How the basic principles of my leadership coaching apply to marketing and branding (part 2)

Continuing a bit on the theme of why the principles of leadership coaching apply also to marketing and branding…

Leaders engage with their stories of identity, stories of who we are and where we are going.  Brands and organizations, the best ones, tell similar stories of identity, and they tell them often.

Personalization: Leaders learn that the most effective communication happens when we reveal ourselves in personal ways.  We show our passion and enthusiasm through the personal stories we tell.  It is simply the best way to connect with others.

Simplify: Effective leaders have simple messages and stick to them.   Most people tell stories that are too complex and difficult to follow.  Brands often fall into this trap as well.

Projection: Leaders learn to project themselves and their followers into bigger stories, onto an increasingly bigger “stage”.

For leaders, the process of self-examination and of turning their life experiences into stories of identity is an ongoing, lifelong journey. They are constantly questioning and finding new ways to express, through the stories they tell, what they stand for. For a brand or an organization it should be the same.  We must continuously revisit our questions of identity, of who we are and what we stand for, etc.

I plan to take up each of these concepts in its own blog entry.