Читать книгу Master the Brand Called YOU: The Proven Leadership Personal Branding System to Help You Earn More, Do More and Be More At Work - Brenda Bence - Страница 17

What is this concept called “leadership personal branding”? I like to define it as:

The way you want people to perceive, think, and feel about you as a leader in relation to other leaders.

Just like product brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari exist in our minds, so your own leadership personal brand exists in the minds of others, as they perceive, think, and feel about you in relation to other leaders at work.

Let’s look carefully at this definition, and focus on three key words: perceive, think, and feel. They’ve been carefully chosen for a reason.

Perceive: Perception in branding is reality. When it comes to your own brand, it doesn’t matter who you think you are. What matters is how others perceive you. If others perceive you differently from who you actually believe you are inside, you’re probably not communicating the brand you want.

Think: On the one hand, branding is a fairly rational exercise, so our brains have a lot to do with how we think about brands. There are logical reasons why we choose one brand over another. The same holds true in leadership personal branding—what do others think about you?

Feel: On the other hand, branding is also an emotional process. Earlier in the chapter, you thought about brands that have earned your loyalty over the years. Stop and reflect on one of those brands right now. What is the feeling you have about that brand? Trust? Admiration? Gratitude? We establish connections with brands, and these connections go far beyond what the products actually do for us. We’re loyal to these brands based on emotional connections—and it’s the same with leadership personal branding. The way people feel about you has a profound influence on your success. The stronger the connections you create with others, the more powerful your individual brand will be.