We all have a brand whether we like it or not. We all have a name or an image we conjure up in the minds of the people we meet or interact with. Interestingly, this image can be created, even without being present physically.
“Your brand”, according to Dorothy Kisaka, a leadership consultant with Destiny Consult, in Kampala Uganda, “is a unique, distinguished memorable impression about you, in the minds of the people you meet, or interact with.”
Personal branding is an accelerator for success. It is critical for leadership because a leader’s brand determines how effective they will be with the people they have been called to serve. The leader’s name or image in the minds of other people will determine whether they will or will not be able to connect with their people. Branding can be the determinant of whether leaders draw people to themselves and are therefore able to serve them, or whether they repel them fail to offer the leadership that they could have offered.
Leaders cannot but engage in serious personal branding. The leader who will be successful must think about and evaluate the consequences of his/her brand. What kind of brand are you? What unique, distinguished, memorable impression do you create in the minds of your customers – the people you influence? What do you make other people feel? That is your brand.
Leaders, work on your brand today, to ensure that your leadership produces the best of results, and achieves all that God intended it to achieve.
I know that some of you, like me a few years ago, have struggled with the whole idea of personal branding. I once thought and felt that personal branding was a self-centered, self-serving and self-promoting venture which was not pleasing to God, who calls us to others-centered and not self-centered leadership. I have come to learn, however, that personal branding has a higher and better purpose.
“The purpose of our personal branding”, according to leadership teacher, Dorothy Kisaka, “should be so that we can offer better service, so that we become excellent workers, and so that we can make profit, not for ourselves but for the Master” who has called us to lead. Leadership is a stewardship. “Personal branding should be one of the ways we account for the gifts and talents that God has given us and a way of demonstrating our faithfulness to the one who called us to lead,” she adds. It is, in essence, to say this is me; these are the gifts, talents and abilities that God has given me; how may I help you? How may I serve you?
How will the people you have been called to lead know what you have to offer if you don’t package it very well in the brand called You? A leader can have so much to offer but that can easily go unnoticed because of poor personal branding or the lack of personal branding. Like all the powerful brands that we know, you must package yourself in such a way that you possess quality, value, uniqueness, consistency, dependability, trustworthiness and a good reputation as a leader.
Leader, what is your brand? Have you, or are you working on your brand? Have you considered the consequences of your brand to your leadership? Share your thoughts with us, by leaving a comment.
Nicholas Kalyebara 
I agree 100% personal branding is one the key areas every leader needs to work on…
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Absolutely. We create impressions – good or bad – every time we appear; even when we don’t speak. We have work to do, to ensure the brand creates a positive influence.
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Thank you Nich. A great piece, one that encourages us to fine tune and refine the gift and the art of leadership, and other special personal attibutes! We operate at our highest glory to the extent that we delve in the refinement of that our gift, and then portray ourselves (be known) as so!
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Yes indeed Patrick, the world can’t know what you have until you portray it; they can’t get the best from you until you refine your gifts. And everyone is gifted in some way.
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Nick, I could not have said this any better. This piece has spoken to my inner man. But I would also add that in the struggle to rebrand, a leader must be careful with the people and places he/she hangs out with. They consequently shape and contribute a great deal to our brand.
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Encouraging to learn that the piece spoke to you, Dennis. Absolutely, where we go and with whom we spend time with affects our brand, positively or negatively.
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But again some people would like to be great leaders and attract a great following, but so often, their brand keeps failing them to raise to the occasion. Could you jot here some tit-bits that could help an emerging leader to rediscover themselves …(read brand) through a personality check.
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Dennis, I do agree that self-awareness is important in personal branding, since the central idea here is knowing who we are and what we have (our gifts, talents and abilities), and packaging those in such a way that they are recognized, so that they can be deployed. I have taken up your suggestion. I will write here, in the very near future, something on the relationship between your personality (who you are) and personal branding. What I can say in short is that those who know themselves, brand themselves better. Those who don’t know themselves well, blunder in personal branding. You cannot package a TV set in a box labeled “refrigerator”, when buyers discover the truth, they will not be happy with the seller.
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[…] Make sure you are favorably remembered, when you complete your internship. Making sure that you are remembered is what will determine whether you will be called back to join the team on a permanent basis, or whether a favorable reference will be made on your behalf, to your next career post. We create lasting memories in simple yet powerful behaviors like keeping time, maintaining a positive attitude, demonstrating a willingness learn, giving our best, among others. These and more, are the attributes that determine how successful our brand will be in the market place. I have written more on the topic of branding in my earlier blog post Leadership and Personal Branding; you can read it here. […]
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[…] reader on my earlier blog post, Leadership and Personal Branding asked whether there are leaders who like to influence a greater following and yet fail because of […]
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……………………………………. Nicholas, this is very insightful. I took Carl Jung’s test sometime back. I am an an ENTJ. Apparently this is not a very good combination for a woman…hmmm. Could you share your type, i would really like to know. There is also this very book called Personality Type Talk at Work, you should get it sometime. Branding is really important; you inspire more people and create greater impact by being who you are and acting consistently with that which is central to
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Yes indeed, you create more impact by being you. You have to understand you, before being the best brand you. I don’t believe, though, that there are bad personality types for men or women. To believe that is say God did not know what He was doing when He made you. You have to accept you, before becoming the best brand you. My type accordong to Curl Jung is ENFJ.
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