Executive Career Development Includes Personal Branding

The subject of executive career development is everywhere: what skills leaders need, what companies in today’s economy require in their leaders, how we develop leaders, succession planning for leaders, and more. I don’t argue that these are important topics. I’ve written about them myself many times. Yet the one piece I think is missing from these discussions is personal branding for executives. Branding for you, the executive, is just as important as branding is for a company. We think of branding for authors, consultants, artists and all kinds of other professions but don’t recognize that personal branding for the executive is just as important, perhaps more so, than developing any other skills. You might be the Pied Piper of leaders or as brilliant as Jack Welch, but if no one knows about you it ain’t all that helpful. I’ve known Vickie Sullivan for years and she is the queen of branding…and not just speakers and authors. Vickie helps executives ‘get at the heart of packaging your expertise’ so you become visible and well known to those both inside and outside your organization. Vickie and I agree that branding is THE critical component of executive career development. Without it you might as well cross your fingers and toes and hope someone notices you. But with all the competition out there for key positions, why would you want to take the chance? Not a sermon, just my thinking.