I think you would agree with me that to create a better world we need to teach our children self-belief, and the confidence to to do the right thing. Further to my post on Self Leadership for Children I have come across another article that inspires me a as a parent to make a difference. Continue Reading »
Do you ever wonder why people behave the way they do? Are you curious about whether someone is a right fit for a job or a team?
All will become clear when you understand the psychological background of personality.
The word personality comes from the Latin persona, which refers to the masks once worn by actors to give clues as to the emotions driving their behaviour. Today the term personality refers to the sets of predictable behaviours by which we profile a person. These sets of behaviours are known as types or traits and profiling tools are known as psychometric tests. Continue Reading »
We all know that a brand is a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; what might be less obvious is that each time somebody meets you they unconsciously create images and ideas about you which operates as a ‘your unique brand’. Companies spend large amounts of money to develop a brand because a positive brand influences how consumers will respond to their product.
As a professional or entrepreneur our success will be dependent on self leadership and our ability to influence others. Aristotle (384-322 BCE) taught that to influence requires ethos, which gives us the English word ethic and means character. Our ethos is like a brand, the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service.
Some people seem to naturally exude their ethos as a personal power that causes people to trust and be influenced by them; but can this personal branding be cultivated or developed? Most certainly yes! And in this article I will share some of the key factors in developing your brand of personal power and professional influence.
When we influence, we alter/affect someone else’s perceptions, views, beliefs, attitudes, decisions thus alter their actions. So the first question to ask yourself is, “do I have permission to influence others?” If you are not sure of your answer consider this – because each person will unconsciously create images and ideas about you, you are already influencing their perception! The question should now be. “How do I want to influence others and what brand do I want to project?”
Research has shown that people are positively influenced by people who are: trustworthy (honest), forward looking, confident, competent and inspiring. Each of these traits can be developed an enhanced and the payoff is increased personal power and influence.
“Honest is the best policy” is a maxim that holds true for developing your brand and another is “let your yes be yes and your no be no”. By living a creed of keeping your word and following through on your actions you transmit a very strong message that you are a person to be trusted and trust is like money in the bank when it comes to relationships.
Being forward looking is a quality of influence and leadership, it is attractive because it sends a message that you are a person of vision and action and can get things done rather than dwell on problems. Forward looking people are more optimistic and this creates a self fulfilling prophesy as people are influenced by your ideas.
Confidence and competence are linked in an interesting way. Confidence without competence is foolhardy but it is not possible to become competent without as certain level of confidence. Confidence says,”I have the power to think and feel and speak and act – therefore I can learn anything and I can do anything I put my mind to.” With this kind of self talk you will radiate the confidence of a ‘can do’ person.
To be inspiring means to put ‘spirit’ into your words and actions. Aristotle called this pathos (passion) and listed this as the second quality of influence. Without passion your words and deeds have little or no influence on others, but with passion you become energised like an electromagnet and attract others to your plans and ideas.
Aristotle’s third quality of influence, he called logos which gives us the word logic. We persuade people with our knowledge and thinking; this is known as ‘expertise power’. So if you access your personal power and know your ‘stuff’ you will already be creating a brand in the mind of those around you.
After personal power, and expertise power comes connection power. Connection power comes from who you are connected and associated with. Companies understand this when they link think their brand to celebrities. Tag Heuer has Tiger Woods sporting their watch sending the message that if it is good enough for the world’s best golfer it is good enough for me. You can increase you influence power by connecting with people of influence, take advice from them and be seen with them. A word of caution here – always do a check for integrity, because if there is strong association in the mind of your clients between you and a person of questionable ethics, you will also be tainted.
So in summary,
You are a brand so make the most of it. Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, “What do I want to project?” then go and do just that.
“It’s not our abilities that show us what we truly are; it’s our choices.”
These words, spoken by Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter, are a profound reminder that leaders require self leadership.
Viktor Frankl, the Nazi death camp survivor and founder of logo therapy, said it this way, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Interestingly we do not always get the best education in making choices. I recently spoke to a father who told me that he was having difficulty disciplining his teenage son; he had said to the boy, “Whilst under my roof, you have no choice.” With some empathy I shared a perspective that he might be handicapping his son’s abilities to learn to choose. Our choices have consequences and perhaps we need a gradient of consequences as we learn the power of choice?
As Self Leadership International we take this approach with our staff, we give them tasks that require them to make choices. With new interns or employees we limit the consequenses of those choices away from business critical areas, but as they grow in confidence we give them more and more rope ( but not enough to hang themselves!).
I have been involved in training leadership for managers for many years and this concept of empowerment is one that they often struggle with. I think it might be linked to a lack of permission (as with the teenage son) to make choices for themselves that prevents them from allowing others to make choices.
Here is a simple self leadership approach to making choices:
It takes a high degree of self awareness to run through this process and we make many choices by ‘gut feel’ but gut feel is our unconscious processing of choices. Leaders train their gut feel or intuition by paying attention the results of their choices and the choices of others.
May you make good choices this year.
(copyright Andrew Bryant – no reproduction without permission)
As we start our new year fresh from the festive season, I am smiling
with curiosity, excitement, and eager anticipation of what 2009 will
look, sound and feel like.
Being a trainer focusing on communication and leadership, I travel to
different countries to run training programs. Continue Reading »
Have you ever said something or done something that you later regretted?
You have! Wow that’s good I thought it was just me 
To make error is human, we all screw up or we are not living.
As I write this blog I can still feel the fresh emotion of embarrasment from a recent mistake. Continue Reading »
(first published May 2005 as part of Self Leadership International’s monthly newsletter)
How’s your self-esteem today?
Are you feeling super-good about yourself?
Or do you feel like yesterday’s take-out food that has been left out in the rain?
Have you been judging or criticising yourself? Or have you been considering yourself less ‘worthy’ than someone else?
If you are not feeling super-good about yourself right now, or you know someone suffering from low self-esteem, then read on and discover the keys to building a healthy self-esteem. Continue Reading »
It’s the day after Christmas and many are nursing sore heads and swollen stomachs whilst clearing away the debris of the day.
Later there may be further indigestion as we receive credit card bills that reflect our genorisity to ourselves and others.
Whether we are happy or sad this boxing day morning depends not on the quality of the presents or the size of the hangover but on the quality of the relationships we enjoy. Continue Reading »
In coaching and NLP there is a presupposition (principle) that states, “behind every behaviour is a positive intention.”
What this principle enables the coach to do is to track back from a behaviour to the frames of mind (mental map) that generated it. By labeling the intention as ‘positive’ we do not make our client wrong and are therefore able to build rapport and leverage change. Continue Reading »
