Eddie Turner's Blog

“It’s About a Brand New, Brand YOU!”

Panelists (L-R) Kera Wright, Marie Myers, Christine LaFollette and Tracy Rummel

March 8 is International Women’s Day. On this day that celebrates women across the globe, I reflect on an event I was part of a few months ago.

Dennis Kennedy, the President and Founder of the National Diversity Council, sponsors several Women’s Conferences across the United States every year. I was honored, humbled and delighted when he invited me to serve as one of the moderators for the October 2015 conference held in Houston. I quickly found it even more humbling to meet and work with the fantastic panel of executive business leaders selected for the event.

I moderated two sessions that unearthed rich content and precious gems of wisdom for the audience to ponder. The first session was entitled: “It’s About a Brand New, Brand YOU!” It provided tips to help women market and promote themselves. Sports athletes need a playbook to be successful on the field so for our corporate athletes there was a panel discussion entitled: “The Corporate Playbook for Women.”

The audience was encouraged to view themselves as a product brand and work hard to build an attractive, compelling brand people want to have and be associated with. Branding cannot be stagnant. Therefore, everyone was reminded to constantly re-evaluate their brand and adjust according to the market just like a product.

The panel took things a step further and encouraged the audience to “Treat yourself like a corporation! Have a mission and vision statement for yourself!”

When talking about branding and marketing the conversation of “how” naturally came up. Social media was highlighted as one key to marketing and branding effectiveness. The panel said: “You cannot afford to opt-out of social media!”

One panelist recalled interviewing over 600 candidates for senior leadership roles in the organization she leads.  She used LinkedIn heavily to accomplish this.  She told the audience: “Your social media profile matters—Both what is there and what is not there!”  She said she looks at not only what your profile says but also what other people say about you and who else you are connected to.  She went on to say you can tell a lot about a person based on who they know and who knows them.  Association is a good thing and a bad thing.  “Can I authenticate this individual?” That is the question she asked.  That question was one of the most powerful gems of the day from my perspective.

Going further, this same global executive explained she is a busy mom and yet made time to complete her fourth advanced degree.  She wants to be able to compete at a high level so when she identifies gaps in her competency she fills them.  She also mentioned she has worked with an executive coach for five years.  She and other members of the panel used executive coaches and advised everyone to do the same.

On the subject of branding, another message was made very clear—image matters! How others perceive you visually makes a difference! It is so important, one panelist advises people to hire a wardrobe consultant. Why? She explained: “You have to own the room and you have to have executive presence.  People feel you!”

One play from the Corporate Playbook for Women stressed the importance of women being more visible.  “Women are good listeners. Men don’t process information as well as women,” one panelist said. “Men may only know 25% of the answer, but they jump right in anyway. The same is true for applying for new roles in a company. Men may only meet 70% of the qualifications, but they apply anyway.” The panel suggested women adopt the same boldness and in the words of Sheryl Sandberg—Lean In by taking chances to secure jobs and promotions they might otherwise think they don’t qualify for.

Another lesson from the Corporate Playbook is credibility is tied to style not just what you know. It’s about how comfortable you are. Do you feel you have the right to be there? Executives notice and take it in quickly.

As we concluded one of the sessions, a panelist offered final words of advice: “Be known to execute! Always under commit and over deliver!”

The Houston Women’s Conference was truly a memorable event! Attendees left armed with proven practices from some of the best women in business.

“The Corporate Playbook for Women”

Panelists (L-R) Dana Morrey, Rhonda Rubinstein, Sarah Tucker and Anne Cleary

Eddie Turner is a leadership speaker, a professional facilitator and an International Certified Coach. He practices executive coaching as a member of the International Coaching Community, the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and the International Coach Federation. Eddie works with leaders who want to accelerate performance and drive business impact. Eddie can be reached at eddie@eddieturnerllc.com or +1 (312) 287-9800