Don’t wait for the pivot to realize it. Your business executes on vision. You have vision. And most importantly, you exist before, within, without, and beyond your business.
I recently took on a client who’d built quite a name for herself in the SaaS space. Cool company. Great product. Mid-career, she’s pivoting, and it’s not to another SaaS endeavor. The new pursuit is in the scientific field, one in which she’s had an interest and involvement for nearly two decades. But that’s not what she’s known for. It was something personal, not something for which she sought or even thought about recognition.
A novel strategy is called for in order to reposition this successful business leader as she climbs the next mountain.
She is my ideal client, as it happens: highly credible, quite accomplished, and ever-evolving. Someone who defies easy categorization.
Would we both prefer that we had begun building her Personal Brand a few years ago, creating more of a 360-view?
YES. While this new business concept had not emerged three years ago, the seeds were there. The holistic personal brand was there. It just wasn’t nurtured or packaged in a way that would serve her. With the right time and attention, the full image would have been available, and would not be something we had to build, in many ways, from scratch.
BTW: the seeds are always there.
I’ve written and spoken about the virtues of identifying that singular spark that sets you apart. But for the purposes of this article, let’s focus on the BIG PICTURE.
The BIGGER PICTURE, actually.
Hell…
The BIGGEST PICTURE!
The biggest picture is YOU.
Your business has standards and practices.
You have values.
Your business executes on vision.
You have vision.
And most importantly, you exist before, within, without, and beyond your business. And somehow, somewhere, someone may have told you that what mattered was the service not the servant. There’s some truth to that. Biblical scholars suggest that the burial place of Moses remained unknown to the Jewish people because they might be led to deify him.
So, there are limits to the bigness of the self. Even if you look like Charlton Heston.
And I’ll admit, some leaders, like Moses, do not make great clients. So closely are they associated with one theme (“Let my people go,” Ten Plagues, Splitting the Red Sea, Ten Commandments, yada yada) that it does not make sense for them to pivot, no matter the direction. “I’ve come up with a new water purification system!” “Stick to your knitting, Moses. What do you know about turning water clear???”
In the end (actually, in the middle), it is advantageous to be prepared, and to co-develop your Personal Brand as you nurture your business.
Because in the biggest picture, this is not something you do for yourself, like a treat, or pampering, or reward. Your Personal Brand is not a Spa Day. It’s the lever that facilitates your next move.
I help C-Suite executives and Conscious Entrepreneurs reposition their personal brand to command premium fees, attract media opportunities, and become the go-to expert in their industry. Feel free to book a complimentary Personal Brand Audit at your convenience!
My new book, Selling the Truth: A ‘Semoir’ with Insights for Life and Business is now available for purchase!
