When you look at a photo on your phone, you can see the picture in its entirety or you can zoom in to get a closer look at specific parts of the picture.
When you zoom back out, you can see that specific part within the context of the whole.
I find this analogy really helps represent what Breakthru Branding™ does for my clients’ careers: making connections between the specific aspects of your skillset (small pieces) and your overarching leadership brand (big pieces).
Breakthru Branding lets you explore your natural strengths, and your previous work, within the larger encompassing framework of your personal brand.
It helps you continuously connect and reconnect the importance of those smaller pieces to the bigger picture as they develop.
Many other personal branding programs only focus on smaller aspects of your individual brand without connecting them to your larger brand goals, which can ultimately leave your personal brand seeming uncoordinated and unclear.
I found a great example of this statement when I worked with a client of mine.
She was a high level executive, and was one step from the top of her division.
She had been passed over for a promotion, and in turn blamed her colleagues and assumed her gender had played a factor in the circumstance.
We looked at the details of her skillset by themselves and within the bigger picture of her personal brand, and realized that the responsibility for her career mobility rested on her own motivation to succeed. She was the only one holding herself back!
What was so interesting about our conversation was her immediate negativity toward the idea of continued education or work to update her skillset.
She asked herself, “Do I really want to invest the time and the money to update my skills and knowledge?”
I responded, “Well, what would be the return on your investment if you were to receive this next level of leadership?
How much of an increase would you see in your salary or bonus?”
She replied, “Easily north of forty thousand dollars.”
We discussed how long she’d been hoping for that promotion, which was about four years - meaning she had given up over $100,000 by not investing in herself!
She quickly discovered that if she were to invest even just one year of work in herself, the return on that investment would be absolutely worth it.
Seeing her possible career trajectory as a mathematical tradeoff seemed to make a significant impact for her.
I have never seen somebody make so many positive changes in such a short time!
For her, seeing the whole picture of her career instead of just the pieces was like turning a light switch on and enabled her to see where she needed to make improvements in order to strengthen her overall candidacy as a potential leader.
While my client was excellent at her role in her company, she lacked the clarity as to how to improve herself.
She had not invested any time in her own personal and professional development, and therefore was sacrificing career advancements and success unknowingly.
So let me ask you - where does your personal leadership brand need cultivation? Where are you leaving ROI on the table?
Through the cultivation of smaller pieces like your inner strengths, possibilities and skillsets, you can improve your big picture - your personal brand and the career you create with it.
If you believe this information was helpful, share with friends and family members. It could be just the information they need to see today, to better their career and their lives.
Sending positive thoughts your way,
