Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
The Quick Take podcast provides concise and actionable tips to help executives and leaders, like you, tackle the thorny and complex challenges that affect us daily. By leveraging their experience and relationship with other global leaders, our hosts provide suggestions that are based on their deep experience as leaders and coaches but also pressure tested in boardrooms everywhere because they asked their friends….(almost). Hosted by James Capps and Susie Tomenchok. Episodes release weekly on Thursdays.
Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
Does Your Professional Brand Need a Refresh?
Can you afford to let your career stagnate? In this episode, we reveal the secrets to evolving your professional brand and staying relevant in a rapidly shifting landscape. From embracing new technologies like AI to seamlessly transitioning from in-office to remote work, we unpack the strategies that keep you agile and ahead of the curve.
Learn how to continuously reassess your approach to leadership and avoid the pitfalls of complacency, even if you've been in your role for years. We'll share actionable tips for refreshing your brand with a forward-thinking vision that aligns with today's dynamic environment.
In this episode, we discuss the following:
1. Importance of evolving your professional brand.
2. Strategies for updating and testing your brand.
3. Adapting to technological and environmental changes.
CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/
CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/
Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Susie Tominchuk.
Speaker 2:And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.
Speaker 1:Hey Quicksters, Welcome to Quick Take. I'm your host, Susie Tomachuk, along with James Capps. How are you, James?
Speaker 2:I'm proud to be here, proud to serve I guess we don't need to use last names here.
Speaker 1:I need to drop that next time.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:So, formal.
Speaker 2:Some of our listeners might get confused with the other Jameses you have on your show. That's true.
Speaker 1:And it's evolution. So this goes right. I'm teeing myself up really well, Congratulations. Susie. So I have been doing some work within the industry that I used to work in, and so I've been running into people that I haven't seen for years. And what has struck me with some people is I can see their evolution of who they are as a professional, because they've moved on to a different role and they're doing a lot of different things. But then there's people that I feel like I just saw them yesterday and they're still exactly the same.
Speaker 2:As they were 25 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yes, totally yeah, yeah, and so it makes me wonder, like should we be looking at how we're perceived, kind of our brand?
Speaker 2:Oh, great topic.
Speaker 1:As we look at ourselves how, how important it is for us to evolve our own brand and make those shifts. What do you think?
Speaker 2:God.
Speaker 2:That's so interesting and I think it's something that I think about a lot too, as, like everybody listening to our podcast now is getting older.
Speaker 2:I got news for you there's nobody who's not and the reality is that as you get older, your brand becomes less, it becomes more entrenched and it becomes less relevant, perhaps, or important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I thought the COVID experience was really germane to this, when there were so many managers whose command and control methodology and their brand, their approach, their skill was barking orders from the corner office, and it was fascinating to see, when people no longer had that, how they did or did not evolve. Yeah, it was fascinating to see, when people no longer had that, how they did or did not evolve. And I think when you evolve in your career in the early days, you have to be more agile, because you move from company to company. Maybe you're trying to find your niche, you're shifting from function to function, but as you get longer in the years, you are what you are and you bring that to the table, so you can lose sight of the fact that you need to evolve. I think AI is another great example that's going to force everybody to reassess their model, their brand, and I think that people who are not doing that are going to suffer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it is kind of a separation between your role and your office. Suffer, yeah, and I think it is kind of a separation between your role and your office. I also think that when people went to COVID, they got some kind of confidence from their office and all of a sudden they're in their living room and they're like something's off. I don't feel quite as confident and I think, as you get, even if you're, it's okay to be in a role for 20, some years, but make sure that you're you're changing and you're not just being complacent in the role that you're in. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Totally does. I think that we, we all, get uh stuck in our ways. You know, you, you're, you're thinking uh, um stops, uh, evolving. Your mindset doesn't shift with, with uh, with the, whether it's the times, or whether it's the technology or the company or the people, um, you know, I, you, I, I bristle every time I see an article or anything that says how do I deal with gen X? Or why are the millennials X? And and you know that's just lazy thinking that's because you haven't evolved the way that you work Um and uh. I think, at the end of the day, as a, as a highly effective um leader, you are better off if you are constantly second guessing what you're doing in the way that you're doing it, to ensure that you are not getting stuck in the in in uh, in a rut. And I think your brand is the first and the most important place you need to focus on because, as I say, what got you here won't keep you here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we get in habits of that. I've seen it in negotiations, where people use anger and they use different negative tactics because it works and guess what?
Speaker 1:They don't intentionally apply them. They just apply them again because it worked. So don't just do it because it works. And guess what? They don't intentionally apply them, they just apply them again because it worked. So don't just do it because it worked. You need to evolve and think about it. So so I know I'm putting you on the spot, but have you, can you give us some tips on how to think about this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, I've never thought about putting three ideas together, but maybe I could share during during a pod but pod. But I think that the most important thing in many of these situations is, first and foremost, recognize the fact that your brand can need a refresh, and, if you can hear my voice, your brand needs a refresh. I'm telling you right now you should always be refreshing that, and I think the first way to validate that is my first recommendation is that you need to have a clear, future focused vision, right? So what is that forward thinking brand that resonates with today's landscape is the most important thing, and it should be an active decision, right? And you want to think do I want to be this? Do I want to be, you know, do I want to be seen as?
Speaker 2:And let me just take a moment and comment on the fact that I'm not saying that you need to insert AI into your brand. Right, you can't swing a dead cat without somebody throwing AI at the end of their product name or the end of their advertising. But what I am saying is take a moment, understand that in your role, you need to be far part of a of a uh, multi-year, multi uh industry, multi-technology, multi uh uh product vision. And how do you mesh? You know, message that and put a, put a language around that, and I think unless you put some sort of thought to that, it's going to be sloppy and really you'll fall back on your previous brand.
Speaker 1:And think about when you're doing that and you have that goal. How are you going to adjust to that? What are some tangible things that you're going to do so that you don't just put that North Star out there and you're like you don't really apply it? That's not going to get you anywhere.
Speaker 2:Well, and one of the people that I think about a lot in this case, you know, been around forever. I mean, I think for a lot of us he's just been a a a figure in our, our lives, but he really did a wonderful brand transition, if you think about it he went from basically being the butt of a lot of jokes, uh, to being a robot who couldn't actually be, uh able to communicate with people.
Speaker 2:Um, in front of Congress, uh, people questioned whether he was actually a human like, not a robot. I mean, he was literally so bad. He was seen as a, you know, a college boy who did something stupid and got lucky, and now he's actually seen as more of a thought leader. He is, while not, you know, he's not a fortune. You know your classic East Coast Brooks Brothers Fortune 100 CEO, but he's now commanding more respect. He has found a place to put his voice, and that was hell.
Speaker 2:I suspect that the branding company he hired to do that was not cheap, but it was an evolution. I also think about Microsoft, which, 15 years ago, as Apple was in its really great days Steve Jobs doing his work and coming out with some amazing products. Microsoft was relegated to Steve Ballmer you know, lincoln Continental joke of a company and and it is actually done a great job of rebranding it to be a more innovative AI driven thinker. That's active decision-making. Those brands were changed with intention and that's how you need to think about it. I need to reposition myself and and and think about how you want to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so good and those examples are really helpful to really think about how that shift happened.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:All right, so what's your next one?
Speaker 2:Well, and then I think the second one is just equally important is you need to really start testing that brand and understand the unique value proposition that comes to the table with that value proposition that comes to the table with that. So your brand can't be just a swell person or a smart thinker. You've got to have a brand that is understandable, that is something you can communicate, and start figuring out where those gaps are in between what you want it to be and what you think it is.
Speaker 1:So that first one is identifying that brand that you think you want to have, and be, and then identifying the gaps that you need to fill to ensure also tell a few people that you trust that I'm really working on this, because it will inhibit you if people go. Who are you? What are you doing? Like what Something feels off, but signaling that and also makes you committed to it. When you do, that is tell people.
Speaker 2:Actually, yeah, I actually think that's really my third bullet which is, Again, I stole it.
Speaker 2:No, you're great. Clearly, that's really my third bullet, which is you know, no, you're great. It's clearly, it's a good idea, but I think you have to go out there, you have to test it and you have to have advocates for that brand. Um, and those people are going to be your consigliere, is your, your counsel? Um, you know, and some of the things that I think about too, are the hard, the, the, the, the difficult things.
Speaker 2:Like you know, if you want to be seen as a progressive thinker, you can't dress like you're from 1987, right. And if you want to think, you know, you want to be seen as you know, somebody who is a good communicator, a good worker or a good people leader, somebody that maybe manages teams. You have to be able to have a good dialogue. A good worker or a good people leader, somebody that maybe manages teams, you have to be able to have a good dialogue of one-on-one. And so you know, the brand and your brand management requires a great deal of self-reflection and challenge, and you have to challenge yourself, and I think that having a clear assessment of your gaps and then having trusted people around you that can call you on your shit and tell you that, no, you're failing here is so important, and I think that those two go hand in hand really well.
Speaker 1:I think it's really true. It makes me think of I'm laughing to myself because I had this visual. I have a friend that I grew up with that's older than me and she has an 80s hairstyle and she'll go and she'll get it totally redone and inevitably like a month later it's exactly back because you can't not do it. So it's like you have to be able to understand that you need to evolve into this future person and not slip back into who you are today. The example you gave.
Speaker 2:You know they want to be, uh, they want to do and be something different. And, yeah, they'll go and maybe go to a new stylist, get a new haircut, maybe, uh, you know get a different uh uh color in their hair. But it's so easy to fall back into the comfortable it's so easy to fall back into what you're used to. You know it's easy to assume that I am great because I was great doing what I'm doing now 20 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so she thinks she looks great with the haircut she had 20 years ago. So it's difficult for her to find a way to look great in a different way.
Speaker 2:And and so that's, that's a perfect analogy, that, um, you know, we, you, it's going to be uncomfortable, Um, it's going to be challenging and, if done right, you'll look back and go oh my gosh, I was kind of embarrassed about what I was before, or how I behaved before, or the tools that I was using before. Um, uh, I think that there's just plenty of opportunity for each one of us to to uh, check our six on the way that we think about things and, you know, consciously and consistently reassessing the brand that we put forth is a great way to make sure that we stay relevant.
Speaker 1:Yep, if you don't look back on yourself and cringe, then you're not growing.
Speaker 2:So well said. It's going to be very well said.
Speaker 1:All right, tell me the three tips going to be very well said.
Speaker 2:All right, tell me the three tips. Yeah, I think the first one is you know, obviously, um, have a clear vision of what you want to be seen. Point to maybe you know what I love to do in this particular one is I like to say look, I want my brand to be like that person's brand.
Speaker 2:I think that guy is brilliant, I think that woman is brilliant, I think she's a great communicator, I think they tell good stories. I want it. That's the brand I want. So get that in my head. I want you know what would Tim Cook do? What would Sheryl Sandberg do that? Secondly, identify the gaps. Identify the things that you know that you're not doing there. Why is that brand that they have, not your brand? And then, third, you know pressure, test that. Work with uh, with people you trust to, to evolve you Uh and also, um, you know uh, continue to find ways to uh, expand and and re um uh, reinitiate your brand. You know, if you want to be a good speaker and you're working on that then go speak at events. If you want to, you have to practice that brand. You have to promote that brand. If you're going to have a new brand, you've got to promote it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. So good, this was such a timeless topic. And I do want to just mention, just to call this out. You told me my example is brilliant and perfect, so I just want to make sure that that was heard. You know, Susie, it's not fair that I say you're brilliant and perfect a lot when the camera's not running but now, if you want me to say it more on the camera, I shall.
Speaker 2:And yes, it was brilliant and perfect, just like always.
Speaker 1:And that former comment was not true. Well, thanks, james. Thanks for joining us today everybody, Join us.
Speaker 2:next take on Quick Take where we talk about the problems that are not being solved by Susie and James.
Speaker 1:Thanks everybody. Okay, james, what has been your favorite place to visit?
Speaker 2:You know, I really like Aurora. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:Anything south of Hamden.
Speaker 2:Anything south of Hamden Also not true, I think in the US. I'll say Continental. I've really enjoyed Oregon, it's been fantastic.
Speaker 1:It's beautiful, it's lovely up there yeah.
Speaker 2:Seattle's great. The Northwest is fun. I'm a big fan, so I'll go with that. I think, internationally, you know I'm a huge fan of India and I just I know it's not your classic European vacation or, and you know I've been to Hong Kong and Singapore and KL and and um, but India is, uh, it's, it's, it's, you know, like the Baltimore of of the of the world. It's got some uh, and I love Baltimore uh, and you know it's got a little bit of uh, dirt, a little bit of grime, but it's got a lot of funk to it and and it's a messed up place and I kind of like that. You get to meet some gritty, rough people and that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Okay, I like it. Good answer. I knew you'd have a good answer for that. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the mind of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.
Speaker 2:You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. Our links to the show are in the show notes.
Speaker 1:We appreciate you.
