How do we successfully lead teams who are spread across a wide geographic area in times of significant economic and geopolitical change? According to Brenda Bence the key is first for leaders to clearly define what they stand for and be vigilant about remaining true to that. “Real leadership actually starts on the inside, with what a leader believes and the way that a leader thinks. We don't see any of that on the outside, but to be a truly great leader, I firmly believe that the inside and the outside need to be aligned,” said Ms. Bence, who spent over 20 years with Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb, working in six countries in Asia and Europe. “When you line up what you believe on the inside with how you act on the outside, that's when great leadership kicks in.” <h3><b>The Critical Importance of Building Trust</b></h3> People can always sense when someone is being authentic - and when they are not. Today more than ever, for senior leadership through to middle managers, establishing trust has become an essential part of successful leadership. “Team members can sense if a leader is authentic. So if you want to build trust, which is so foundational in today's hybrid world, then leaders must first ensure that what they say - and what they actually do - are in alignment.” “I remember I was working with one leader, and she had made a decision to be more approachable. She really had a challenge controlling her temper. She would get frustrated, and she would explode. We worked through ways that she could stay calm and how to control her impulses,” and she began to get a better handle on controlling those outbreaks. The challenge for her was to do this consistently, because consistency plays a big role in building trust. “You've got to start on the inside before you can even think about the outside. So many leaders will come to me and say, ‘I want to present better at town halls.’ I could teach them how to stand and I could teach them how to use their voice. But that's not it. Have they previously failed at town halls? Do they lack belief in their communication skills? You've got to do the inside work, what I call it the inside job of leadership before you can ever get to that outside part to succeed.” said Ms. Bence. <blockquote> “People don’t leave companies, they leave leaders ... they want to know that they matter, that they are unique, that you care about them. <footer> <cite>- Brenda Bence</cite> </footer></blockquote> <h3><b>The Great Disconnection</b></h3> Never before have people been so connected, and yet despite advanced telecommunications and social media, people feel more disconnected than ever. “The problem is that there is less true connection taking place. We're texting and messaging, but we are no longer looking into someone’s eyes and communicating at a deeper level. This has caused what I call ‘the great disconnection,” said Ms. Bence. “People don’t leave companies, they leave leaders. People want to know that they matter, that they are unique, that you care about them. They want to feel that they make a difference to the organization. And if they're feeling disconnected, they're going to go somewhere else where they can feel that. And they'll keep looking for it until they find it.” <h3><b>Building Your Leadership Brand</b></h3> For over a century brands have relied on branding to give them credibility and add-value in the market. Now we’re seeing the concept of branding being applied to leadership. “Your brand as a leader is the way you want others to perceive, think and feel about you, in comparison to other leaders. And that's both inside and outside of an organization. Your leadership branding is what you do to communicate that brand day in and day out. It's how you act and react, look and sound. It’s what you say, how you say it, what you're thinking and how you're expressing yourself,” said Ms. Bence. However it's important to differentiate the difference between the rise of the ‘celebrity CEO’ that we’ve seen during the past two decades and the development of an authentic leadership brand. “I've worked with many C suite execs and I say, ‘it's not about you’. And that's hard for many people to hear. Sometimes they say ‘no, I'm the CEO’. I have to remind them that actually you are one of 10,000 people, or 12,000 people or 50,000 people who work in your organization.” <blockquote> If part of your brand is being approachable, how are you going to show your approachability?</blockquote> <h3><b>Being the Brand</b></h3> Once you’ve defined your brand, the step is communicating to your team and others in your organization. “Once you're clear on what you want to stand for, the next step is determining how you are going to communicate that? If part of your brand is being approachable, how are you going to show your approachability? One of the key ways is how you act. Also the way you look, the way you sound, what you say, how you say it, all of that is part of how you are going to communicate what you stand for,” said Ms. Bence. Clearly defining who you are or what you stand for - in specific words - is not always easy. It takes a certain amount of introspection, as well as getting feedback from others that takes you from what you’d like to be to how people perceive you to be. “When we get feedback about how others see us, we have to acknowledge that our brand exists in other people's minds, not in our own mind. So you have to accept their perception as the truth and decide what to do with it,” she said. Successful leaders will take that feedback (especially if it is not what they wanted to hear) and try to see how they could modify their words or actions to support their leadership brand. <h3><b>What’s Your Leadership Brand?</b></h3> This quick exercise will help you define who you are as a leader. <b>Step One</b> Pause and ask yourself: What<i> are the five words I would use to describe myself?</i> How do you see myself? Don't worry about how others see you or how you’d like to be seen. Ask yourself: <i>How do I honestly describe myself right now?</i> Outgoing, quiet, funny, strategic, strong, loyal, fair mind? What are the words that would be used to describe yourself? <b>Step Two</b> What are the five desired words you'd like to have? I'm walking out of a conference room, or a town hall, and I've just made a presentation and I turn, wave and I walk out, and everybody looks at each other and goes, “Wow, he/she's really ___ ?” What are the five words you want people to say about you? <h3><b>For the truly bold …</b></h3> The truth can be painful, but it can reveal a lot. If you want a more accurate picture of how others see you, get someone to ask others in your organization what are the first five words that come to mind when you think about you or when then think about you as a leader? You can compare them with the five words of ‘how I see myself, and the five words of ‘how I'd like to be seen’. Now you got the five words of ‘how I'm actually being seen today’. And that gives you a chance to ask yourself ‘Am I happy with those results?’ Are they similar or are they different? If how others see you is different from the way you’d like to be seen, then this is an opportunity to rethink who you want to be and how your actions can support that so that you can build a clear, consistent leadership brand. <h3><b>Doing the Hard Work</b></h3> As difficult as the first two steps seem, the third step is even more difficult. “The third step is to avoid damaging your brand. By damaging your brand, You've defined it in step one, you've communicated it in step two, and now you’ve got to be really careful of avoiding damaging it. That’s where many of these celebrity CEO’s, like celebrities in general, go wrong. They are not vigilant in staying true to their brand image. They become ‘me focused’. So again, your brand is completely about being ‘others centric’. That's really key,” said Ms. Bence. “If you look, historically, most examples of strong leadership have come during times of great change and challenge. You could name famous leaders such as Winston Churchill during World War II or John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, or Lee Kuan Yew starting up a new country. What did those leaders do? They didn't focus so much on what was happening, but instead looked at what could be. I think today’s leaders need to truly create change. To shift our mindset and our hearts, and to think towards the future. I like to call it the joy of possibility and potentiality.”