Learning to Focus and Control Your NARRATIVE!

It’s almost November. How is this possible? In this part of the 🇨🇦 world, the leaves are changing and Halloween (and Christmas???) items are everywhere. As I plan my future podcast episode and newsletter topics, I’ve been reflecting on my year and thinking ahead to my objectives for next year. I’ve been asking myself what attributes are most important to me in terms of my personal brand, as well as how I want others to see me.

Yes. I work on my personal brand all the time. It’s second nature to me now but it took a lot of time and practice to get here. And it’s by exploring my own brand that I come up with new ways to help YOU explore YOURS.

This week, I continue to talk about your personal brand, specifically in terms of controlling your narrative, the theme of our most recent podcast episode.

After I recorded this most recent episode, I thought to myself,

“This might be one of the best episodes yet!”

This advice is REALLY important!

3 things to Talk About this week:

1. Criteria for creating your narrative
2. Scripting your narrative
3. Confidence in your narrative

1️⃣ Criteria for creating your narrative

Recently I had a consult with an executive who wanted help with her personal brand. She’s doing well in her role as a VP Marketing, and she’s looking to move to a CMO role at a new firm. Based on her credentials, she was invited to interviews by several firms. But she never made it through to the final round!

She realized, in retrospect, that she was struggling to control her narrative. My diagnosis was that she was more focused on what they wanted to hear, rather than what was true to her.

Answering questions in a job interview is an intense opportunity to express your personal brand. My advice to her (and to YOU!) is to answer these interview questions based on the following three criteria:

1. POSITIVE

We’re not talking about your “weaknesses” or “areas of opportunity” here!
Consider your strengths, skills, awards, credentials, expertise, …

2. RELEVANT

Authentic and true to you.
Relevant for the person and the context.

3. ***UNIQUE***

What is that thing that you find easy? What do you enjoy doing more than others? What stands out about you compared to your peers?
This is the most important criterion!

When I was working with this VP Marketing on her narrative, this last criterion was a game changer. I asked her, “What makes you UNIQUE? What stands out about you, relative to other Marketing executives?” She had a fantastic answer to that question. (She thrives in leading transformation – a task many other executives would rather avoid. This is also a POSITIVE and RELEVANT strength, AND she has many stories to illustrate this unique strength!)

Whether you’re interviewing for a new job or not, ask yourself, what POSITIVE, RELEVANT & UNIQUE traits can you share about yourself to create an ideal and authentic narrative?

2️⃣ Scripting Your Narrative

A few months ago, one of my personal branding clients asked me to send him his “Elevator Pitch.” What he wanted was a script that he could memorize and use whenever he introduces himself.

I refused.

Instead, I did two things:

I wrote this article for Inc Magazine: “Drop the Rehearsed Elevator Pitch & Try This Instead.”
I set up a meeting to help this client create his list of unique personal branding themes.

Rather than memorizing a script to control your narrative, I suggest you identify several themes that you want to reinforce with others.

Let’s go with the power of three. Here’s a challenge for you: what are three things that you want others to know?

For the VP Marketing client I mentioned in the previous section, her themes might be:

marketing / branding expertise and success
driving impact through transformation
strong people and team leader

For myself, it might be:

executive coach & thought leader focused on communication skills
insights based on academic research
provides practical, actionable advice

What 3 themes will YOU use to focus and control your narrative?

3️⃣ Confidence in your narrative

When we’re creating our narrative, there’s the content (e.g. your three themes) and there’s the delivery. When we deliver our narrative with confidence, we establish credibility.

Are you looking to boost your confidence? Last week I hosted an hour-long live open Q&A on LinkedIn, focused on “Communicating with Confidence.”

You can watch the recording and/or read the questions and answers HERE.

While you’re on LinkedIn, I have two asks (not 3 – just 2!):

1. Please connect with me on LinkedIn, if we’re not connected already!

2. Can you please subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter, Talking About Talk? In this bi-weekly newsletter, you’ll learn more about communication skills. The content is always different from what you read in these newsletters. It’s short, concise, and (surprise) each issue focuses on 3 things. There’s also “homework,” but don’t worry – I never check it!

Thank you!

There you go – 3 things to Talk About this week:

1️⃣ Criteria for creating your narrative
2️⃣ Scripting your narrative
3️⃣ Confidence in your narrative

As always, you can learn more by listening to this week’s Talk About Talk podcast – Episode 143 “Controlling Your Narrative” on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

And, if you want to talk, feel free to email me or message me on LinkedIn.

Have a great week
Talk soon,