Understanding the power of your story to sell your brand:
Creating a powerful personal brand is not just for influencers. Being able to develop and convey your personal brand within your organization is highly important and can be as easy as always being on time to meetings, or becoming the go to person when it comes to say, technology problems. In the professional setting, storytelling is useful in helping create your personal brand. Through talking about your experiences and accomplishments, you and others will be able to understand what your role within the organization will become. By developing the narrative of your brand, yourself, through storytelling, you can set yourself up to achieve whatever goals you set.
The Art of Storytelling:
Being able to tell a good story that doesn’t drag on and keeps your audience engaged is an important skill to have. Everyone has different ideas about how to tell a story but the key elements are; 1. Start with the context, 2. Appeal to emotion, 3. Use a narrative style appropriate for business. There are many other factors that play a role in a good story but these are the core three.
Personal Stories from our panelists:
Chris, Kelly and Jane finish the lecture portion of the webinar by discussing their own personal stories in how they have curated their personal brand.
Kelly explains that the interview process, as we all know, is short which is why it is important to showcase your own personal brand and experiences as quickly and effectively as possible. Kelly succeeded in her interviews because as soon as she walked in she made sure to present her personal brand as a positive, outgoing individual that always has a smile on her face. This attitude helped establish her personal brand quickly and ultimately helped her secure the position.
Jane opens up about the importance of knowing your audience when conveying your personal brand. In her previous role she led the movement to create safe spaces for LGBTQ people in religious colleges and universities. Starting the conversation as well as getting people to listen to you was a skill that she honed in on during her time at these institutions. The development of and personal understanding of this skill greatly helped her establish her personal brand as someone who can reach a large diverse audience that might not listen to her otherwise.
Chris tells us about how he grew up in a small town in Ohio and did not have a LGBT community that he could find solidarity in. He explains that this experience led him to become the executive director of NYC pride and eventually World Pride which was the largest pride event ever. He tells this story because it gives context to his point of, “whatever you’re experiencing right now provides that insight, provides that path, to what future stories will be told”