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      Do You Need a Leadership Personal Brand?

      I always worry about people who say, “I’m going to do this for ten years [but] I really don’t like it very well. And then I’ll do this …” That’s a little like saving up sex for your old age.

      — Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and the “Oracle of Omaha”

      I have had the wonderful fortune of living in, working in, and visiting more than 80 countries, and as a result, I’ve met thousands of people from various walks of life all around the globe. And there’s one thing that I have come to know as the truth: We are all fundamentally the same. We all ultimately want the same things: to earn a good living, enjoy our work, stay healthy, have a happy family life, enjoy meaningful friendships, and ultimately make a difference in some way.

      So, if we’re all the same, why would I write a book about leadership personal branding? Because while we are all fundamentally the same, we also each have specific gifts and talents that are as unique to us as our individual DNA. It’s a bit of a paradox: We’re the same and yet we’re unique. And it’s up to each of us to learn how to use our specific gifts and talents to make our lives and careers the best they can be—to make that difference in the world that we hope for. I also believe that it’s up to each of us to learn self-leadership before we even begin to think about effectively leading others. This is where leadership personal branding comes in.

      You’ve heard of serial killers? Well, think of me as a “serial brander”—I just can’t stop branding! As a corporate marketer, I have worked for Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb on four different continents, where I was fortunate enough to manage many well-known brands like Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Vidal Sassoon, Ariel, Cheer, and Enfamil. I spent years defining, launching, and building brands all around the world using a definitive process and framework that corporate marketers have used for years to craft and communicate brands.

      You may not have known that such a process exists, but trust me: Great brands don’t get to be great by accident! It’s only because of the process put in place by good, strategic marketers that these brands make millions. And it’s only because of this process that successful brands not only survive but thrive through economic ups and downs.

      You Aren’t a Product Brand, But …

      Several years ago, when I began actively coaching individuals to reach their goals and develop their own brands, I started to experiment with applying these same principles of corporate branding to people. I took the elements and framework used by corporate marketers and adjusted them to work for self-branding, so that we—as individuals—could thrive in our careers the same way successful name brands have thrived in the marketplace. Over time, I perfected this approach until it evolved into the unique leadership personal branding system I am sharing in this book—a system that walks you step by step through the process of building your own brand as a leader, whether you are focused on leading yourself or leading others. This is how you craft and effectively communicate YOU™^®. That’s right—the trademarked YOU.

      (YOU™® is a registered trademark of Brand Development Associates (BDA) International, Ltd.)

      Today, you—or YOU™—can apply the same system in your work life that corporate marketers have used for years to build wildly successful product brands. Just as a corporate marketer uses this proven process to build mega-brands like Pantene, Apple, or Evian, you, too, can build the brand of YOU™.

      Bring New Energy to Your Job

      We all want to earn a good living and enjoy our work, but