Whether you like it or not, you have a leader brand. Make it intentional.
Studies show that, given the choice between working with a leader who is sometimes good and sometimes bad, or a leader who's consistently bad to work with, people will choose the consistently bad one. Why?
By Jayson Krause, Managing Director of Level 52 & Author of The Science Behind Success
When there is a consistent force in their environment, people can develop strategies to deal with it. But when people are inconsistent—when you don't know how they're going to respond or what they're going to do at any given time—it’s extremely difficult to work or live with them. I'm guessing you don’t want inconsistency from the people you work with, and you also don't want people to experience you as an inconsistent or erratic leader. This is why it’s important to define the impact you want to have on others and develop a tool to help you be consistent. The tool we suggest you use to activate a level of intention and consistency is to develop and refine your ‘leader brand’.
Whether you like it or not, you have a brand. Why not be intentional and create a clear and authentic brand to guide you towards delivering consistent impact and value? Consider your brand as the compass that informs how you navigate the challenges you will undoubtedly face. To do this right, we will focus on three aspects to help you get started on your leader brand journey.
AUTHENTIC, ASPIRATIONAL & UNAPOLOGETIC
What does it mean to be authentic? When it comes to leadership, I believe authenticity is a genuine and true expression of who you are, who you want to be, and the impact you want to have on your world. The key word is ‘genuine’.
This is something that both young and experienced leaders often struggle with because they’ve spent much of their career trying to be the leader or manager they thought they should be instead of grounding themselves in a place that is real for them. It’s the difference between getting clear and intentional about who you want to be as a leader and unconsciously absorbing and mimicking the undesirable behaviors of those leaders around you. You have to always ask yourself, why do you choose to lead? If your answer inspires you, it’s likely great grounds for an authentic foundation. What do you value most? Get clear and understand that, as it’s the fabric of who you are and an important foundation for how you lead.
If authenticity is about the fabric of who you are, the aspirational element is about who you are becoming—the qualities you want to deliver and the legacy you want to leave behind.
Start with the qualities you want to bring as a leader. It can be helpful to think about the qualities you’ve appreciated and admired in other leaders. What is it about those qualities that had an impact on you? Try to visualize and connect with the behaviors and qualities demonstrated by impactful leaders so you can adopt the ones that feel right to you. For example, one of my favorite leaders has a way of being present with others, and she is also bold and a straight shooter. Those are qualities I’ve taken from her as part of the aspirational component of my brand.
Create a list of no more than five qualities you want in your brand. Once you have your list of qualities, ask yourself what impact you’d have if you expressed those qualities consistently over the rest of your career. Will your legacy be stories people use to demonstrate powerful leadership or stories about what not to do? At your retirement party, will people be in tears as they celebrate you and the way you shaped their careers and supported them when times were tough, or will they be celebrating the fact that they don’t have to see you again? What will you be known for? What impact did you create? How did you enable others? Give yourself permission to envision the powerful legacy you created as a result of intentional leadership, and aspire to embody the qualities that will get you there.
This isn’t the end though. What do you need to take a stand for to create this powerful legacy?
The unapologetic aspect of your brand is the piece that can be the most challenging for many leaders. It’s also what can take you from being a good, noticeable leader and transform you into a game-changer; a leader that creates innovation, changes culture, and stands out as a disrupter. This means you will have to make something else more important than being liked.
Gasp! But what if I’m not liked?
Let me flip that on you. What if you’re the most liked person in your company but you never really do much to boost performance? You don’t push or challenge people. You don’t give them the real feedback they need to be better.
In my career as a young leader, I didn’t really take a stand for anything. I did most of the work myself, and it was really important to me to be liked. I really didn’t want to disappoint people. So, I avoided discomfort, didn’t give feedback, and with deep resentment and frustration created a world where my mantra was a victimized tune of, “I’ll just do it myself then.” Don’t be that old version of me.
WHAT WILL YOU TAKE A STAND FOR?
Do you take a stand for performance and give fast and furious feedback? Do you take a stand for creativity and innovation, constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible? Maybe you take a stand for safety, ensuring everyone goes home safely to their families. Whatever it is, just please, please, get intentional and take a stand for something. Be unapologetic about what matters to you.
Having clarity about what you stand for can really help you navigate the choices you make as a leader when the pressure is on, and it can also have a cost benefit. Take, for example, this scenario that was very real for many leaders: During the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 crisis rocked the entire world. These were unprecedented times for any leader. People had to stay at home and businesses came to a complete halt. It was a time of endless questions and elusive answers.
Imagine you are the leader of a small- or medium-sized business during this crisis. You have 20 to 30 employees, and everything comes to an abrupt halt. You rely on the day-to-day business activities to keep the lights on and aren’t fully confident that your receivables are going to get paid. You don’t have much of a runway; maybe three months at most. What do you do? You have to look into the whites of people’s eyes and take the lead. What do you stand for?
If you worry about being liked in this situation, you are screwed. You’ll probably avoid it—hum and haw until the situation has gotten really bad for everyone, forcing you to let them go because it’s the only option left. Maybe you take a stand and direct that everyone takes a 50% pay cut for six months so nobody has to be let go. Maybe you take a stand for transparency and collaboration and give people information about the challenge so you can come up with a solution collectively. Maybe you take a ‘cash is king’ stance and quickly let people go, hoping they’ll come back when things become more certain.
If you are very clear about the unapologetic aspect of your brand and are consistent with it, people might not like your choice, but they will probably respect it. The point is to take a stand for something and invest the time and energy into understanding how that might play out in everything from your ideal state to your day-to-day environment, as well as times of crises.
Note of caution. I want you to get clear and be unapologetic about something. But be aware that the people around you might wonder what the hell just happened if all of a sudden you start showing up wildly different at work (I’m not talking about ‘post-Burning Man’ different). I’ve seen leaders get really clear about what they stood for only to go passionately rogue inside their businesses in a very unproductive way. I’m telling you this because there are important steps you need to take that create context for others about the unapologetic part of your brand. Don’t blindside them—create a heads-up to prepare them for how they can expect you to show up. More on this in future blogs!
To be unapologetic is to not acknowledge or express regret about decisions or actions that are in line with your brand. This doesn’t mean that decisions necessarily become less difficult, but they can become clearer for you and others, helping you keep the implicit and explicit promises you make to others. Every day, you make promises that you probably aren’t even aware of. You make promises to your kids, to your significant other, and to the people around you. Some promises you keep, and some go unfulfilled.
Consistency is critical when it comes to delivering great leadership. To be consistent, you need to get clear about the brand you really want to deliver to those around you. There’s more to building a strong and intentional brand, but you can get started by identifying your authentic qualities when you are at your best, the aspirational qualities you strive to deliver, and what you take a stand for. When you’ve done this, you can start to practice extreme intentionality.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? GO DEEPER?
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