The Exceptional Leader

AuthorHouse

Contents

Special Acknowledgment................................................viiIntroduction..........................................................ixPart 1: Personal Branding.............................................110 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand..................................2Benefits of Creating a Strong Personal Brand..........................8Creating Your Personal Brand Statement................................9Testing Your Brand Statement..........................................12Staying on Brand......................................................15Part 2: What Is the True Meaning of Leadership?.......................19The 5 Core Principles of Leadership...................................19Part 3: Becoming an Exceptional Leader................................31The 6 Characteristics of an Exceptional Leader........................31Part 4: Pay It Forward................................................39The Five Ways to Help Others Become Great Leaders.....................39

Chapter One

At the risk of being cliché, "There is only one you." However, truly understanding and owning this fact is worth repeating the cliché. Knowing who you are, what you stand for, what motivates you, and what makes you special is the foundation of personal branding. We all have the power to be the next Oprah Winfrey if we choose to be.

Personal branding involves you taking the initiative to define yourself instead of allowing others to define you. Whether you are actively shaping your brand or not taking any steps whatsoever toward cultivating your personal or professional image, everyone has a brand that is either positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle. Currently, Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods are examples of personal brands on either end of the spectrum. From her talk show, which reaches millions, to her generous charity work to her financial supports of films with an uplifting message, Oprah has one of the strongest brands on our planet—a brand so strong that a single recommendation during her book club segment can turn an author into an instant best seller.

Golfer Tiger Woods had a brand just as powerful. However, unlike Oprah, Tiger failed to keep his brand consistent, which is essential for maintaining a strong brand. Overnight, Tiger's image went from that of a hard-working, driven, and highly respected family man who personified excellence to the butt of jokes due to numerous extra-marital affairs. As the dust continues to settle, Tiger has lost millions of dollars in endorsements from corporations who traded on his previous brand of goodness. Coupled with financial losses, he continues to suffer defeats in the court of public opinion. Again, the key to strong branding is consistency. If Tiger had had the womanizing "bad- boy" image of former professional basketball player Dennis Rodman or Gene Simmons of the rock group Kiss, there would have been little to no public uproar regarding Tiger's recent unsavory behavior. Granted, if this had been Tiger's original image, companies such as Gatorade, Accenture, and Tag Heuer would have never solicited his services as an endorser.

The key to a pronounced brand is self-awareness. Take a critical look at yourself and make an honest assessment of the image you project and its impact on others.

10 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand

1. Be authentic.

2. Have integrity.

3. Live and work in your passion. 4. Respect others and their time.

5. Always exceed expectations.

6. Keep your promises.

7. Build a diverse network.

8. Get involved, volunteer, and do special projects.

9. Take on a leadership role and be visible.

10. Know what you want to be famous for.

Be authentic

No one is as good at being you as you. Genuineness can be refreshing in the professional arena. Showcasing the "real" you allows you to exude calmness (as there is no extra effort required on your part) and in turn puts everyone around you more at ease. I have found that being authentic (while being respectful and tolerant) can be quite contagious. If you are not fond of the outdoors, it is not wise to volunteer to head a company whitewater rafting outing. Likewise, if you are in the midst of colleagues who tell demeaning jokes that you find offensive, laughing or continuing to remain in their presence will eat away at the core of who you proclaim to be. While compromise is essential to success, understand your areas of strength and weakness while standing firm on your basic values.

Have integrity

Integrity is fundamental to sustaining a strong personal brand. Once your integrity is breached, so is the trust and respect others had for you. The best opportunity one has to display integrity is often at a time when integrity can be easily compromised.

Live and work in your passion

Are you working for a purpose or a paycheck? You must discover your passion. Not society's passion, not a family member's passion, but your passion. Once you truly discover it, you owe it to yourself to pursue this passion with extreme tenacity. Each day you work at a job that does not bring you joy, you not only cheat yourself out of true happiness and the pursuit of excellence, but you cheat your world out of your unique gifts. Granted, in these difficult economic times, mired with layoffs and cutbacks on educational funding, we often feel we are forced to work at jobs that do not bring any personal fulfillment but simply help make ends meet. This is a sad reality. However, even though you may find yourself in a situation that does not fit your passion, never lose sight of it. Allot some time each day to the pursuit of your desired goal—whether this entails researching your desired field or occupation online, taking preparatory classes, volunteering, applying for internships, or attending seminars. This consistent pursuit of your passion serves as a consistent internal reminder that your current position is a temporary one, and this continued effort and refusal to settle increases the chance that you will make a quicker transition into the position you desire.

Respect others and their time

Respect is a key component in creating and maintaining a reputable personal brand. The ability to show others they are valued is a trait every exceptional colleague and leader should possess. Never lose sight of the fact that in order to receive true respect, you must first show it. Once you have earned the respect of others, you will be privileged to enjoy their extreme effort and a much more positive environment.

One of the greatest displays of respect is punctuality. Not simple being on time but being early shows everyone involved that you hold your counterparts in high esteem and that you are serious and fully committed to the task at hand.

Always exceed expectations

I believe in this ideal so much that "Exceeding Your Expectations" was actually my company's slogan when I was president and CEO of Granville & Webb HR Connections, Inc., a human resources consulting firm. Because we now exist in such a highly competitive global marketplace, being average, or even good, just won't do. You must strive to be the best at all times. To do otherwise is to cheat the world of your intrinsic greatness, and more importantly, to cheat yourself. Author Marianne Williamson, in her book Return to Love: Reflections on a Course in Miracles, termed it best in her declaration that "our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves—who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?"

Keep your promises

Your word is one of the most crucial parts of your brand. Honoring your word engenders trust, respect, and confidence. It is critical, however, to infuse your lofty promises with a heavy dose of realism. In other words, never make promises you cannot keep.

Build a diverse network

Once you have accepted that you do not know it all—and neither do the people who look and think like you—you instantly become much smarter. As brilliant as we think we are, as humans we are limited. Even the most talented surgeon is usually limited in matters of law. Moreover, you may have the most innovative marketing plan to launch your product or service to the Chinese market. However, this effort will be increasingly difficult without a professional skilled in the Chinese language and culture. Building a diverse network is very important and surrounding yourself with people of a diverse background can help you appreciate and respect diversity.

Get involved and volunteer for special projects

Social and community volunteerism is a great way to demonstrate your passion for helping others and in turn adds credibility to your brand. It is beneficial to your brand to showcase that you believe in causes greater than yourself. From an altruistic standpoint, I have found that as you give, you actually gain more than you ever realize.

Volunteering for special projects on your job is an excellent way to demonstrate your unique talents and gifts. Also, this show of initiative gives others the opportunity to get to know you better and experience the value you add to the team.

Take on a leadership role and be visible

You can be the most talented, hardest working visionary in your organization, but if your abilities are not apparent to others, your skills will be wasted. As you build your brand at work and in your community, it is important to take on a leadership role and becoming increasingly visible. Many think that hard work is the only key to success; however, I now understand that visibility and exposure are just as important.

If your company or community is not soliciting for volunteers or leaders, it is incumbent upon you to take action and create visible opportunities to lead and volunteer. If people don't know your name and your abilities, they cannot call upon you or recommend you when that next great opportunity comes along. A person with a strong brand is not only well rounded but well known.

Know what you want to be famous for

Simply put, understand what you want to be remembered as and start working on it now! The sooner you know what you want to be famous for, the sharper your focus will become in terms of achieving those goals. This understanding will be a great aid in all phases of your life—from deciding what you want to do for a living to where you want to live to how you want to impact your community. You must take an honest assessment of yourself, identify your passion, work in your passion, and make every attempt to never compromise. This is the key to living your best life and building a strong and lasting personal brand.

Benefits of Creating a Strong Personal Brand

There are direct benefits that result from creating a strong personal brand.

? Position yourself clearly in the minds of others

? Project credibility

? Develop loyalty

? Make emotional connections

Position yourself clearly in the minds of others

With the increase of employment competition globally, the rise in the unemployment rate for corporate and academic America, along with technological advances that continually displace workers, it is critical to make yourself stand out in the thoughts and perceptions of others. If there was ever a time to ensure you do not appear mediocre or apathetic, it is now.

Project credibility

Credibility is a process, not an attribute achieved overnight. From the moment you enter an organization, you are being judged—even for something correctable, such as clothing or hairstyle. Therefore, as your time in the organization increases, it is solely up to you whether that judgment sways colleagues positively or negatively. When you look and act the part of a change agent, all while being professional, authentic, honest, and a problem-solver, your credibility will soar.

Develop loyalty

Leave no doubt that you are dedicated to the mission of your current project specifically and your organization as a whole. However, loyalty is a two-way street, in that it is essential for both the employee and the executive. From a management standpoint, James Allen, a nineteenth-century writer, phrased it best: "You do not attract what you wish. You attract what you are." Therefore it is incumbent upon entrepreneurs and corporate managers who want to attract the loyal and dedicated employees to display trustworthiness and loyalty themselves.

Make emotional connections

As we increasingly spend more time at the workplace than we do with our own families, we should make the work experience as pleasant as possible. Remember co-workers' names, and be curious about their hobbies and interests to foster a more tolerable work experience.

Creating Your Personal Brand Statement

Only you can develop, build, and sustain your brand. Your brand is as unique as your fingerprint. Building your brand is a lifetime commitment. A strong personal brand will last even after you are gone.

To determine exactly who you are, what you represent, and what unique talents gifts you bring to the world, it is extremely beneficial to begin this process of self- awareness by creating a personal brand statement. This exercise will prove to be quite self-revealing and therapeutic, as it affords you a unique opportunity to make an honest assessment of yourself. In preparing this statement, focus on who you are at your core, not what others may think of you (for the good or the bad), for others are often incorrect. We spend most of our lives allowing other people to define who we are, never taking the time to define (or redefine) ourselves. When thinking about my personal brand statement, I wanted it to stand as true today as it will be forty years from now. I believe that the legacy you leave should be the legacy you live. Therefore, it is my belief that you should live your personal brand statement each and every day.

Although there is power in the spoken word, the written word carries with it even more tangible credibility. This is because if you write something down you become accountable to it. In this section I will walk you through the process of creating your own personal brand statement.

My statement is simple and direct, yet it represents the true me:

Millette Granville is an energetic, giving, intelligent, spiritual, and passionate person. She has a spirit of excellence and believes anything worth doing is worth doing right. Millette believes that helping others is the greatest gift of all and one of her favorite quotes is from Gaudi: "We must be the change in the world we wish to see."

The ability to connect inwardly with yourself is the initial step to creating your genuine personal brand statement. I found that an excellent path to inner enlightenment is through the practice of self-reflection, or meditation. I understand that many of those who consider themselves "movers and shakers" may be reluctant to participate in such a transcendental exercise. However, as a Type A personality myself, this practice was critical to understanding my true self and therefore being able to compose a pure, personal brand statement. The key step of this self-reflection process is finding a place of solitude where you can relax with no interruptions. I found that soothing music helped me clear my mind, relax, and focus deeply and inwardly.

For those not familiar with meditation techniques, the first thing you should do is sit up straight and roll your shoulders back to their natural and relaxed state. Next, close your eyes, take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, and then exhale slowly. Continue this breathing technique at least ten times and you will feel your body and mind starting to relax. During this exercise, purposefully remove all stressful and negative thoughts from your consciousness. If you feel your mind wondering (which is very likely to happen), refocus your concentration, again remove all interfering thoughts, focus on your breathing, and you will once again regain focus and return to a state of deep relaxation. You may find meditation difficult initially, and perhaps even fruitless, but I implore you to stick with it. I started meditating for merely two or three minutes at a time before I became comfortable with the process. I now find it an invaluable process to self-awareness.

Once you have obtained the feeling of relaxation, began to think about who you are, what you stand for, and what your true passions are. Likewise, think about what you want others to know about you, regardless of how unorthodox you may feel. Your meditation or self-reflection can last only three or four minutes. After the process is complete, open your eyes and begin to quietly write your personal brand statement.

Testing Your Brand Statement

Once you have completed scripting your personal brand statement, the real work begins. Now begins the rigorous tasks of living up to your words, and in the process the even more challenging charge of having others view you as such as well.

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Excerpted from The Exceptional Leaderby Millette Granville Copyright © 2010 by Millette Granville. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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