Personal Branding: what is it and why to consciously build it.

Personal branding is raising the awareness of your leadership values and the qualities that make you an influential person.

As Norm Smallwood put it in the Harvard Business Review, "A leadership brand conveys your identity and distinctiveness as a leader".

It expresses the worth you bring to the table.

Your reputation as a leader depends on several factors, including how you act and respond in different settings with different people, and how you, as a leader, collaborate with others to achieve great things.

It takes bravery to establish a distinct identity in the leaders' marketplace. Leaders must realize that their presence is crucial in every respect and will play a pivotal part in their efforts to create an impact.

In order to establish a name for yourself as a credible leader, you may find that a comprehensive personal branding strategy is the best option. You and your team will benefit from this in the long run. It needs to be methodical, not haphazard.

According to several studies, leaders in professional settings value characteristics like social ability, creativity and openness to others. But what if you have to force yourself to show those things while being an introvert? Is there a method to make others see you as having certain qualities when you don't actually try to promote them?

This is indeed the Personal Branding Paradox -the cornerstone question in my upcoming book: how can I communicate my personal brand while staying authentic, discreet and modest? ...and keep being all these! How can my personal brand flow out physically without any push out strategy?

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To this end, it's vital that you ask yourself whether or not your personal brand leadership may benefit from the addition of credibility and "attractiveness." Have you considered the actions you do and their motivations, your patterns, as well as the impression and impact you make on others around you as a leader? Find out what sort of leader you are and how you can grow in your leadership abilities by answering these questions and building a personal brand that others will remember as a role-model leader. This is the first (identification) phase to build your brand.

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There are a lot of people that have what it takes to be effective leaders. Most leaders, however, fail to see the significance of developing a distinct identity for themselves, and so they go unnoticed. Invisible leaders can't win over followers and convince them to follow their vision since they aren't "seen." Most people will fail to notice your existence if you are unable to make your presence known visually. This is the second phase of a personal branding making process: how strong is my brand? How impactful it is?

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Being an inspiring leader is essential for everyone in a position of authority. By being genuine, you will win their trust. The distinction between leaders who make an impression and those who don't is their own unique style of leadership. These days, leaders need to be able to cut through the clutter and devote their full attention to the things that truly matter; modeling or even establishing a powerful leadership brand helps them to do just that. That's how leaders with a strong, credible, and genuine brand can affect change. Discover your real sweet-spot being a Leader is the third phase to build your brand.

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Further, it is essential to realize that leadership entails more than merely holding a position of authority in the workplace. Meaningful leadership is being an influencer in one's community, among one's loved ones, and in the larger world at large. Driven from his values, working for these values. This is what we call a purposeful leader. Many individuals are freaking out because of the current challenges of the world. Now, more than ever, is the moment for leaders to step up and earn the respect of their teams by displaying the qualities of a bold and genuine leadership brand, gathering important need and trends on leadership. Build your personal branding strategy using all these trends to reinforce your authenic visibility. Choose them with honesty and your real value drivers.

If all these seems perfectly logic, there is a difficult and long process demanded to build your own brand. My personal experience of several personal branding coaching hours shows that the process is long, difficult and often... hurts a lot!