70% of leadership is how we lead ourselves.

In fact, self-leadership can elevate all areas of our life, according to [Colleen Callander](https://www.colleencallander.com.au/about) and [Shannah Kennedy](https://shannahkennedy.com/), executive coaches and authors of _“Elevate.”_

They told our [Elevate leadership masterclass](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/events/a02RG000004FnwHYAS/overview?sid=a0KRG000006FOhh2AG) that **personal brand** is a key part of self-leadership.

“Personal brand is what defines you, how the world sees you,” says Colleen, a former CEO of clothing chains Sportsgirl and Sussan. “Personal brand is the _real you_, so treat it like an asset. It can pay off throughout your career and your lifetime.”

Colleen says a strong personal brand requires work on the solid foundations of self, purpose, and values. (See our summary of Session 1- Life)

Read on for their 6 steps to a **personal brand**, how to **influence, inspire**, and **impact** others, and the importance of **kindness**, **culture**, **goals**, and **habits** in leadership.

Colleen and Shannah urge leaders to embrace their personal brand with lots of care. Here are their 6 steps:

**Build your brand personality**. Identify who you are and how you want to show up in the world. May want to choose words like innovation, reliable, energetic.

**Core messages** – what you stand for, what you bring to the table – self empowerment, detail orientated delivering projects carefully, trustworthy, committed to reliability and honesty..

**Find your style**. Consistent mode of presentation. Select a style that resonates with your personality and your lifestyle.

**Sharing your story**. Think about one key story from your life, perhaps one that shapes how you handle challenges.

**Identify your platform**. Where do your audience spend time with you? What platform is best for showcasing your brand? It could be LinkedIn or Instagram or X (Twitter). It is a powerful extension of your brand.

**Be consistent**. Every day and everyway, show up and reinforce your brand, make sure all that you do sits with your brand identity. Consistent visual themes, posting content, or consistent effort in other areas.

**ACTIONS:** What can you stop, start, or keep doing that can elevate your personal brand?

6 steps to a personal brand

_“From my earliest days I listened, I learned, I made mental notes of who I wanted to be as a leader.”_ - Colleen Callander

What kind of leader do you want to become? Think forward 10 years. What are you doing today to become that great leader?

What do you want your **leadership legacy** to be? What impact do you want to make on those around you?

Colleen and Shannah say influencing, inspiring, and impacting are your “power tools” for effective leadership. Let’s work through each one.

**Influence**

Great leadership is about influence, not authority. It might be about guiding others in a positive way, empowering people, leading by example, and building long lasting trust.

**Ask yourself**: _How can I use my influence positively impact those around me?_

**Inspire**

Inspiring others is encouraging, elevating, and energising them to be the best they can be. You might inspire by being a role model, lead with purpose (know your why), walk with calm confidence, offer a steady presence.

**Ask yourself**: _How can I inspire others today to really bring out their best?_

**Impact**

The authors of _“Elevate”_ say we are _all_ born to have an impact/leave a lasting mark. Perhaps you’ll mentor others, share your knowledge, or you might celebrate someone’s achievements to show you value them as humans and as leaders.

**Ask yourself**: _How can I have an impact on those around me?_

**ACTION**: What can you start, stop, or keep doing to influence, inspire, and impact others?

Influence, inspire, and impact

Colleen and Shannah call kindness “a new superpower” and **“a new currency”** that we can trade for high performance.

They stress that leaders can make tough decisions with kindness.

“Kindness is about setting clear expectations, keeping others accountable, and pushing people beyond their comfort zone,” says Colleen. “It’s about elevating kindness in every aspect of our life – and extending kindness to yourself.”  

**ACTION**: What can you start, stop, and keep doing to ensure you lead with kindness?

Kindness 

Workplace culture plays a huge role in engagement, productivity, performance, and retention. As leaders, culture starts with you.

Culture must be **role-modelled**, taught, learnt, and nurtured. It must go from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom.

**ACTIONS:** Identify 3 ways you can contribute to creating an amazing culture (Examples contributed by the masterclass delegates: _Acknowledge good teamwork, have clear values that everyone is onboard with, create a psychologically safe environment, build trust and collaboration, open dialogue and transparency_).

What can you stop, start, keep doing? Write it down (when we write things down we commit to being on that journey).

Culture

Goals are “dreams with deadlines,” says executive life coach Shannah Kennedy. Goals are about simplifying and sharpening your **focus** to get great results. “Where your focus goes your energy flows, “says Shannah.

Yet, when asked “Do you have written goals?” 50% of the masterclass admitted they did not.  

_“If goals are just ideas in your head, you don’t feel good because they don’t come to fruition,”_ she says.  

Are you really committed to the journey or just rudderless?

**ACTION**:

·        **Write down a current career goal**. Is it meaningful for you? How will you feel when you achieve it? What has worked for you in the past?

·        **Express yourself positively**. Prioritise multiple goals in order so you can focus on what matters the most. Visualise success. Have the goal somewhere (like on a vision board).

·        **Celebrate the small wins**. Every small win fuels your inner confidence which fuels your inner fire. Put your goals on paper, on the wall, or on a screensaver.

·        **Set a high-performance health goal** – think it, define it, set it, write it, take action every day. Plan in pencil. Adjust after setbacks. Use the experience to build resilience. Never give up, just adjust and adapt.

**ACTION**: What do you want to start, stop, or keep doing? Put your values on a sticky note.

Goals

Do your habits work for you or against you?  Asked to admit a really unhealthy habit, masterclass participants said _scrolling on their phone, procrastination, not setting boundaries, fear of failure, staying up late, being too apologetic, eating too much, poor sleep hygiene, not prioritising_.

As Shannah says, “At the end of the day we get what we repeat.”

_“Supercharge your habits. Strive for personal excellence. It’s a choice of yours.”_

·        **Stack your habits** Atomic Habits author James Clear suggests habit stacking – adding a positive habit onto a habit you already have. For example, when you turn off the alarm in the morning, drink a glass of water. When you wash your hands, take 3 deep breaths.

·        **Morning warm-up** Plan a morning routine. Colleen and Shannah live by 3Ms: Make the bed, move your body, mindfully breathe.

·        **Pace the day**.  For high performance we need micro-refuelling during the day. What is the habit that you have (for Shannah it’s 3 breaths every time she washes her hands). Do your most important work in the morning.

·        **Your evening routine**. How do you end your day? Create healthy habits that help you recover and refresh. Turn off notifications after hours, set your agenda for the next day, stretch before sitting on the sofa, have a good sleep routine.  

As Colleen and Shannah demonstrate in their own lives and leadership, _habits + deliberate practice + continuous improvement + stacking = next-level performance and self mastery._

Habits

[Growth Faculty members](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/memberships/?campaign_id=701RG000006BNNhYAO&promo=BlogGF) will be able to join the next session of "Elevate Your Skills in Life, Leadership, and Longevity" and see the replay of Sessions One and Two.

It's part of Growth Faculty's [immersive live virtual learning program](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/); an engaging and entertaining way to develop leaders.

Growth Faculty recently launched a good value [Enterprise plan](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/#plans) for **larger companies** to develop leadership skills in teams of 20 or more employees.

Highlights coming up include an opportunity on July 31 to join an interactive discussion with **Will Guidara** on his new book _"Unreasonable Hospitality."_

For **higher level leaders,** including CEOs, there is an in-person [Good to Great® Immersion Workshop with Jim Collins](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/events/a02RG000002EGYsYAO/overview/?campaign_id=701RG00000ALpCMYA1&promo=Blog&type=Affiliate) in Chicago, U.S., in October 2024. This is exclusively for executive teams and numbers are limited.

Elevate Session 2: 6 steps to a personal brand

Elevate leadership training program: Leadership

Colleen Callander & Shannah Kennedy

Keep informed
Stay Inspired

Elevate Session 2: 6 steps to a personal brand

Elevate leadership training program: Leadership

Colleen Callander & Shannah Kennedy

Keep informedStay Inspired

Keep informed
Stay Inspired