--Susanne Dalton Dupes, ABC, APR

 

At the September Women's Leadership Salon, we talked about how to build and manage your personal brand.  You can also think about your brand as your expert status.  It doesn't matter whether you are working toward a promotion or a speaking career, or building a business or your personal brand -- the way you want people to perceive you is critical.  And it's ongoing.

 

Brand and reputation work together.  Your brand is what you put out to the world. You build it.  Your reputation is what the world feeds back to you.  You monitor it. 

 

The first principle of personal branding is to be authentic.  Be true to yourself.  If you have that at your very core, everything else has a solid foundation on which to stand.

 

Second, know what you believe.  Brand is all about how you want people to see you.  It encompasses the goals you want to achieve, as well as your passions, your communication styles, your culture, your attitude, your appearance, everything that makes up the package that is you. You need to know who you are when all of those pieces are put together, so you aren't sending mixed brand messages....a calm, decisive person with one group, but a flaky, brash person with another group.  

 

A third and final point about branding is, yes, you really should Google yourself.  Nope, it isn't being vain. Your name is out there so much now, with all of the social media tools and in so many different places.  It is up to you to monitor what is happening with your brand and your name.  If you find something that is incorrect, don't hesitate to contact the person who has posted it and ask for a correction.  

 

And you never know when you might stumble upon someone saying something nice about you.  When that happens, grab a link to it!   And respond with a thank you or a mention and link on Facebook.

 

Helping women leaders build and and promote their expert status is our key focus at the Dalton Dupes Agency.  If you'd like to learn more, email me at susanne@daltondupes.com.

In the September issue of Harvard Business Review, Herminia Ibarra, Robin Ely, and Deborah Kolb address research about about the continuing lack of women in upper levels of senior management.   They devote a significant portion of the article, "Women Rising:  The Unseen Barriers," to second-generation gender bias. 

"Despite a lack of discriminatory intent, subtle, 'second-generation' forms of workplace gender bias can obstruct the leadership identity development of a company's entire population of women."

They define second generation gender bias as:

• A paucity of role models for women.
• Gendered career paths and gendered work.
• Women's lack of access to networks and sponsors.
• Double binds (the mismatch between conventionally feminine qualities and the qualities thought necessary for leadership).

The good news is, they offer suggestions and paths forward to address that bias.  They offer three specific solutions that call upon both women and organizations to make changes.

"The three actions we suggest to support women's access to leadership positions are (1) educate women and men about second-generation gender bias, (2) create safe "identity work spaces" to support transitions to bigger roles, and (3) anchor women's development efforts in a sense of leadership purpose rather than in how women are perceived."

Read the detailed article online in the September Harvard Business Review.

 

Over at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), Lean In Circles are starting to catch on as workplace activities.  These "Circles" are based on the book Lean In, by Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook.    

 

After a couple of really successful circles developed at ORAU, their Diversity Council decided to step it up a notch.  In October, the Council is hosting a major event to invite all comers to join Lean In Circles around the facility.

 

Why would an organization do this?  Both the book and the LeanIn.org community grew out of Sheryl Sandberg's 2010 TED Talk, Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders.     

 

Lean In Circles are small groups that meet regularly to "learn and share together...to "talk openly about the challenges women face and work together" to try and "change the trajectory of women and create a better world for everyone."  The Lean In Community offers free agendas, discussion guides, and online lectures.

You can find more information about creating and conducting Lean In Circles at Start a Circle.

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