm? In short, would you want to work for YOU?

Because you’re not in your team’s shoes, it can be difficult to answer that question. But if you don’t, your leadership personal brand will suffer. To make sure your individual brand is bringing you success and growth in your career, you need to learn how others perceive, think, and feel about you as a leader at the office. Only then can you find out if your brand needs help. And that means getting regular, helpful feedback.

That can be easier said than done, of course. If no one is offering you feedback because of your heightened position, or if you don’t feel you’re getting honest feedback from subordinates, it’s your responsibility to go after it. There is no better way to accelerate both your career and, ultimately, your company. Here are four tips to give you an idea of what it’s like to work for you:

1. Use 360-degree feedback tools. There are literally hundreds of them on the market, so choose carefully in order to find the one that will help you meet your specific objectives. For example, if you want to improve your leadership skills, use a leadership assessment tool like Leadership Agility 360. If you want to better manage your emotions on the job, try an emotional intelligence assessment like Emotional Capital Inventory (ECi 360). Ask to see an example of the report outcome you will receive, and check to see if you need a certified coach to administer the assessment.

2. Ask for feedback, regularly. In a one-on-one environment, sit down and ask for feedback from your subordinates, your boss, and key colleagues. (If you try to have a group meeting for feedback, no one will be honest with you.) Let each individual know that you’re sincere in your request and that you want candor. Listen intently, and write down what you hear. Don’t allow yourself to become defensive no matter what is said. If you do, the exercise will backfire, and chances are you’ll never receive honest feedback again. When they’re finished, simply say “thank you” and nothing more.

3. Audio or videotape yourself conducting meetings, then sit back and review them objectively. This can be a real eye-opener. As you watch or listen, put yourself in your team’s position, and imagine what it felt like to be in that meeting with you. Are you communicating the leadership brand you want? If you find it difficult to assess the recordings, ask a trusted colleague for honest feedback.

4. After you’ve gathered all of your notes from your feedback and from watching and listening to recordings, look for the common elements and themes. Based on your learnings, what are the key behaviors that you want to focus on improving? Choose the top 3-4, then create an action plan to begin to change those behaviors. Find an executive coach if you feel at a loss as to how to put the feedback into action or if you feel you need extra motivation to change some non-productive habits.

Work on these changes every day, but don’t expect immediate success. Long-lasting changes in behavior require time and persistence. Most of the behaviors you will want to change have been long-time habits, so you first need to become aware of when and how the behavior takes place. Then, you’ll be in a position to stop yourself and do something different.

Even if the feedback stings in the beginning, you will soon discover the many rewards of strengthening your leadership personal brand. When you succeed in changing an ingrained limiting behavior, you feel a strong sense of accomplishment. And, the respect you receive from your team as a result of listening to their feedback is invaluable. They will feel empowered by the fact that you took their comments to heart, and you will become a great role model for how they can use feedback to improve themselves in the workplace, too.

Only through strengthening your leadership personal brand can you continue to grow as a leader and further your career. That’s how you enrich the experience of working with you and make yourself someone you’d be happy to have at the helm.