Self Leadership Coaching Blog

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,

1. Be confident
2. Know your stuff
3. Add value to others
4. Talk and walk with Passion about what you believe in.

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.

Fear is a part of our every day lives and to achieve Self Leadership we must understand and work with our fears so that they do not prevent us achieving our objectives.

Or as the bard,  William Shakespeare, put it, “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we might win, by fearing to attempt”. Continue Reading »

How often do you hear someone say, “I love my job?”

Our career coach, Jass Malaney says, this is rare.

Conversations at work are more likely to be along the lines of, “Thank God it’s Friday” or “When my lottery numbers come up I’m out of here”.

Confucius said, “Man who loves what he does, never does a day’s work in his life”.

Is it possible to love your Job? Do you know someone who does? Continue Reading »

Aristotle taught us that to influence and persuade effectively we need to have ‘ethos’ which translates as ‘character’. In Aristotle’s Ancient Greece you would be known by your actions and words; today nothing has changed except that our actions and words are now open to the world wide web.

It would be naive to not consider how your character is portrayed on the web because your client’s and competitors will certainly check you out. Websites such as Linked In are excellent for a business profile and Facebook can be powerful means of connecting if used with caution.

I recommend an excellently balanced article titled ’5 Reasons to Care About Your Online Presence, and 3 to Forget About It.’

Guard your character because once lost it is almost impossible to regain.

“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:

1. Own your right to choose. You have a birthright to make choices independent of your family and culture.
2. Choices have consequences. You must take responsibility for your choices good or bad.
3. Analyse your choices before you make them. “Do I have all the facts?  Will this choice benefit me/others, in the short/long term?”
4. Get input on your choices. With a major choice do not be afraid to get input from others but remain in control.
5. Get feedback on your choices. Notice the effects of your choices and make adjustments as necessary.

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 »

Self Leadership is all about getting ideas into action and New Year is a time when many choose to make a commitment to start a new behaviour or stop an old habit.

In 2009 I will be writing on this blog about how to turn thoughts into actions and actions into results, so what I want to know from YOU is…

What are your resolutions for 2009?

Please respond by clicking on comments below… thanks, Andrew
Oh and have a Happy New Year!

Coaching is the “in” methodology for personal development, but what exactly is coaching?

Here are a few definitions:

• “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance.  It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.  Clients say coaching brings out their best by helping them focus, break down tasks and clarify their values.”- Fortune Magazine Continue Reading »

I am often asked whether we teach self leadership or NLP for kids; well as a father of a 3 yo (Tasha in photo) and a 1.5 yo ( Nathan) I am still getting my head around this (my wife Zurina is  much better).

Today I read a great post by Jonathan Fields entitled, “Six timeless rules for my 6-year old daughter”, it made me laugh, it made me cry and made me wonder what I am in for as my daughter grows up!

Please read it and enjoy.

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 »