Using my personal brand to make a difference
I get asked a lot whether my personal brand and Brand by Me are one and the same. The answer is no. They have to be linked and consistent but they can be slightly different. So it is for me. Brand Collette and Brand by Me definitely share a lot of characteristics and are completely consistent but they are different. The main difference, the thing sets them apart is leadership. Leadership is one of my personal values and a big driver of my purpose. But it’s not one of Brand by Me’s values. Not that at Brand by Me we don’t think leadership is important. However the role of Brand by Me is to work with leaders to help them build strong brands, not to lead brands ourselves. So we didn’t think it should be one of our values.
Leadership has always been important to me and I’ve been told I am a strong leader. (I think it comes from being the eldest of 3 siblings). When I was younger, I wanted to be Prime Minister until well into my teens. (I haven’t ruled it out). I’ve talked about building your leadership brand before so I won’t repeat myself. The quote below sums up my view on leadership. When it comes to my personal brand, I focus on using my leadership ability to make a difference. I think all leaders should. And I believe that all leaders have a duty to be good leaders – whether you are born with the skill or develop it over time.
I use my personal brand to try and inspire and equip aspiring and future leaders. I think the world needs a more diverse group of leaders to truly achieve change. And I share my experience of what’s worked for me in the hope that it will encourage others to do the same.
Although I’m starting small, it’s beginning to work. I wrote before about my amazing experience with UpRising, an organisation about inspiring future leaders from diverse backgrounds. And last week, I wrote a LinkedIn post on diversity that, from the feedback I received, inspired a few current and existing leaders to speak up on diversity within their own companies and organisations.
Which brings me to 2017.
How am I going to use my personal brand to make a difference next year?
Well, I have 2 thoughts. I want to run two new workshops on the topic of using your personal brand to make a difference and building a leadership brand. And I’m looking for partnerships with organisations who share this vision – who believe in creating a new group of leaders in the world, equipped, inspired and empowered to achieve change. I’ll keep you posted.
And if you’d like to learn how to use your own personal brand to make a difference, do get in touch.
