For 30 years, we have been on a journey to help good leaders get better. One of the techniques we have used on this journey includes inviting leaders to prepare a statement that reflects their personal point of view about leadership. These personal points of view consider a number of issues such as what leaders believe, how they aspire to behave, and who they are and want to become.
We have used several high-impact techniques that enable individuals to reflect on their personal leadership passage. For example, we have show film clips of inspiring leaders like Martin Luther King who articulated his dreams, and then invited each leader to craft their personal vision. We have asked leaders to do a time log of where they spend their time, then probe the extent to which their actions reflect their intentions. We have given leaders thorough personal feedback assessments that identify their predispositions and style, then helped them develop a personal position statement. We have helped leaders audit their careers and build a career development plan. We have coached leaders to be more authentic and true to whom they want to become.
Each of these efforts has been rewarding for us and helpful for leaders as they define who they are, what matters most to them, and where they are going. The exercises result in leadership visions, missions, aspirations, and points of view.
But lately, we have recognized that these efforts have completed only half of a successful leadership journey. Leaders who are more self-aware may have personal insight and intensity, but unless it is directed in the right ways, it won’t have sustainable impact. To have sustainable impact, a leadership point of view needs to become a personal leader brand. In this essay lay our four characteristics of building a leader brand.
