Three easy things to focus on for your next executive leadership role | Interview with Amanda Blesing

I always like to celebrate talented professionals and Amanda Blesing is a talented leadership coach with whom I will be sharing the stage on Monday 24th May at 5.30pm on my #LinkedInLive broadcast.

Amanda is a visibility strategist and leadership coach for executive women. One of the things she is known for is helping busy executive women to win pay rises, promotions and better opportunities. I know that she has helped many of her female clients build their confidence, voice and brand on LinkedIn so I asked her to share with my network three things to position yourself for an executive leadership role that anyone can do.

Amanda says:

"LinkedIn is an amazing networking and positioning tool for busy executives particularly as in the wake of the pandemic, many executives are working remotely and not able to gain the same strategic visibility around the office or at physical networking events as we used to. 

This means it’s even more important for the future focussed executive to not just get comfortable on the platform, but to get smart as well. To help busy executives everywhere here are three easy things you can focus on that will position you better for an executive leadership role. 

1. Hook them in with your Headline - Your headline is one of the best ways to position yourself for the job you want, not the job you have. It doesn’t have to be your current job title which is the mistake many make. Instead, think about the substance of the work you do (and want to be doing more of) and use that language. Remember, the goal is to entice the right people in to want to learn more. And if you’re aiming for an executive leadership role, “the right people” could be executive recruiters, leaders, board members or others already in the executive leadership pipeline.
2. Post your way to the top - with a thoughtful content plan and visibility strategy executed well on LinkedIn. No more happy accident or ad hoc posting for you anymore. And no more chasing likes and other vanity metrics either. Instead, replace that with strategic and thoughtful sharing of content in alignment with your goals. When preparing your content plan, focus on ‘on brand’ content about the pain points that your particular leadership or expertise solves. For example, if your ideal role is a CIO role and reports into the CEO, post about technology solutions to the organisation pain points that typically keep the CEO awake at night.  If your ideal role is a CMO role reporting into an EGM, your content plan needs to include solutions to the organisation pain points that keep the EGM awake at night. Stay on brand and stay strategic.
3. Consistency trumps frequency and even virality. If you’re a leader you don’t want to give the impression that you spend a lot of time on LinkedIn as that will definitely have a backlash effect. But you do want to demonstrate that you are confident expressing your opinion on social media platforms, LinkedIn included, after all, persuasion is a highly desired trait for the successful executive leader who is required to persuade current and potential staff, customers and stakeholder on a daily basis.  So create a cadence that keeps you consistently visible and schedule it into your calendar.

Case study

Margie had a very busy and fairly high profile role within her organisation but had become buried inside the business and no-one outside the organisation remembered she existed any more. She knew she wanted something bigger and in a different organisation so she upped the ante on her LinkedIn strategy.

She started unpacking her thinking, and documenting her ideas on how organisations could tackle problems differently, and scheduled time once a week to create and share content on LinkedIn. We talked about future proofing her career, so that when she was ready to move on, it would be far easier as she would have created a brand for herself more broadly.

She was short on time, so she used tactics on LinkedIn to get more bang for her buck including thinking smartly about timing so that organic reach of posts was high, plus she didn’t leave things to chance by waiting for people to accidentally see her content. Instead she would invite key people into the conversation and ask for their opinion in the commentary. 

To her surprise, after 6 months of consistent focus on her LinkedIn brand building and positioning activity, she saw a role she wanted to apply for so started sharing content in alignment with this new opportunity. She knew she was on the right track when the recruiter checked out her LinkedIn and even commented on one of her posts.

She was even more delighted when, after making it through to the shortlist, she noticed that the interview panellists each checked on her LinkedIn profile too. And ultimately she was successful in winning the role.

Why is this important? In a world where remote working is increasingly the norm, and in a very competitive market place, LinkedIn positioning enables executives to stand out from the crowd without wearing themselves out at old school networking events. In a nutshell, it helps you build a better on ramp for the future you want to inhabit."

Join me and Amanda #LinkedInLive on Monday 24th May at 5.30pm [AEST] when we will discuss how to make an IMPACT in your career for job seekers and executive women.

We will each answer 3 key questions that have been on your mind:

I will discuss:

1. How to position yourself as the ideal candidate in today's highly competitive market

2. How Awards can make a difference in your career

3. How to navigate age bias as a job seeker

Amanda will discuss:

1. How to position yourself on LinkedIn for an executive leadership role

2. How executive women and ensure their voices are heard

3. How to handle 'man-terruptions' and 'man-splaining' in the workplace

As this will be at the end of the day, join us for this relaxed, educational and entertaining discussion and feel free to ask your questions too.

We will be speaking from 5.30pm - 6.15pm so join us for this cocktail hour discussion. Register your interest at this link or pop it in your diary and join via my LinkedIn profile at 5.30pm on Monday.

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Jane Jackson is a leading author, LinkedIn Top Voice, career management coach, YOUR CAREER Podcast host and founder of The Careers Academy Online. Jane supports mid-career changers to create a career they'll love and leave a lasting legacy. What really motivates Jane is to help empower you to find and follow your true career direction with passion and love! Follow Jane on Instagram, Twitter and connect on LinkedIn.