Tips for Enhancing Your Executive Brand within the Organization

Brands are built on your daily actions and behavior. There is no such thing as a communication, activity, posture, or approach that doesn’t count. Your brand is constantly being evaluated by those around you—both consciously and unconsciously.

While most senior executives are not of the chest-pounding type, when it comes to managing your career, it is important to find subtle ways to promote yourself within the organization.

Following are a few tips for enhancing and promoting your executive brand within the organization:

• If you’re an expert in a particular area, but you’re not recognized for your expertise, try increasing your executive presence and brand by asking to speak at the next board meeting or executive committee meeting. Volunteer to head a task force, committee, special initiative team, oversight office, or best practices group that will allow you to showcase your expertise and demonstrate your brand. If no such group exists, consider initiating and leading one.
• Consider preparing a monthly report for your boss, board, investors, or owners outlining your business unit’s monthly goals and accomplishments and how those accomplishments impacted the business objectives, profitability, market share, shareholder value, stakeholder value, etc. This will enable you to demonstrate your leadership and brand persona while keeping your superiors abreast of your business unit’s progress.
• Position your brand and expertise by mentoring, coaching, and training others. Consider creating training programs, demonstrations, audio/video presentations, podcasts, power point presentations, instruction manuals, tip sheets, how-to articles, and ebooks and publishing them in the company’s newsletter or posting them on the company’s intranet or internal blog. Social media venues may be an option depending on the confidential nature of the subject matter.
• Promote the accomplishments and successes of your team—both individually and collectively. Promote and recognize each individual team member’s accomplishments and successes. Acknowledge them publicly for a job well done. Also, promote the team’s accomplishments and successes. By promoting your team’s and team member’s victories, you position yourself as a dynamic leader of an “A” team. Rest assured, your superiors, colleagues, and peers will know who is leading the team to success.
• Network internally. Network across every function and level of the organization. Connect with people domestically and globally across all divisions, branches, subsidiaries, companies, etc. Gain brand recognition across the entire conglomerate.

Now let’s take a look at a few of the more obvious ways to enhance and promote your brand.

• Your environment: What impression does your office radiate? Is everything in your office in line with your brand?

If your highest value is integrity, do you have a picture or poster expressing integrity? If your brand is team work, do you have posters representing team work? If your brand is global, do you have a globe on a pedestal or world maps hanging on the wall? What books, journals, or publications do you have sitting on your desk or in your reference library? What electronics, equipment, and tools are visible (either physically or on your computer screen)? What types of artifacts are sitting on your shelves? What does your furniture say about you? What does your pen say about you?

• Your expression: What impression do you radiate?

Is your personal grooming in line with your brand? What kind of watch do you wear? What kind of personal electronics do you use? What kind of vehicle do you drive? If your brand is top performance, are you driving a vehicle renowned for top performance? If your brand is reliability, do you drive an all-wheel vehicle? If your brand is efficiency, do you drive a car renowned for incredible fuel efficiency? If your brand is technological innovation, do you drive a car renowned for state of the art technology?

It’s important to note that if you are honoring your unique brand, any adjustments you make to these personal or environmental elements will reduce stress, support your innate talents and expertise, ignite your passions and lead to greater fulfillment.

Incorporating just one or two of these strategies will help you elevate your brand visibility and position yourself for the next level.

Let me know how it works for you.

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