Your Story Is Your Brand!

As a leader, whether you are CEO, C-Suite or HR You surely know that Your Brand is not your logo, your colors, or even your catch phrases.

Your Story is Your Brand, Your Brand is Your Story!

The level of your impact starts with your ability to convey a powerful purpose driven story!

That being said, let me be clear. This is not crap you made up because its now trendy to tell stories. When we speak of story in the context of brand there are many moving parts including how well, how authentically connected, and how congruently you tell that story all of which determines the loyalty of both your team and you customers.

In today's business environment if you are not masterful at telling your story, you can be sure that your competitor is going to become masterful at telling theirs.

Just stop for a moment and honestly ask yourself; do you actually have a corporate creation story? Do you have a corporate values story? Do you have a personal corporate bonding story? Each of these stories has their own value in bonding talent and customers to you and the impact you will ultimately have.

Let me ask you; does everyone on your leadership team have that same series of stories?

If the answer was no to any of the above... its time to step up!

Find someone to assist you because in a time where recruiting top talent is vital and keeping them loyal is the difference between winning and losing. Your purpose story (or lack thereof) can be the tipping point between attracting and repelling the talent and customers that could take your business to the next level.

Here's an example: Susan was/is the owner of a midsize consulting firm. The work they did was at a was head and shoulders above most of her competition, but her firm was just not getting to the place where they could break free from the crowd. We began working on finding her purpose story: The emotional drivers behind why she had entered into the business in the first place. ?

During the first round of inquiry Susan was a bit skeptical because she felt she knew her story. "I just kind of ended up here as a natural evolution of my work inside the corporate world."

Obviously that was not her purpose story, but rather a recalling of circumstance. The Purpose Story revolves around not only our "why" but also the "impact". When we dug into this with Susan we discovered, much to her surprise that there was a set of "unconscious drivers" that were in place.

These drivers had unconsciously (as they do with all of us) been the guide to move her towards first the career she had been in, and then on to creating her firm. Once we were able to elicit those drivers and build her purpose story not only did the goals and vision she had for the company shift into high gear but so did the profitability of the organization. Here's where having a clear purpose story pays off.

Susan flew into New York to attend a conference where she was looking to learn a particular set of strategic skills for growing her business. She told me that she was finding the conference a little disappointing as she wasn't getting what she needed.

However, there was a moment where she was ask to stand and share why she had gone into business. Susan stood up and without hesitation began sharing the purpose story we had been working on. When she finished people applauded, a few people around her table told her; "that was very inspiring" and she though no more of it. That is until the break, when she found herself surrounded by a small group of people telling her how impactful her sharing had been. Each person wanted to share their own stories and she thought that was wonderful. However that night at a group dinner she was separately approached by two individuals who also shared the impact she had had.

One of the two became her biggest client to date, and the other was someone who worked for a similar company to her own (only much larger) and later that individual joined her team and with her brought a body of work Susan had never even considered.

Okay it's your turn. Let's give you some tools to get you started and then you can tell us:

• Outside of circumstances what might have been the pull for you to go into your career or business?
• What is it about your story that when you tell it people are moved (even if you feel like it's no big deal)?
• If you could go back in time to speak to your younger self; what would you tell that you about getting too this place in your career?
• If you could time travel forward in time and meet your seventy year old self; what would that version of you have to say about your career choices at the age you are at?

You and your organization need a series of powerful and empowering stories (We call them Full Monty Stories... https://ASALeadership.com ) in order to connect and bond with your leadership team and the folks you all serve.

Below please leave a message and share with us what you believe are 3 of the core elements of your corporate/organizational/entrepreneurial story.

I created the Authentic Leadership Matrix after a lot of experience and research. One of the questions I'm asked often is what authentic leadership is and how do we define it. As a result, I created the matrix. It splits what leadership is into five separate categories. So, that you can take a clear look at how you perform in each of the five main areas that are required for you to become a world class authentic leader. The process takes you through each category simply with yes or no questions.https://matrix.fullmontyleadership.com/

With gratitude, D?v Baron

I also write for Entrepreneur.com:

• Is There Life After Success(ion)?
• Why 47 Percent of Your Best People Are Ready to Leave -- and What You Can Do About It
• The 11 Questions Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Ask Themselves
• Why Being a Self-Aware Leader Is Not Enough
• Unlocking 'the 4 Cs' to Create a Fiercely Loyal Corporate Culture

“In 2015, Dov Baron was cited by Inc Magazine as one of the Top 100 Leadership Speaker to book for your next conference! He speaks internationally and is The Leading Authority on Next-Gen Authentic Leadership and creating a Culture of Fiercely Loyal Leaders. FullMontyLeadership.com

Dov on Twitter | Dov on Facebook | Dov on Youtube

P.S. To get your hands on Dov Baron’s new book “Fiercely Loyal” How High Performing Companies Develop and Retain Top Talent, go take a look here https://fiercelyloyalbook.com and get your FREE: How to instantly bond any team infographic”

To contact: Dov Baron International, and Authentic Paragon Alliance INC. Contact Authentic Paragon Alliance at +1 778 397 7717 https://FullMontyLeadership.com