It wouldn't be nice if opportunities just found us by word of mouth. But the world doesn't work like that. Some of us get lucky eventually, and are presented with executive opportunities. But most of us need to put ourselves in the way of opportunity. In this lesson, we're going to talk about ideas for communicating our brands. And in doing so, a way that will enhance our executive presence.

We've declared our career goals. We're aware of the strengths and weaknesses of our brand. We are working on plans to strengthen our brand and have it heard. It's now time to put our personal brand out there, show people what we stand for and what we're looking for in our career. What does putting it out there entail? communicating our brand goes far beyond filling out the workbook.

You've got to take those thoughts, polish them and incorporate them into your profile. Your profile includes any online directories, social media, and particularly LinkedIn and your resume. Here are some ideas that You should consider pursuing right now to start communicating your brand. First of all, get professional photography taken. It may cost you a few hundred dollars, but the pictures are worth their weight in gold. Trust me on this.

Consider other opportunities around you that can help you reinforce your personal brand. Perhaps you can lend your skills to a not for profit organization as a means of demonstrating your personal brand. consider putting a tagline on your business card that reinforces your brand. Blair and I have added professional development, because it's always fresh, strategic advice and thought leadership to all of our business cars, websites, online profiles, letterheads, workbooks, etc. Seek out assignments inside your organization that allow you to demonstrate your brand to key stakeholders. Become a thought leader in topics that support your personal brand.

Thought leaders are people who share their ideas broadly through blogging social media, especially speaking engagements. If you are a deep subject matter expert in an area pertaining to your personal brand, then write about it and share. If you can't write your own blog, follow others who share a similar personal brand to yours, share their thought leadership and by association, your connections will begin associating that content with you. Let's return to the workbook for the second part of exercise number 13. One last time, pause the video and consider how you are going to promote your personal brand broadly, write down at least three actions that you will take today. Part of personal branding is putting yourself in the way of career opportunities.

People that are looking to hire, want it to be easy. The more someone that's qualified shows up in their lap, the more likely they are to hire you. When you conceived your personal brand and set your personal career goals. You began creating a pathway on which you have a greater likelihood Entering opportunities than relying on blind luck. Most opportunities still require you to submit an old fashioned resume to get started. But how can we take the old fashioned resume and make it sparkle with executive presence?

Consider a few of these ideas. Make it visual as opposed to text based to tap into those principles of persuasion. See the example on your screen. You could create the same thing using a slide in PowerPoint. If you want to stand out as an executive. Describe your previous roles in terms of what you were accountable for.

Not what you were responsible for. Responsibility implies an assignment by someone else, whereas accountability makes it clearer that you had a bigger stake in the outcome. Don't make your resumes read like a job description. Highlight the results you achieved in your various positions that are truly executive worthy. Make it a habit to track your results and achievements and report them on your resume. Shorter resumes are better than resumes that school for pages.

One easy way to shorten your resume is to list your older experience as a list of the companies and positions you held without any descriptions only provide details on your most recent experience. Assuming your resume attractive and interview, keep in mind all the ideas that you learned in the course on relationship building and meeting people. In an interview, it's important to never complain about prior jobs. Regardless of what happened. When you whine, you're suddenly admitting you lack competence, character communication skills, or commitment to change things for the better. This is rarely the message we want to send to a prospective employer.

Communicating your brand proactively and professionally is something very few aspiring financial executives do well or frankly, do it all. If you really want to stand out in a crowd of equally competent peers. communicating your personal brand can greatly elevate your executive presence. In our last lesson, we will talk about reinforcing our brand through consistent behaviors and wrap up this course.