Street-Smart Wisdom for Leaders - Part 3

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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to my show, a Podcast where we explore personal branding, leadership, entrepreneurship, and of course, how that would lead to success. I'm your host, John Michael. And in today's episode, we continue our series on street smart wisdom for leaders. In other words, what they don't teach you at Harvard Business School. Before I start, I invite you to connect with me on social media. You can find me on Twitter at John on the line Michael, on LinkedIn is John Michael are on Facebook as image Group International. Today we will dive into the elements that can take a personal brand and leadership to the next level. So let's get started. And let me ask you a question. Have you ever heard of the word chutzpah? Have you gotten hotspot? So let me explain to you. hotspot is a Yiddish word for unashamed Audacity? Or in other words of, you know, extreme soft confidence. So do you possess the audacity and boldness to take on a challenge? And in the world where there's a lot of challenges right now, some chutzpah is certainly comes in handy. Whether it's a difficult job or a difficult conversation, exhibiting chutzpah in any situation takes plenty of confidence. And by the way, how do you spell bloodspot? See it hate you tease Zed p h, that's certainly one version. So while not every situation calls for such a bold attitude, because if you ever do it, it can go against you. Having the ability to summon what spa can prove immensely valuable for facing and overcoming certain obstacles further, it's also your human right to exercise it. So when it comes to your life Bran, the impact is beyond your leadership and business. Having hutzpah means having the audacity to believe in yourself in your abilities. And of course, your self worth that at times has been getting chipped away subtly, and you don't even know it's happening. So hotspot is critical. It's about becoming aware that this is something you have access to. So I'd like you to reflect on that you know, and think about, you know, in your own career business alive, where you could use some more chutzpah, if you had, you know, if you were aware that you had access to it, or even the so called permission that you could use it. And certainly, if that's ever been an issue for you, I'm just going to give you permission today. Yes, you can use your chutzpah. So now let's talk about the next stage. And next stage is about connections. And as a leader, building strong connections is crucial to your success. We all know that we've heard about networking, and so on. But network and forming relationships with the right people is what I'm talking about here, because they can open doors, that what I would call the average connections cannot. So they provide valuable insights. And of course, can help you reach your goals further, obviously, that's why you're going to put the effort in on how to do that. And of course, through the work we do, we have a whole system on how to do that. So if you haven't had a system, virtually what you're doing is an ad hoc approach. And ad hoc approach is what most people do. And that becomes then a problem, because once you're in trouble, you want to get into your networks. But if that networks, I'm not being cultivated along the way, what you're really doing is spamming them, what you're doing is really calling him out of desperation for help. That's not how you build relationships, and certainly not connected networks. 

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So networks, in my opinion, are nearly everything I would say to you, your networks are more important than anything else you've been taught, including your your education, and including everything that you want on all the way and I've said this to my clients. And of course a lot of them have actually come back to me Give me a dumb person with all the connections, and we can open doors together. Give me a smart person with no connections. Yeah, eventually they'll get there but we haven't done 1000 years on the planet. So that this thing shouldn't be in right now is this not superficial networks like on Facebook, but real connected networks that become lifelong door openers for you. And I've noted this many, many times before in some of our past podcasts, that the power of connected networks is really the key here so you can quote me on that there. The probably the most important thing, certainly going for you certainly from a business point of view, career point of view. indefinitely even alive point of view, of course, above are all the other things that do come into play when we're talking about life. So to grow your influence in connections, you need to follow a system, as I mentioned earlier, not treated as another ad hoc thing to do. And that's exactly what a lot of people do. They trade it that way. So the third element that can take a personal brand leadership to the next level is authenticity. Again, how many times have we spoken about authenticity? Yes, even in a highly political workplace. So in today's world, people crave authenticity. So it's actually become an asset that so much more so than maybe even in the past, maybe, because, again, misinformation, disinformation, a lot of fraud online, and definitely confusion. Authenticity is the key here. And people really, sort of really get attracted to that, once, of course, it becomes apparent that that's what you're on about. So I want to connect with leaders who are genuine, transparent, and true to themselves. And what that means is you don't have to be perfect. And for some of you out there, you know, that think, Oh, I've got to be perfect in this and perfect in that, or from an image point of view, or trying to get perfection. And let us suggest to you, that's actually not the right way to do it, that will actually drive you into a mental asylum eventually. Okay, so what you want to do is really relax around that and stop being yourself. So I have a question for you. Think about which leaders, in your opinion, are genuine, transparent, and church to themselves? Who do you resonate with? And are you surprised who you resonate with, because that might also give you a bit of a realization that some of the people that you resonate with balsa you have those traits in yourself, or certainly would love to have those traits in yourself. So this is, this is a great self reflection, because the more you self reflect the deeper you'll get into your own authenticity. And of course, through that, you become more courageous. Or the other way around. Courage also brings you to authenticity. So authenticity requires us, of course, definitely, to be vulnerable. So to be vulnerable, you need the courage to be vulnerable. Okay, so knowing to put aside your ego, because this is a key because you are so much more than that. And if you're dealing with some egomaniac, you know, that specifically is doing that with you, when you have got that control, you can deal with them like that. Why? Because basically, you know exactly how to play those buttons, because you're authentic. And you can see the fakery presented to you. So through some training, coaching, and awareness work, of course, you'll get very quickly to understanding how to pick that. But bottom line we walk away with is this authenticity works. And last, but not least, let's talk about again, just briefly, emotional intelligence, EQ. Why, because like I mentioned with vulnerability, vulnerability you needed if you're going to open up your heart, wide, open up your heart, because open up your heart builds trust and builds relationships at a real connected level. Now, of course, open up your heart is not a popular concept in the corporate world. But trust me, where we're heading today, in the world, the way the world is opening up your heart is what's going to actually build relationships with you that are going to be closer, and certainly build trust that a level that you cannot imagine, especially with your team, and of course, your clients would love that as well.

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So emotional intelligence is a vital skill for leaders are we all know that. And it's basically essential to the point because in the environment that we're living in, doesn't matter what workplace, certainly people will be able to resonate with that. And long term, it builds strong relationships, you know, you're creating a supportive network. And of course, it inspires loyalty, bottom line down, like everything, it builds trust that we've shared about. And building trust, of course, is a major asset alibi era, because without trust, nothing happens. So your personal brand becomes known for its Compassionate Leadership, you know, and people are drawn to this authentic element and emotionally intelligent approach. So the final bit I want to say about this is, in all of this, people need to know that you care, before they trust you. Okay? And if you don't come across, and this is where the heartbeat comes emotion intelligence, if you don't care, why should people care about you? We're not talking about buying some product here that you know, has no heart, for instance, from Amazon, right? We're talking about human relationships here and that's why it's essential. Otherwise, it's like a transactional relationship on Amazon. Different concept logic. So we're talking about human relationship building here. So remember by incorporating the chutzpah, your personal brand, your project confidence and attract attention. Will you piss some people off? Definitely, you know, especially anyone that's too wishy washy, right? So the idea here is, you know, sometimes you got to pull out that card because that's exactly what's required. building meaningful connections also strengthens your personal brands credibility, and opens up new opportunities that of course, can lead to big possibilities that might not have been there in the past. And authenticity allows you to connect with others on a deeper level. Again, building trust and loyalty. And finally, EQ or emotional intelligence cultivates a compassionate supportive leadership style that sets your personal brand apart. Certainly your people trust you. And if your people just you're already on the right road because basically that helps you leverage your personal brand to a level then reaches out your your clients, and of course, everybody else. So that concludes today's episode. Hopefully it was valuable for you. Remember, your personal brand is a powerful asset that can propel you to new heights of success. If you're prepared to elevate both your personal business brand and unlock your full potential. We encourage you if you're up for that, contact us without hesitation just send us an email and we'll see how we can help you the email address otherwise on the description of the episode I want to thank you for listening. I wish you a great week. Until next time, cheers.

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.