Catapulting Your Career and Journey with Human Connection and Authentic Personal Branding
Sam Doying and I had a blast last December in launching our first ever executive workshop, focusing on leading with human connection and authentic personal branding to catapult your career and journey.
Attendees reaped benefits from our experiences as business and marketing coaches. We each bring values that complemented each other.
Some big takeaways from our attendees:
Storytelling is powerful. Attendees agreed that the stories we told in our workshop created an “ah-ha” moment that resonated with them deeply. Because when you are sharing a story, you are being creative. Being creative shows vulnerability from you.
A story is an articulation of your thoughts, perspectives, and raw emotions that come together, fully expressed, when you are given a safe space to let others into your world.
When high efforts are put into creating powerful stories that are being told authentically, you will attract your tribes and make it worthwhile for people to follow you.
Authenticity is a pillar for trust. In this world of AI, fake news and false narratives could run rampant if you don’t pay attention to the source or take control of your own. In order to break through the clutters of false narratives, you need to show up being authentic.
Authentic means at times you are being at the natural state of who you are, without pretense or putting on a mask.
It means speaking the truth, not being afraid to share your thoughts, having the courage to share your mistakes and learning from them, and letting go of others’ judgement and freeing yourself from being perfect.
People trust people who are real and candid. Like Zig Ziglar said: “If they like you, they will follow you. If they trust you, they will do business with you.”
Executive presence always being tested in the virtual realm. We have all been on Zoom or virtual calls where at times, we get distracted by someone’s screen background, the lighting, or the behaviors that they are exhibiting that made them look less authoritative or professional than they would like to project.
Making slight changes to improve your executive presence on Zoom or any virtual platform gives your viewers the confidence of who you are, and they will connect with you based on how relatable you are with them.
For examples:
Do you smile when they say something funny?
Do you ask relevant questions to show that you are paying attention to what they have said?
Do you participate in activities to show that you are engaged?
Do you reciprocate and show your own vulnerability when they had shared theirs?
All these elements of human connection project your executive presence that’s crucial for your leadership posture that will influence your career and journey.
All in all, Sam and I enjoyed giving our first, collaborated executive workshop together. We hope to offer additional executive workshops focusing on human connection and authentic personal branding in 2025. So stay tuned…
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