Have You Asked Yourself This Question?
Updated: Jun 29, 2019
As a kid, I never had a clear answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” That's why it's a relief to look back at my thirty-five-year career and see I carved a niche in the field of marketing and communications. I am lucky to have worked in different industries and sectors, from big business to mom-and-pops, both profit and non-profit; my personal behind the scenes tour of workplaces in America today. After that long trek, I am looking through a lens much closer to the exit and asking a different question, “What do I want to leave behind?”
Having never really answered the first question, I’m taking the second one more seriously. For the majority of my career, I worked with the assumption I had a ladder to climb. Sound familiar? The paradigm I operated from was a mix influenced by the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gloria Steinem, and the fact that my mother and grandmother both worked out of the home.
From my perspective today, I have no interest in going up another rung on a ladder. Instead, I am going in--poking around at my beliefs, playing with ideas, defining who I want to serve and why. I walked myself through the same journey I would take any brand. What are my mission, value proposition, and brand promise?
Because of this investigation process, I finally figured out that I can’t think myself into doing great work, I have to feel my way in. I see now that the totality of my personal brand is the intersection of my skills, knowledge, and experience with my distinctive personality and characteristics. It’s the balance of head and heart--my unique combination of IQ and EQ. I concluded that the value of my offerings in marketing communications become exponential when I engage my heart.
Stepping into the world as an entrepreneur is not easy. It requires that I put my heart in the game and on the line. That demands shifting old mindsets, overcoming limiting beliefs, and expanding my thinking. My quest for meaning and purpose sent me on a personal brand discovery process and through this, I learned to give my heart a voice in the conversation. From listening to that voice I heard I want to help leaders reconnect to the fire that ignited their company at inception.
I am not alone on this quest for meaning and purpose. Both questions are universal and we all ask them at different points in our life. It’s the clarity of the answers that matter. Many of us have only a general idea of where fulfillment can be found in our life. We have yet to give it focus, write it down, and anchor it in our mind and heart. If we don’t declare it, our path to fulfillment is meandering and often, some people never find it.
That is why I created my signature four-week program, Power + Purpose: The Heart of Your Brand. In this program, I take you on a brand discovery process dedicated to defining your path to fulfillment and success. Through a step-by-step process, we examine your brand from the inside to bring your distinctive characteristics and value to the surface. Whether you’re starting fresh or recalibrating, I assist you in reaching a higher level of satisfaction by connecting you with your true purpose.
Some people are born knowing their purpose. Others need to cultivate it along the way, steering in the direction of new opportunities, staying curious, and following their heart's inspiration to find what feels good. That's what I did. Now I know I want to help leaders connect to their power and purpose in order to build brands that are meaningful, impactful and ensure their legacy. And this is what I am dedicated to leaving behind when I exit.