Sir Terence Conran was once asked to describe himself in ten words. He replied ‘Ambitious, mean, kind, greedy, frustrated, emotional, tiresome, intolerant, shy, fat.’
Dan Pink says we can go even shorter in describing ourselves. He points to the book ‘Not Quite What I was Planning’, six word memoirs by a collection of people, both famous and obscure.
Now, this sounds trivial, but we live in a world of digest, where your leadership ‘brand’ has to be conveyed fast and deep. Remember Tom Peters’ powerful idea ‘Brand You’; that you have to brand yourself through your behaviour as a leader to stand out as unique, because the market tells us difference wins, sameness doesn’t?
So, here’s a useful exercise: what six words sum you up as a leader? Come up with six word then try them out on your colleagues to see if they agree. It’ll help you sharpen your leadership brand – aligning how others perceive you with how you perceive yourself as a leader.
Dan tried it at a business conference he was attending and these are a few of the replies. They aren’t specifically about leadership, but you get how it works by reading them:
* Did what I was supposed to.
* Happy, sad, angry, confident, really happy.
* Unsure, but you would never know.
I like that last one in particular – describes a lot of people in leadership positions.
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