“Thank you for doing all of the things I never asked you to do.”

Joel Gascoigne 's newsletter this morning highlighted this quote from a 2017 interview with J?rgen Vig Knudstorp, the executive chairman of the LEGO Brand Group. The full quote is:

The culture I’m trying to create is one where every year when we celebrate another record result, I get up on the beer box and I say, “Thank you for doing all of the things I never asked you to do.” I don’t want to control. I want to create context. I want to create clarity of culture and strategic choice, but then I want people to surprise me. I don’t want a place where people are doing what they’ve been told to do, because that stifles, that creates bureaucracy, that creates fear.

He was making a point about employee engagement (and creativity!), but it also had lessons for association management - and even personal brand management.

At LEGO, he emphasized:

We’re here to develop children. We’re here to give children the very best. We want to be an irreplaceable but also irresistible brand for children. We want to be on top of their wish list and something they talk passionately about.

There is employee engagement, too, in that passionate focus. Any trade association could take out "children" and replace it with their area of focus. I have worked at the Mississippi Hospital Association for almost 24 years now. The incessant focus on what is best for Mississippi hospitals has made it much easier for me to make strategic decisions in my day-to-day duties.

But it's also a reminder of your personal leadership brand. I am thinking more about this because I'm presenting on this topic during the Mississippi Public Health Association annual meeting in November. But, honestly, also because Karin VanZant , Kina L. White, DrPH, MHSA, FACHE , and I have a new book coming out in January from the American College of Healthcare Executives Health Administration Press.

I love to use this quote in presentations to emerging leaders, but I'm going to add the Vig Knudstorp quote too, because part of your leadership brand is what your peers, your bosses, your friends, and your network will do for you without you asking. What is leadership branding but "network engagement" at its core? Just like with your employees, you have to show up every day and show that you are doing your best before any ask of them.

Why is building your leadership brand important? My father was an entrepreneur for most of my life. He took many chances in business - some that paid off and some that most definitely did not. The one lesson he always emphasized to me was that we are all "self" employed, whether we work for ourselves or not.

His point was that no one can make you want to wake up and do the right thing for any amount of money. You have to wake up and want to do the right thing. On your own. And you also have to be ready to wake up one day, go to work, get fired or laid off, or try to open a chain-locked door - and still have a plan for You, Inc.

That's why networking is so important.

I'm sharing this story because I preach to emerging leaders that their LinkedIn profile is NOT their online resume - it's their leadership story. Like Vig Knudstorp, if you have a solid and engaged network, you will spend much time thanking people for things you never asked them to do, from dropping your name as a potential candidate for that plum position not advertised yet to inviting you to speak at a conference or buying your book.

Engaging with each of you on LinkedIn has allowed me to learn from you and your leadership stories every day.

So, thank you...for doing all of the things that I never asked you to.