Month: September 2022

Have you ever thought about…

Posted on September 28, 2022 by - Uncategorized

Have you ever thought about...

Have you ever thought about your personal brand? What does your brand say about you? How do you want to be seen by others at work?

When coaching clients, these questions come up a lot because they help us to be more intentional about ourselves and how we show up. One of my clients, “Casey”, is struggling with a volatile boss who is quite challenging to work with.

While Casey said she wants her brand to be seen as smart, decisive and effective, the language she uses when talking with this challenging boss is anything but clear and direct. Understanding what she wants her brand to be and how she wants to be seen helped her have clarity around what she needed to shift to align with her brand vision. How we speak, how we dress, how we show up on video or in person all tell others about our brand. Be intentional about your brand.

#WiseWords

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.“

Seth Godin

Worth the Share

Speaking about brands, what does the color of your company logo say about your company?

For example:
  • Which color makes babies cry?
  • Which color is preferred by men?
  • Which color alleviates depression?

This article from Fast Company is fun to read and will shed some light on your company’s brand color. My first company color was green because it represented growth, the color of money and the NY Jets (don’t ask!). My current company, MJR Coaching+Consulting, is orange because it reflects energy, enthusiasm and warmth, all traits that I bring to my work.

Read on to learn more about colors and what they tell us, based on the work of Neuroscientist Bevil Conway.

What Your Logo’s Color Says About Your Company (Infographic)
And Finally...

Your personal brand will have several components. When it comes to talking
about yourself, which is your brand, talk about what you do, why you do it, and why it matters in a brand statement.

Here is my brand statement, for example, : “I am passionate about partnering with high-performing professionals to elevate their career success.” I want to be seen as smart, energizing, thoughtful, kind and direct.

This article from indeed.com has several examples of brand statements. Perhaps write you own brand statement to bring further clarity to what you do, then write  down a few words to describe how you want to be seen.

Have a great week,

Mary Jo

To learn more about my 1:1 executive, communication or business growth coaching, custom virtual workshops, the Career Transition program or just to connect, you can reach me at info@mjrcac.com

Why this is so important?

Posted on September 14, 2022 by - Uncategorized

Why this is so important?

When coaching a senior leader recently, I challenged him to think about his colleagues on the leadership team at his mid-sized company. They have been in business for over a decade, and by most business measures, are very successful.

When he rated himself and his fellow leaders on a one to ten scale for leadership, management and success in each of their current roles, he only gave out only eight. Every other score was considerably lower, with most in the three to five range. Keep in mind, this is a successful organization. How could he rate them so low?

My client suffers from having a huge negativity bias. He looks at things through such a negative lens that he is dragging down himself and his colleagues.

One of the principles of Emotional Intelligence is positivity. Being positive, especially as a leader, has an out-sized impact on your organization.

#WiseWords

“The POSITIVE THINKER sees the INVISIBLE, feels the INTANGIBLE, and achieves the IMPOSSIBLE.“

Winston Churchill

Worth the Share

After that meeting, I wanted to better understand the power of positivity in leadership and was grateful to find this article, The Best Leaders Have a Contagious Positive Energy  It brings to life the importance of positivity, stating that it is a key determinant for success in leaders, beating out things like charisma, innovative genius and power.

Authors Emma Seppälä and Kim Cameron state: “The one thing that supersedes all these factors is positive relational energy: the energy exchanged between people that helps uplift, enthuse, and renew them.”

With authentic, values-based leadership, these leaders uplift themselves and their organizations. Positive energizers are themselves high performers and positively impact others.

When it comes to their companies, the positive energizer as a leader also generates greater innovation, teamwork, financial performance and workplace cohesion, according to the authors. How can we argue with that?

Take a moment and read this article or pick up their book, Positively Energizing Leadership.

The Best Leaders Have a Contagious Positive Energy
And Finally...

I want to build on what I talked about last time, Quiet Quitting. In this article from Gallup, they say that about 50% of the workforce today falls into the “quiet quitting” category. People who are disengaged at work and doing the bare minimum to get by. This is especially true for younger workers.

How can we combat quiet quitting? Gallup suggests to re-skill your managers to manage a hybrid or remote work force, actively have managers manage their teams, make sure managers have a minimum of one 1:1 meaningful conversation with each team member each week, create accountability metrics for team members, help them understand the “why” of their work, and their organization’s greater purpose.

I would add to that: lead with positivity and a healthy dose of empathy.

Have a great week,

Mary Jo

To learn more about my 1:1 executive, communication or business growth coaching, custom virtual workshops, the Career Transition program or just to connect, you can reach me at info@mjrcac.com