Sure, You Have a Personal Brand — But Is It Strong Enough?
From experimenting with how you show up each day to expanding your influence, here’s how to use your personal brand to achieve career success.
There’s a Michelle Obama quote that Jacqueline Foley loves, and references often: “If you don’t get out there and define yourself, you’ll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.”
That quote pretty much sums up the “why” behind Foley’s work as a personal brand coach. Channeling her own 30 years in marketing in the corporate world for the likes of Home Depot and Manulife Financial, not to mention her own stint in the C-suite, Foley now devotes her time to helping other women executives build the careers they deserve through articulating — and actioning — their values and visions.
“It’s really about establishing a ‘leadership’ brand,” says Foley, who also runs women in leadership programs for the Women of Ivey Network at Ivey Business School in London, ON. “Everybody I coach comes to me because they either want to elevate themselves and get promoted within their own organizations, or they want to get that next-level role in another organization. Honing your personal brand can be the conduit that gets you from ‘here’ to ‘there.’”
ROOM: What does it mean to have a strong personal brand?
Jacqueline Foley: The core idea of personal branding comes down to a single question: “How do you want people to talk about you when you’re not in the room?” Your personal brand is much more than an elevator pitch or a social media profile. It’s about knowing yourself and what you stand for, what makes you unique as a leader, and what reputation you want to build for yourself.
When you’re clear about all of those things, you can be a lot more deliberate and intentional about how you live your brand. It informs how you show up every day, how you network and how you articulate your brand in your organization, whether it’s in conversations with colleagues, when giving presentations or in meetings.
R: How do you start building a stronger personal brand?
JF: A big part of what I do with senior women in leadership is get them to slow down and do the inner work to reconnect with what they really care about, what they’re really good at and what kind of environment they need to be successful in. It requires getting very curious about yourself.
I recommend making a list of top achievements from across your career — and why they were meaningful to you. Write down the core skills and competencies that contributed to these accomplishments. The deeper you go, the more you start to see clear themes. Maybe you really value opportunities to stretch yourself, or it’s important for you to be in an environment where you can be creative and innovative.
You also might uncover some core strengths, like your ability to transform culture or solve complex problems or lead a company-wide change process. We all have a lot of strengths; it’s about identifying the core strengths that really energize you, and help you do your best work.
R: So, you’ve figured out what you’re best at — now what?
JF: You have to look at, “What really speaks to me here?” As women, we know what we get excited about. We know when we’ve been in a role or situation where we’re really at our best. That’s the stuff you want to draw from.
Another step that can be helpful is to solicit informal feedback from peers, bosses and mentors and test your brand from the outside in. Some good questions to ask could be: How would you describe my leadership style? What do you see as my biggest strengths? This can do two things: It reconfirms what you know about yourself and it often highlights additional strengths that you may not have even thought about. It also helps test your own assumptions and crystallizes three or four core strengths and values that you can work from.
R: How can you ensure the success of your brand?
JF: The number one thing is the intention. The clearer and more intentional you are about the brand you’re building and where you’re trying to go, the more successful you will be.
You also need to make sure your daily actions align with your brand. Ask yourself, literally every morning, “how do I want to show up today?” And, at the end of the day, ask yourself “How did I do?” Be reflective around how you’re showing up.
R: What’s the biggest challenge women face when it comes to building their personal brands?
JF: Putting themselves out there. There’s a gap between what we know to be true about ourselves and our ability to actually position ourselves confidently. Sometimes just taking a small step can help, such as setting up a conversation with a warm contact in your organization — it could be a peer or leader who you admire. Use that opportunity to share your strengths and career goals and ask for their support. Women are often surprised by how much people want to support their growth when they have these conversations.
Women should also be looking for opportunities to share the impact they and their teams are having on the business. Don’t assume that people are paying attention. We need to be celebrating and communicating our wins constantly. That’s how we build the visibility of our brand within our organizations and our industries as a whole.
Celebrating even small wins on a regular basis is also how you build a success mindset, and it’s how you continue to make sure you’re living as the kind of leader you aspire to be.
R: What can you do to boost the visibility of your brand?
JF: It’s about networking, connecting and sharing. If you’re someone who’s active on LinkedIn, go for it. Sharing wins and commenting on other people’s successes is a great way to connect and be visible.
You can also pass on any emails or praise from peers and leaders outside your team to your boss, so they know what others are saying about your work. This is not bragging — it’s celebrating achievements. Share the projects and results you’re most excited about. And share these stories in a way that connects the work you and your team are doing with the broader strategic goals of the organization. So, if growth is a big goal, what have you been working on that is contributing to the growth of a specific product or service line?
If your real goal is to be promoted and be seen as a next-level leader, have conversations with the right people. Start by identifying the people you think could help you build your visibility and influence in the company, such as other senior leaders who you believe have influence in the organization. Ask for 30 minutes of their time and be upfront about the fact that you’re looking for opportunities to grow your leadership and would love their perspective. Use the meeting to share your vision and goals, as well as a couple of key success stories, and ask for their input and support. If the meeting goes well, ask them to meet monthly or quarterly to continue the conversation.
R: How should you evolve your personal brand as you evolve in your career?
JF: Personal branding is not just about communicating your value, it’s about building your brand influence. We build a lot of credibility for ourselves as we become more senior. We’re seen as experts who are really good at what we do, but that doesn’t mean we’re good at influence. Many of the women that I coach have built a lot of credibility, but they’re low on influence. I call this being “stuck in the leadership gap.”
This is a really important part of brand building, because we have to be able to have influence. That’s what organizations look for in next-level leaders. Are they able to bring people along? Do people listen to them? We tend to focus on doing a great job, which is wonderful, but there’s a shift we must make as leaders from being a good doer to being a better leader.
There are a number of things women can do to build brand influence: freeing up some of their time so they can focus more on how they can add more strategic value to the business, sharing ideas, initiating more conversations with other leaders.
It also means advocating for what we need to be successful in our roles. Whether you want more leadership skill-building, need additional resources or think you should be better compensated — when we advocate for ourselves, we’re saying we believe in our value, and that others should too.
R: How do you know that your personal brand is working?
JF: What I see all the time is women getting more opportunities, getting promoted and landing roles that months before they never thought they’d get. You’ll notice that you’re being treated differently, you’re asked to the leadership table and are sought out more for your opinions. You might also see that the more visible you are, the more you’re able to build your influence.
When you start to see that others see you differently, it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy — and that’s how you achieve your goals.
