The #2 post in my series on:

Executive Presence: Insights for Boosting Your Credibility and Influence

Whether we realize it or not, we do things that shape our personal brands – how others think and feel about us – every day at work and in our personal lives. Every interaction, communication, and how we show up in appearance and posture affects what others think and feel about us. This in turn influences the extent to which others want to trust us, buy or believe what we say, and interact with us at work.

How can you accelerate your path to executive presence to boost your credibility and influence? Put yourself in the driver’s seat of your reputation and leadership impact with Intentional Personal Branding to create more positive outcomes.

Intentional Personal Branding is being intentional about how you want people to perceive you and think about you and then doing things that align with that intention or vision.

We already know from decades of research that those who have clearly written goals have a greater likelihood of achieving success. Setting goals for your personal brand is no different.

I use Intentional Personal Branding with many of my executive coaching clients as a way to set goals to guide their path to executive presence. This personal brand vision serves as an anchor for making good communications and behavior decisions – intentional decisions on how they want to show up to others.

Here are the questions to ask yourself in setting your Intentional Personal Brand:

#1: How do you want to be seen by others? Do you want to be seen as someone who is an expert in your field, a leader who is true to your word, or a person who will do anything to help others? Or, do you have other core values and desired perceptions that are higher on the list?

#2: How do you want people to feel when they are with you? How someone feels in your presence is an indicator for how much time they want to spend in your presence. If you make people feel capable, inspired and important, then likely you will quickly build more followers.

#3: What do you want people to say about you? Now this is getting real! Writing down what you want people to say about you is making your goals more specific and descriptive, increasing the likelihood that you will make wise communications and behavioral choices that align with your goals.

Taking the time to answer these questions and set these goals will increase your chances for success as a leader.

In addition to being specific, be sure to create a vision for your personal brand that is achievable and aligns with your authentic self and core values. Creating a desired brand that is a 180 from who you really are as a person may not serve you well.

Last, don’t get discouraged when you have setbacks. Once you have thought about and intentionally articulated the personal brand you desire, you will become more aware of when you say and do things that are not aligned with your vision. Awareness is a good thing! How many people do things to hurt their reputation and aren’t aware of it? Be grateful for your awareness. Learn what you can from your mistakes, pick yourself back up, and keep moving forward being intentional with what you say and do and how you appear to others to be more successful.