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Learn how to grow visibility, lead with authenticity, and stand out on LinkedIn. Expert tips to boost confidence, connection, and referrals in business or career.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Welcome to another episode of Balancing Acts, your guide to grow profit and scale. I'm your host, Linda Hamilton, a CPA certified exit planning advisor and systemologist. And for the past three decades, I've been looking under the hoods of businesses to uncover what really drives success. And the numbers are important. I work a lot with people to understand their numbers, but the story behind their numbers and the strategies they're using for lasting success are very important. And today we're going to talk about a topic that comes up a lot, branding and visibility. And we're going to meet with Leslie Everett, an award winning global speaker and author of Walking Tall. And Leslie's going to walk us through first, the foundations of personal branding, why it matters. Welcome, Leslie.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Thank you, Linda. Pleased to be here.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: So let's start with some maybe misunderstandings about personal branding.
You know, you hear about branding a lot with, you know, business, brand, nonprofit brand, personal brand. Where do people get confused on that?
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a great question to start with because I think people think personal branding is about, or often they do, is about being as visible as I can be on social media and getting tons of posts out there, articles using every platform I can possibly do. So I build my profile, build a visibility, and everybody knows who I am. Okay, so visibility is a huge part of personal branding, but that's not where it starts. So I think that's a common mistake. We need to make sure that we know what we want to project about ourselves because that's authentic, that's who we really are. So we've got to do some deep diving into really understanding us as a brand, what makes us unique, what differentiates us. And then we can start building the visibility once we've got that piece done and then we have a strategy, we have a strategic approach to building on that authentic core of who we are, rather than just a fire hose approach of getting social posts out there or networking every event we can possibly get to.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: I think that's so important. You just said that. You know, I tend a lot of marketing workshops, branding workshops. So they're always showing us all these, you know, how many different social media platforms there are, where's your customer hanging out there? You know, there's so much that goes into it and then you do it and you feel like that didn't go anywhere. No one still really knows who I am. So I know you when I spoke with you before the show. You have a foundation, a process, a strategy, which I'm a big believer in strategies for. Can you start with Explaining the foundations for creating a personal brand.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. And it's evolved an awful lot over the years since I started developing this back just 20 odd years ago. And it's been developed, delivered in 28 countries and many different cultures since then. So it's really evolved and it's, it's very robust depending on whatever sector you're in and whatever part of your career you're in as well. But I do believe, just like you, that if we don't have a system, a strategy, a way forward, a way to do something, then we very rarely can get it done effectively. So my aim, whenever I'm presenting or coaching is to have this system and process of principles that we can, can go through. And it starts with, as I said before, the, the foundation, the core. And I have various ways of helping people to extract that because I often say, well, there's two things is that your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room, when you've left the room that's there already. So it's out there whether you've thought about it or not. So let's just put, put that aside and start to build it ourselves constructively and proactively and consciously. And then secondly, it's your, your brand. So your, your lost the credit of thought there. But the, the, your, your brand is what people say about you behind your back, but it really is about your differentiator and getting to the core of what drives you and motivates you. So you can't easily see the label from inside the bottle is often what I'll say.
We can't easily see ourselves so other people can see it, we don't see it, so we need to extract it. So the first stage is, I use a great little principle or exercise, as it were, I call the espresso effect. And this helps us to get into our DNA. And I always get people to think about an espresso machine. So an espresso machine has coffee beans that go in at the top. And every single one of those coffee beans represents an experience or a pivotal moment in your life, a challenging time, memories, achievements, everything that we've experienced in our life from an early age that goes in at the top gets percolated and ground around to produce our values, our beliefs, our drivers, our motivators, standards and talents. And then we're in the purest essence in the cup underneath. That's our brand statements. So we work through a process right from the start, from the core, from the heart to that brand statement of who we really are today. So that's the starting point. And there's seven big strides, as I call them, to walking tall, walking tool.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Before we go there, let's pause for a moment and think about. One of the words you mentioned was a differentiator. And I've spoken to others about what does it really mean? Let's unpack what it means to differentiate yourself from someone else. Because talking about, as you said, personal brand. Right. So it's very personal to us, which is not always easy to see. You know, we can't always see ourselves as clearly. So that's why we need that help with walking through these steps and process. So let's start with differentiators.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah, that comes back. That's a great segue from what I just said. It's like getting delving into our past history so far.
And often I'll say to people to find that differentiator. If you were to write your life story into a book so far, what would the title of the book be? Because that can help us to say, well, that's like the common thread to my life. That's something that always comes to mind when I'm in a challenging situation. Or it's like that little voice there, and it's the story of my life type syndrome. And added to that, then, of course, we need to look at what our strengths and skills are, and that is dependent on who we. Our target market is for our career, for our business, whatever that that might be. But, for example, as a CPA, there are thousands of CPAs out there. How do you differentiate what you do? And CPA is a great example because you have to follow a process. You know, it's a. It's a pretty standard process. And then there's little bits that you need to personalize for people. But how do you stand out as the CPA that people want to work with? What makes you different? What makes you apply yourself and build that relationship in a way that's unique to you, that people feel good about. And I always say that your brand really is about how you make people feel. So that's the first piece on differentiation.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: You know, so I'm glad you said that because. Right. There are thousands and thousands of CPAs. And so differentiator could be as nuanced as how you communicate with people. Right. When you. When how you. Some accountants never have time for you. Right. Or they're kind of blunt or direct. Not that I can't be direct when it comes to giving tax advice, but, you know, how do I make a person feel about understanding something maybe that's complex? And so that differentiator, I think, is one of the biggest struggles for the business owners. Listening now, I don't know, if you have a career, if you're not a business owner, you might still struggle with some of those things inside a corporate job.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And I think that the way that we can look at it simply is it's always about how we make people feel. That's our biggest differentiator. That's a core part of our brand. And we know that. My great Maya Angelou once said that people will forget what I did, forget what I said, but they'll never forget how I made them feel. That's the piece that people talk about. That's the piece that people take to heart. That's the piece that they tell their friends and colleagues and contacts about whether it's good or bad. How we make them feel is what gets talked about and remembered. And that's what differentiates us. So if we feel special, if we feel, as a cpa, for example, that I really have.
You've really got my back. I know that you're really looking at my individual situation, that you take time to understand me and my life and make me feel good about that, then that's partly a differentiator. So it's how we authentically communicate. Absolutely.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: So you've also said, because I know I've spoken with you about this, that it's about being known for something, right? Not just being visible. So what do you mean by being known for something?
[00:09:30] Speaker B: So when you look at your expertise, let's look at. Well, let's take the CPA example. So if you were to say, well, what I do is manage people's taxes and help them to pay lower taxes or whatever it is, looking at the end result of what people get when they work with you is a great way to look at that. What's the end result? And an analogy I often use is if you think about going to a hardware store and buying a drill, you're not really buying the drill. You're buying the hole in the wall or maybe the shelves to put the family photos on, you're buying the end result of that, that drill. So when you think about it like that, what are you giving your end client, your end user, your target market, your customer, your guest, whoever that might be? What is it they're really searching for that you give them? That really then tells you what it is you really do. And then you start delving into, well, how do I do that so well, because someone coming in off the street couldn't just come in and do my job like that. So what do I offer that allows me to get to that end result so effectively for my client?
[00:10:42] Speaker A: So if, let's say, somebody just starting down this journey of creating what they call a personal brand, because most of the time people think of their business brand right, what's one step they can take to get started?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: I think the very first step is to get some feedback. So any coaching client I start working with, I ask them for people I can speak to to get some really honest feedback over a short phone call. Let's say if you're working with a coach, that's a great idea to do that. If not just a simple form or ask people to record it into a video, whatever you feel is relevant and ask them some questions. Like if you were describing me to other people, what are the first things that come to mind?
What is it that I'm really known for? Three things I'm really known for. What do you talk about, people that you're recommending me to? What comes to mind? And maybe what are some behavioral traits that I could do with changing or uplifting or enhancing or doing away with that might support my brand better? And if you give people structured questions, then they'll give you clear answers rather than just an open question. So that's the starting point. So we can look at that. Then we need to start looking at, okay, so what is my brand? Let me write down the traits that I see of myself, my expertise, the exercise I just talked to you about. We can map over that feedback.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: And, and I'm going to. We're going to continue our conversation in the next segment. Leslie, how do people find you?
[00:12:20] Speaker B: The best way to find me is at my website. There's two, but lesleyesleyeverett.com is my email address or lesleyeverett.com is my, excuse me, my website. And Lesley is spelled L E S L E Y, as you know. And then there's a walking tool site as talkingtool.org org that's the best way. Or LinkedIn is, is always a good way.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: And I hope you'll stay with us because we're going to come back and talk to Leslie some more about feeling stuck and on and opening doors for our business. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Balancing Acts. I'm your host, Linda Hamilton, CPA certified exit planning and systemologist. And I help business owners untangle all the Complexities of growth, profitability, and being visible so that they can grow. And in our last segment, we were talking to Leslie Efrett, a global speaker and author of Walking Tall, about creating a personal brand. We're going to continue our conversation now about what to do when you feel stuck and why that personal brand actually matters. Leslie, let's continue a little bit on so why. Why is a person. Why do I need a personal brand? And does it matter if I'm a business owner or if I work for a corporation?
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Yeah, great question. So referred to before your brand is there already, whether you've worked on it or not. So, hey, why not just leave it as it is? Well, of course, leaving it to chance is not a smart idea. We need to manage the perceptions that people have, and most importantly, is like taking control of our brand so that people are not confused about who we are, what we do, and what we're really great at. So when we want people to talk about us, we want people to refer us. We need that in our businesses, but we need to make it easy for them. So if we don't have a strong, consistent brand that we're known for, people find it really hard to describe what it is you do. I mean, I come across so many business owners and entrepreneurs or professional people. When I ask them, what is it that you do? They stumble. They don't really know. So I can't easily refer them or talk about them because they're not making it easy for me. So that's why a personal brand is important that we take control of it. We identify and articulate what it is that we do and why and what the end result is simply so that people can talk about it in a way we want them to.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: That's interesting. That leads me to thinking about, you know, the word visibility and. And actually opening doors, because why else be visible? Is we're trying to find customers and. And to distinguish ourselves, differentiate ourselves from others who are out there also trying to compete in the same way. Or maybe within a corporation, we're trying to get promoted or stand out among the thousands of people we work with. So, you know, why is it that people do feel invisible? You know, why is it they struggle and they feel stuck on, as you just said, expressing themselves. How could they express themselves better?
[00:16:13] Speaker B: Yes. I think often people who are more introverted struggle with this and think that they can't be visible and memorable because they don't necessarily want to be every social event or be over social media every single day.
So some others are Much more comfortable with that. But then there can be a tendency to just be over visible and not have a structure or a strategy. So I think it's a common thing. We need to think about ways of being visible that aren't always shouting from the rooftops about what we've done. Goes back to what I said earlier about how we make people feel. And I really feel that if you're interested in other people, it makes you a more interesting person. So that's a number one thing. Asking great questions, getting to, to, to, to know somebody.
You know, one of the things that is a great story. I think that just reminds me of how powerful it is when we think about other people. I remember a guy I met in Singapore once. I was speaking at a conference, had a very short conversation with him. A long story short, four months after the event, he sent me a lovely package through the mail with some newspaper cuttings in, rather than send me a link and a nice branded card and said, leslie, I saw these and thought they might be of interest. Well, there was two branding articles and an article on a baby giraffe that had been born in Singapore Zoo, which is my logo. And I thought, oh, wow, those are interesting. It wasn't about him, it was about me. But his business is about strategic planning for small businesses. So he keeps himself visible without shouting about it. He makes it about me. So that's a great way of just building visibility and profile by making people feel good.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: That's really, that's a fascinating story. It reminds me of, I'm a member of the Women Presidents Organization and we have monthly peer advisory meetings. And you know, they're kind of like, you know, we're advising each other a little like an advisory board. But one thing they were trying to make us do is have a brag moment. And it was like at the end of the meeting they wanted, you know, force us to have a brag, which was so uncomfortable because, you know, there, there is a little bit we're kind of taught not to, to do that. Right. And so I'm sure I don't know how you feel about that, but it was funny that they, they positioned it that way with women business owners in particular about talking about some success or about their brand.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's a great idea. One thing I do, and I've just worked with a leadership team just last week who all knew each other pretty well. But one of the exercises I did for a bit of fun after the, the first break was on their tables. Tell, tell, every tell Your people tell people on your table something, one thing that not many people know about you. That's a slightly softer way of saying it because often that will be something you've achieved.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: And you can see people going into a slight panic. Oh gosh, I don't know, there's nothing I haven't done anything interesting. But every single person always comes up with something and you wouldn't believe what comes out. So that's another nice way of doing that because we don't particularly. Women are not good at that.
[00:19:18] Speaker A: And so the last thing that we were talking about, you know, being known for something, right. Rather than just being visible and given the difficulty as we're talking about, of feeling stuck and needing to open doors. How would you help someone uncover that, you know, part of themselves that they want to be known for? How would you help someone uncover what they want to be known for?
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So in a professional sense, if we're looking at what it is that we, that we do in a, as a service to people or whatever we're, we're selling, if we're in business, then we need to look at. I use a technique called expert insights. So it's, it's a similar to what I was talking about before with the, the drill. And the end result of the drill is the hole in the wall. But the expert insights is look at the problem that you solve for the client. Whatever the problem is, or the challenges or what are they looking for, what is the cause of that problem? This will help to draw out the things that you are really good at. What is the cost to them of having that problem or the lost opportunity? And then what's your solution to all of that? That helps you to draw out exactly what it is you do and then apply it to. As if a 10 year old child was asking you so well, how does, what does that mean? Can I do that? I don't understand. Tell me, tell me more. It's applying that very simple approach, simplifying it right down. And that helps to draw out what it is that I really do such that I can articulate it and have it on my LinkedIn profile or as an elevator pitch.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: And so as you're going through that process of, of, of uncovering what you want to be known for in that problem, you need to then have them be able to message it, right, as you said to a 10 year old, how does that help your personal brand? Or how does that, that, how does that unlock doors for you?
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Okay, so once you've got it articulated of course, then you can clearly verbalize it. So when you're at that networking event or meeting people socially and they say, what is it that you do? You know, you can say something like, well what I am is a cpa, but actually what I do is make sure people pay as little tax as possible. You know, that's, that's the end of it or whatever that might, might be something very specific. So first of all it helps you verbalize and get clear in your head what it is that you do. Secondly, it should go on the LinkedIn profile. So I'm a great believer that anyone who is running a business or in a professional sense or an entrepreneur, anybody who wants to build visibility, must have a LinkedIn profile. That goes without saying now. And some people still say to me, oh yeah, I don't do that stuff. Well that's okay. But you're really missing out on a massive opportunity to build your visibility. So it should go there. People look at LinkedIn all the time, so there's two things there. Getting it clear in your head, then having it on, on LinkedIn, but then having it on LinkedIn and being able to then be active, happy be active on LinkedIn with posts of very relevant then to what you do and what you want to be known for rather than scattergun approach anything that's cropped up in the news, I'm going to post about. Always have a link to what it is that you do and what you're an expert in in some way. That's easier than it sounds.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: You know, that's interesting because LinkedIn is almost more important sometimes than a website, which a lot of times is just a brochure. Right? If you're a service professional consultant and you're not actually selling things off your website, you know, what can you say about yourself? And so being on LinkedIn will give you a little more. Doesn't it give you like third party proof when you're sharing articles or they see engagement?
So how would you get started on LinkedIn if you're not so active there?
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Most people have a basic profile. I mean obviously if you don't have a profile, you've got to start right from, from scratch. But there are, there are certain things that I think you need to be be aware of. So make sure first of all that you've got an up to date professional photo, not something that's 15 years old, doesn't look like you anymore, smiling, looking at the camera, head and shoulders not 20ft away. That's really important. And that background image that LinkedIn has, have something there about you. If you like to walk in nature, have a photo of that or skiing or climbing mountains or something you'd love to do because it adds personality. And I always view LinkedIn as your digital reputation. It's not a resume online anymore, it's your digital reputation. So that visual piece is important. The about section is not a mandatory field, so you could quite simply not have that on your profile and be missing an opportunity there. So make sure that about statement is written, who you are, what you do. We can use AI to help us to craft something, not to just put it in and cut and paste. Absolutely not. But it can be great at producing a draft statement about us. If we feed it the right information, then we can work with that and edit it. And I think that's. Those are the important foundation pieces. I'll talk more about building visibility with that.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: You shared so much great information in that from like figuring out what you want to be known for, maybe expressing that into your brand, maybe even putting that on your LinkedIn banner.
And I want to know how people can find you to get more information. But I am going to say I don't know if I'm going to keep changing my profile picture because I'm going to stay forever young though.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Yeah, there is that for sure. Yeah, people can find me@lesley everett.com so that's L-S L E Y everett.com or walkingtool.org O R G so it's two websites there, my speaker consultant site and my training consultancy site.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Thank you so much for sharing. Stay with us because we're going to talk more to Leslie about maybe confidence, building confidence, getting past self doubt and those things that again can help you succeed in business and in your career. Come back.
Welcome back to Balancing Acts. I'm your host, Linda Hamilton, a CPA certified exit planning advisor and a systemologist. I help businesses uncover what truly drives success by looking at their numbers and the story behind their numbers. Today we're talking with Leslie Everett, a global speaker and author of Walking Tall. And we're talking about personal branding. But so much more than that, what you're going to be known for and how you want to get your message out and being visible. So this segment is about self doubt and building trust and authenticity. And Leslie, I'm so glad we chatted about that ahead of time because there is, you know, people are using AI, there's influencers, you have tons of competitors, some are more flashy than others. So, you know, successful Leaders, business owners often struggle with self doubt and confidence and that affects how they post. What advice would you give them to overcome that?
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's very true. We can be intimidated by the amount of social media posts and activity there can be by some people in our profession or influences, as you you say. And a lot of it sadly is AI generated and just cut and pasted and I think we can see through that. So my that I think AI is wonderful. I think we absolutely should use it. It cuts down time, it helps us to critical think more. I think we can ask questions, we can challenge that we can go deeper into a topic area but never ever cut and paste. And I think this is where personal branding can really give us an edge because we can bring in the personal element, the stories that we can bring in, the storytelling, the background to us, our business. I often say to people, if you can make a business point and then say, let me take you back 10 years, it's my first day at my new job and this is what I was looking at when I went into the office. And if it's reinforcing a business point, that's a great way to add authenticity and to build trust with your end client or customer. Rather than just splash out lots of AI generated content, use AI by all means to give you drafts of posts, but then dissect it, add in your own stories, personalize it for you. You'll stand out from the crowd if you do that.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I think that's really important. And so what would you say to somebody who maybe doesn't feel so confident about putting information out on LinkedIn and social media as we talked about in the last segment?
[00:28:59] Speaker B: I think that's the great question. A lot of my clients, coaching clients, they're reticent about doing it. It's a time issue often as well, they're reticent about doing it because they don't really know where to start. But the beauty again of having this starting point of who you are, what you do, what you're great at, what you actually do, what your expertise is, having that as a platform and then getting them to think about, well, what sort of look at that post, I really want to repost that. Don't just repost it, but just repost it with something that brings people back to your brand. So if you are an expert in digital transformation, for example, maybe that post, you could link it back and say it makes me think about digital transformation in my own early days. Or what are the Three most important components of digital transformation in my world. And this is, this really illustrates that. So once you can bring it back to your expertise, you can look at anything that's going on in the world, news reports, posts that are out there and you could link it to your own expertise. And I think this is what builds people's confidence. I don't have to come up with something new all the time. I just can read what's out there in the press, I can post about it, I can put use somebody else's post and then add my own take on it. And then it becomes a lot more, a lot easier to actually get to grips with because it's about me. It's not just coming up with something brand new all the time. That's often a blocker. When I've got to come up with thinking I've got to come up with something new.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: You know, it's so interesting that you say that because when I first started, and I probably go back and forth with how often, you know, oh, you have to post every day or you have to post three times a day. And even when you start out that way and maybe sharing others articles, you end up doubting like what you're saying, you know, do I have to do it that often? It's, you know, am I making it up? Does it, you know, you know, at some point it feels like just noise and.
[00:30:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:58] Speaker A: So how do you cope with that and how, how important is it to be regularly engaged and how often I think it's.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Yeah, there is pressure there. Well, I've got to do something every single day. Absolutely not. The most important thing is consistency. So if you believe that you could cope with one post a week or maybe one article a month, then do that. But be realistic and then be consistent, absolutely consistent with what you're, you're putting out. Set yourself benchmarks. I'm going to do four posts a month. That's great. So if you do five this month doesn't mean you do three next month, but just keep consistent. Four a month and one article every, every month, every six weeks. If that's what you can cope with, or it might be more than that, that's what's right for you. And consistency is so much better than just blasting a lot of stuff out and then going quiet for six months because you haven't got time. That, that's not authentic. That's, that really doesn't sit well. People follow your stuff and then you're not there and then you pop up again. It's okay, well, they haven't been around for a while and so I'm not really going to follow them. You mentioned to me earlier offline about the LinkedIn newsletter that I have. It's executive branding, integrated executive branding newsletter and I do that every two weeks and it makes me consistent because I know I can do that every two weeks and it holds me to it. So that's great. And I think people really appreciate consistency.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I did mention that because I just signed up and subscribed to your newsletter and there are some others I get as well.
Now, there can be some confidence if you don't find yourself to be a good writer. So let's say, let's talk a little bit about the types of content you could do. Let's say you're going to post three times a week with consistent. Let's see what are like a few different types because you're not going to do the same thing every day. And how much of a writer do you have to be to be able to pull that off?
[00:32:56] Speaker B: Well, first off, the post shouldn't be long. I think people suffer sometimes with putting hugely long posts, again, because they may be using AI to generate it and people don't read it. So three short paragraphs, I always think is a good length for a post that's easy to read separated into three paragraphs. People read it very easily.
What I suggest people do is to keep a note of things that pop into their mind. So let's just take the CPU CPA world again. Obviously right now we're in tax season. People get stressed, they get worried about it. They, they get anxious about it. And there could be something there that differentiates you, that you give to your clients that maybe helps them to manage that anxiety, makes the whole thing easier for them so they don't have this buildup that might be something to write about. Saying, these are my three tips for coping with this time of year. With tax season, this, this, and this and that. You're just sharing what you do really well. That's a differentiator. It's very short and it's, it's just a way of getting you to do it because it's something you want to write about. It's important to you.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: That's so interesting. And I think my tip to other CPAs out there is to attempt to have a sense of humor while you're in the crunch time of helping these poor small business owners and taxpayers get through their own anxiety. Anxiety, you know, also so overworked in tax season so what about other daily habits that can help you build confidence over time?
Yep. And that confidence can come out in different ways. Right. It's not. It might be about your social media posts. It might be about reliving your personal brand, you know, and, and having it feel comfortable to you rather than you wrote it six months ago and stuck it in the drawer. So what are some habits that will be helpful in building confidence?
[00:34:53] Speaker B: I think first off is what I said. Build that consistency of having one post every week and looking at how the engagement then will start to build the engagement on your posts because they're interesting, because they're relevant is going to be so much easier to build confidence. So you can start to see people love what I'm talking about. The LinkedIn newsletter. Great when people subscribe gives me confidence that what I'm writing about people want to read. It can take a little while to build up things. You could ask people if they would mind liking your posts once they've read it or reposting it as well to help you get established. That way you can see how that can build in terms of the. Just in terms of confidence generally, I do think that sometimes the feedback that I mentioned to you earlier on in a previous segment about your brand and what is it that you would describe me as in three words? What would be three words to describe me? What do I do particularly well? What can I build on the feedback? Whenever I use that in my coaching or in my workshop sessions, even in keynote presentations, occasionally you can see people light up when they get one word that comes back that just makes them feel really good.
We don't know that.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: So, so powerful. Everything you've shared. My takeaways would one to build confidence by getting started. If you don't have your own content, you're not ready to write. Reshare others that you think are important and tag that back to your own brand so your voice is there and you start to say what am I known for that is being shown in my voice? And use LinkedIn because it is a powerful profile and I hope you've learned a lot from Leslie about this in particular and come back because we're going to talk more. But Leslie, how can people find you online and maybe subscribe to your newsletter on. On LinkedIn?
[00:36:51] Speaker B: Yes, please do. LinkedIn is always a great way to find me. So Leslie is spelt L E S L E Y. You can find me on LinkedIn and subscribe to that integrated executive branding newsletter that I have, but [email protected] my speaker site or walkingtool.org which is where the training sits mostly.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: So many powerful insights for us and, and I hope you'll, you'll come back and get these takeaways. And in our next segments, we're going to talk about leadership and standing out. Come back and stay with us.
Welcome back to Balancing Acts, your guide to grow, profit and scale. I'm your host, Linda Hamilton, a CPA certified exit planning advisor and a systemologist. I help business owners untangle all the complexities of growth, profitability, and the story behind their numbers. We've been talking today with Leslie Everett, a global speaker and author of Walking Tall. And we've been talking about personal branding, creating a brand, being known for something, getting engagement on LinkedIn. So many great things in our, on our last segments. And now we're going to change gears and talk about leadership, kind of the essence of leadership and how you can stand out as a leader authentically.
Leslie, thank you so much for your time and sharing your expertise with us today. So how can I phrase this? Let's start with. I've heard the word executive presence.
What does that actually mean? Executive presence?
[00:39:07] Speaker B: Yeah, it gets banded around a lot, doesn't it? And then people don't really start to think about it. Well, I want executive presence, but what does it actually mean? I think the first thing, it sort of links back to leadership and, and leadership is not being about being a, or having people report to you or about headcount. It's about making an impact and having people choose to follow you. And I think when people choose to follow you, you have some kind of presence there sometime some form of magnetism that people want to follow, want to emulate, want to use you as a role model. So it starts from that. But executive presence is again, consistency, so people know who you are. It's about lighting up that room when you come in. It's like an energy, like gravitas when you present a message. It's clear, succinct, it's engaging, it's compelling. It's empathy. I believe as well in again, how we make people feel. And it can be a number of things because it's authentic, authentic to us, but also about being truly authentic as a leader and being vulnerable and being humble as well. Not just having this to be have executive presence. It's not just about leading a shining light on as you go through everywhere and being the loudest and the most visible leader. It is about that authentic core taking people with you because they truly believe in what you stand for and having that gravitas and presence as you enter a room and deliver a message that's so important.
[00:40:39] Speaker A: You know, you talk about leader oftentimes you're a boss, right? Whether you own a business or whether you work in a corporate job, you're a boss. And we always talk when I do strategic planning and coaching for business owners about culture and yes, how you show up. You said again how you make people feel if your employees or the people that report to you fear you fear making mistake. Fear, you know, fear you're going to be angry. That does affect the culture, it affects people's motivation and inspiration. So I'm glad you mentioned that with leadership.
So how can someone, like, strike a balance between, you know, getting things done and having. You have to serve your customers.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:41:27] Speaker A: So all of us serve customers. So how do we do that with also being an authentic leader and showing up for our team?
[00:41:37] Speaker B: Yes, it's a great question and it's not easy. It's really not easy. So, as I said, you can't just become a leader by having people who report to you. There's a. There's so much to it. I think understanding people on an individual and personal level is really important. I remember reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Blink when he looked at study with medical doctors and the ones that had the. Were the least competent. Was it similar to those that were. Had the most complaints? It wasn't. The ones that were most valued, whatever their competency level, were the ones that actually asked their patient at the end of a consultation, so, how are you? How are things going? How are you feeling? How's life at the moment? And I think leaders that can do that and really feel like they're giving their employees a safe space to open up doesn't mean they suddenly have to be a counsellor or a therapist. It's just checking in to say, you know, what's driving you? What's next for you? What do you want to achieve most in your career? And genuinely being that supportive force behind employees, but also being really clear about what your own values are as a leader, crystal clear about your values, what you stand for, so that you create this culture that everybody's clear about, everybody wants to be a part of because it's inclusive. They have a sense of belonging and they understand you as a leader. So being clear about and transparent about your values and having that clear direction for people as well is so important. Those are the things I often see when I'm working with leadership teams.
[00:43:11] Speaker A: So can you talk a little bit more about leadership brand. Like, what are some examples of a leadership brand?
[00:43:21] Speaker B: I think it's being known for the culture that you create in the team that you lead, which ultimately is in alignment with the overall company vision, but having an identity for your team that stands out. I'm working with a great team at the moment with a company in Canada. Great leader, inspirational leader, empathetic, knows how to manage people, but very driven, is very clear with the strategy, is very clear with what he expects and stands for. And his team are recognized for the culture that he has. He's built that culture kind of comes from who he is as a person. So he doesn't build this culture and sets all these expectations or rules of engagement for our team and then not emulate them himself. He absolutely leads from the top and leads by example. So it has been clear about that. Leading by example, doing what you say you're going to do, all of those things that come through from a leader to take a team with them. So I think it's the culture that they create that is that leadership brand, really.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: So let's talk a little bit more about culture. And so when you work with someone, how do you work with them on what are they trying to do? Are they trying to improve their brand, create their brand, be, you know, have clarity about it because you're not really changing the person they are, who they are. Right? That's right. So how do you work with someone on that?
[00:44:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not changing them. It's absolutely just polishing who they are and being the both the best and most sophisticated, sophisticated version of themselves. So, yes, there will be things that aren't so great. We polish those up. It's not about weaknesses. I always say we don't have weaknesses, we just have overplayed strengths. So it's looking at what the strength is behind that, that's perceived weakness and really looking at how do we take that brand that you have authentically. I help them to uncover that core brand and then polish it up and say, right, how do we use that consistently to get that out there? And all the avenues that we've got with leading people, with our presentations and getting our messages through, with the way we might speak to media as well, panels on, at conferences, how, when, how we manage up, how we manage across, how we manage Dan, it's, it's getting them to really think about who they are as a person, polishing that up, making sure that that's relevant and present with everything that they, they do. I think that's, that's so critical that we, we do that. And it's based on that authentic core to start with and not trying to be somebody you're not. I use personality profiling as well, which helps leaders to understand the dynamics of the people within their team, their own personal style as well. We can look at what we can build on most, what we need to polish up so that, that doesn't get in the way of the brand. So there's a number of tools I'll bring in to use, but it's absolutely not about changing who you are. It's just polishing that diamond up.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: And, you know, that's interesting because, you know, you talk about speaking at conferences, maybe you're posting on LinkedIn, you're showing up for your team, you're writing so your own personal brand there. You're also representing a company, right? So you're representing either the business you own or the company you work for, the whole team that you're working for. So you want to make sure that that shows up and that it's aligned right with. So how do you help people balance that, you know, that personal brand with who they're speaking on behalf of?
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Absolutely, yes. And it's something I spend a lot of my time doing. My latest book is called Corporate Brand Personality, and that really is about creating the personality in your overall company brand. Whether you're a FTSE 100 Fortune 100 company, or whether you're a small startup with a few people.
It's absolutely taking the brand that you have and you spend a lot of time on, on your website creation and the messaging that you want to give to people, and then saying, well, how do we absolutely make sure that that's reinforced every single day with our leaders and everybody who works with us?
Sometimes people will say, well, my brand values are different to the companies. What do I. I do. But there's always, there is always a way to find that link. So take the word integrity. A lot of companies have that as a value. Really important that everybody practices and projects integrity. But if I have a room of 100 people, I can say to them, take the word integrity. Write down three words that for you, describe what integrity means. I'll get people to share a few, and I can pretty much guarantee there'll be no two people in that room that have the same three words that tells you that everybody views it differently. And that's great. That's the, that's where we get the internalization, the interpretation of that word for me, as A person. And then I can project that consistently every single day. So we do have to make sure there is a link. Absolutely. And that's why the book was, was written about how we get that authentic personality into the business.
[00:48:35] Speaker A: I love that. I love that description. Yes. You can get different meanings, which is why you want to share your vision. Right. As a leader. Because if you don't share your vision and, and get buy in from that, everybody's kind of rowing the boat in a different direction, Right?
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Absolutely. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's so, so critical. It's. It's not easy being a leader and there are ways we can make it simpler.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: And so let's close it out with being authentic. You want to show up, you want to be visible and be a leader, but you don't want to feel pushy. So what would be your advice to close out our segment on being an authentic leader and what that actually means?
[00:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that is a tough one. I think a lot of women struggle with that as well. I don't want to come across as a aggressive, but how do I be assertive? And that sometimes is more difficult for women. Let's face is something that I think is a big question and it needs coaching to make depending on the different character. But one of the things I'll often get people to do is try the opening, open at the open questions. So if somebody in the team is not performing, not doing what you need them to do, rather than which can be seen as aggressively question it. Why is this not happening? Ask the open question. So let's just talk about this for a moment. So there's. Can you, can you explain to me what happened last week when we didn't get this delivered on, on time? Tell. Talk. Tell me about it. That can show a degree of empathy. It's getting them to talk about it. It's not finger pointing. It's not direct.
We can come at, come at it from that angle. Now some female leaders or male leaders need a lot of coaching to be able to do that effectively. So as I said, leadership's not easy, but that's a way of doing it. It's the open questioning.
[00:50:20] Speaker A: We could talk for another hour about, about this subject and I hope the takeaways for our audience are, you know, to be an authentic leader. It's also about building trust with your team, about how you show up with your team. So where is both your leadership brand and your personal brand? It's not changing who you are as a person. Leslie, that was very powerful. Thank you. Again, how can people find you to get more information?
[00:50:47] Speaker B: Thank you, Lynde. It's been a pleasure. LinkedIn is always a great way to find me. You can subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter on integrated executive branding. So lots of tips there. My website, lesleyeverett.com or walkingtool.org, which is the training methodology for personal branding.
[00:51:05] Speaker A: Thank you so much for joining us again. Come back next week for another episode of Balancing Acts where we're going to give you some more practical advice and tips for growing a profitable business. Thank you.
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