Anna S. E. Lundberg

Coach, Speaker, Writer

Building credibility as a leader

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5 attributes of building credibility as a leaderBuilding an effective personal brand requires knowing your ‘why’, being clear on what you stand for, and understanding the value that you can provide. But it’s all well and good to have that clarity and strategy on paper. Effective leadership – whether as an entrepreneur or as a senior professional in a corporation – requires building credibility as a leader.

There are many models of effective leadership. You may have been taught, as I was, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. You may have been galvanised by Simon Sinek’s powerful mantra, Start with Why. Most likely – hopefully! – you are inspired by real-life leaders, whether on the world stage or in your immediate circle. And if you have enough experience, you might even have your own leadership model.

Whatever the model you live by, a key component has to be credibility in the eyes of your target audience, your would-be followers. Consider these 5 attributes of building credibility as a leader.

5 attributes of building credibility as a leader

1. Delivering results

It should go without saying, but the foundation of a credible leader is doing what you say you can do. You need to be able to deliver what you promise in order to have any chance of establishing credibility. As a new leader, or as an experienced leader in a new space, it can take time to get those results. It should be your primary focus.

2. Transparency

Trust is a big part of credibility and honesty and transparency is required to build trust. You need to be open and upfront with your team members, your colleagues, your organisation, especially in a difficult situation. Trust that people understand and will act appropriately. Even a white lie, when uncovered, will be damaging and you will inevitably lose credibility.

3. Walking the talk

It’s not enough to say the right things. Effective leadership comes from leading by example and practising what you preach. You need to be a role model who people can look up to, respect, and learn from. This requires holding yourself accountable when you make mistakes. Be authentic, be human, be relatable – and in doing so, be an inspiration to the people watching.

4. Respect

Speaking of respect, good leaders also respect their peers, their team members – even their competitors. You may disagree with a prominent leader in your field and you should absolutely have your own unique perspective. But know that people are watching you closely and your behaviour will be scrutinised. Stay calm and don’t make it personal.

5. Consistency

Behaving one way in one situation and then behaving differently in another is confusing and disconcerting. Especially in an environment rife with uncertainty, consistency provides reassuring predictability and helps build trust. This requires clarity on your goals and values as well as the discipline to follow through in each and every interaction.

Build your credibility as a leader

Effective leadership starts with self-awareness. A good place to start, however junior or senior you are, is to ‘audit’ your own credibility and identify the gaps. Can you demonstrate results? Are you open and honest? Are you an authentic role model? Do you behave respectfully in all your interactions? And are you consistently showing up as the leader you want to be?

Ask yourself where there are opportunities to get better, then choose where to focus to build and maintain credibility where needed.

And, if you’d like my help, then get in touch to discuss how we can work together to elevate your personal brand.

How to build your personal brand

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5 steps to building your personal brand graphic

A strong personal brand is an incredibly powerful tool to have in your toolkit. That’s true whatever stage of your career you find yourself in, and whether you’re an employee or an entrepreneur. Discover 5 steps for how to build your personal brand to help you achieve your professional goals.

Why build your personal brand?

We all know the importance of a corporate brand or a brand behind a particular product. When it comes to a PERSONAL brand, however, there might be more hesitation.

“I don’t want to get personal, this is business.”

“It’s not about me, it’s about the work I’m doing.”

“It feels fake to create a specific personal brand.”

But if that’s how you feel, and that’s keeping you from developing your personal brand, then you’re missing a trick. Start by looking at your personal and professional goals for the future. Ask yourself whether your current image and positioning will help you achieve those goals. The answer, more often than not, is “no”.

If you’re an entrepreneur hiding behind your company brand, then you’re reducing your product or service to a commodity. It will be much harder to differentiate yourself versus your competitors. If you’re an employee looking for the next promotion, salary increase, or career pivot, then failing to manage your personal brand will reduce you to one of the 200 faceless applicants for a particular role. You’ll be easily overlooked despite your incredible expertise and experience.

As to being fake, we’re not talking about creating an artificial persona here. We’re simply curating your brand. We’re choosing the most important elements of who you are and what you do. And we’re telling a compelling story that will help you get to where you want to be.

How to build your personal brand

Let’s assume I’ve convinced you and you want to build your personal brand. How do you create a strong personal brand that feels authentic to you and helps you achieve your professional goals? Let’s break this down into 5 steps…

1. Define what ‘success’ looks like

Before you launch into creating an impactful personal brand, by understanding what you are trying to achieve. When it comes to your personal brand, you need to understand what having a strong personal brand requires and entails; your specific objectives for why you want to develop this personal brand; and the opportunities that you’re hoping to create for yourself.

Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5 book
A book is an incredibly powerful ‘business card’ that immediately demonstrates your knowledge and expertise, whether you are self-published or you go the traditional route.

I knew I would have to intentionally steer my brand to change direction in my career. I’ve gone from being known as a digital marketing expert in the luxury and beauty sector to extending that corporate experience to working with start-ups and entrepreneurs in different industries. I’ve also added my life coaching and positive psychology qualifications to provide a more holistic personal development coaching service. I’ve become known and respected in this new area, thanks to years of upskilling, creating valuable content, and putting myself in front of a targeted audience.

2. Get clear on what you stand for

Once you know the purpose of your personal brand, the ‘why’, you can move to the ‘what’. What do you stand for? What are your core values? What are your important beliefs and how do they differ from the mainstream view? What is your bigger ‘why’ or mission, the message you’re trying to get ‘out there’ and the story you want to tell?

I believe we need to change how we define ‘success’ and, in the context of work and career, move away from the conventional definition of the corporate career ladder, six-figure salary and pension package towards a more meaningful definition. I also believe we need to move away from harmful cultural norms that celebrate being busy all the time, the 24/7 ‘hustle’, and working ourselves to the point of burnout. A new definition of success needs to reflect the importance of creative freedom and autonomy, the flexibility to manage your work around your personal life and family, and the desire do to fulfilling work that gets you jumping out of bed in the morning – prioritising your mental and physical health while you do so.

3. Articulate your value proposition

Having an effective personal brand is not just about you but about the people you’re going to help – whether you have your own business and we’re talking about your ideal clients, or you are an employee who wants to serve your team, your organisation, or your customer. Who is the specific targeted audience that you’re trying to reach and what can you offer them? What problems can you solve? What value will you create? And what makes you credible with this audience?

My primary audience is the corporate professional who, like me back in 2013, has achieved the conventional version of success in their career. They have a prestigious job title in a big-name company, a nice salary, they’re well respected… But they are looking for ‘more’. I can help them figure out what an alternative could look like. I’ll mentor them through the process of developing their own business idea and value proposition. I’ll also coach them to overcome mindset blocks and the ever-present fear of failure. My credibility comes from my own personal journey of leaving my corporate marketing job to start my own business; my brand and marketing experience; and my coach training and, by now, years of experience helping people find and achieve their own definition of success.

4. Amplify your message

It’s not enough to be clear on your message and your value. People need to know that you exist if your personal brand is going to do anything for you! You may have resistance to the idea of self-promotion. Reframe this by focusing on your bigger message, the value you bring, and how you want to help. It’s also easy to get caught up in perfecting your personal website, optimising your social media profiles, and ordering beautiful business cards. More important is effective content marketing. That means creating valuable content – posts, articles, videos – and distributing it on the appropriate channels. This involves posting on your own profiles but also putting yourself in front of new audiences. For example, consider guest posting on other blogs, writing articles for relevant publications, or being a guest on suitable podcasts.

I come from a content marketing background, so this is my ‘thing’. I started by blogging and then I’ve layered on different types of content and channels to expand my online presence. Today, I create articles, videos, audio and posts on content themes that are relevant to experienced professionals who are looking to redefine success in their life and career, and I distribute that content on my website, my podcast, and via social media – primarily via my LinkedIn profile, Facebook and Instagram – while being an active guest on other relevant podcasts in personal development and business, as well as being consulted as an expert for relevant news stories and media features.

5. Create your IP

The 5 pillars of building a life outside of the 9 to 5
I’ve developed my ‘5 pillars’ framework based on years of working with clients and a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to build a  business and lifestyle. What frameworks can you create to bring to life your approach and expertise?

To take your expertise and authority to the next level, consider the IP, intellectual property, that you have or that you can create. If you’re a coach and you’re using the same standard GROW framework that everyone else has been taught, why should someone work with you rather than someone else? If you’re a leadership expert and you’re using Stephen Covey’s 7 habits, that’s a fantastic proven model, but what unique perspective can you bring to the table? Can you identify your own 5 steps, or 3 ingredients, or 8 principles? Do also consider boosting your credibility with a book, a podcast, or a Tedx talk.

By now, I have a range of different models and frameworks that are unique to my approach and value proposition. For example, I have my ‘5 pillars’ framework. These are the 5 key areas that I believe are crucial to building a life outside of the conventional 9 to 5. I use this framework to plan my content calendar in my marketing. I also use it directly with clients in my individual and group coaching programmes. And I have my book, Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5 (new Outside of the 9 to 5 coming soon, to be based on the 5 pillars), and my podcast, Reimagining Success with Anna S. E. Lundberg.

Start building your brand

So there you go, 5 steps to building your personal brand.

If you’re completely new to this whole idea, start from the beginning and work your way through the steps sequentially. Or, if you’ve been at it for a while, do an audit of your brand and your online presence. Ask yourself where there are opportunities to get better, then choose where to focus to take your brand even further.

And, if you’d like my help, wherever you find yourself in the process today, then get in touch to discuss how we can work together to elevate your personal brand.

5 things that skiing teaches you about life

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skiingAnother year, another week of downhill skiing in Verbier, Switzerland. This week has been the best so far – there was fresh snowfall at the start of the week, followed by a week of glorious sunshine, and on top we didn’t do any classes this time so we’ve been completely free to ski, rest and eat whenever we want! It’s just been a really lovely week of skiing. Whenever I’m out on the pistes, though, I’m always struck by the life lessons that skiing brings to mind! Here are 5 things that skiing teaches you…

1. You’re on your own

You may have supportive friends around you, or an experienced ski instructor, but ultimately, no one can help you make it down the mountain (unless you really get stuck and they have to come and get you with a scooter!). Knowing that you’re all alone is both terrifying and completely liberating. You can block out the sound of other people, forget what they are doing or not doing, and just focus on what it takes for you to do what you need to do.

2. The longer you hesitate, the harder it gets

I’ve had so many moments over the years of stopping at the top of a slope or, worse, halfway down and just getting more and more panicked about how I’m going to do it. The truth is, though, that it’s not going to get any easier from waiting, so it’s really just a question of taking a deep breath and going for it. And turn, and turn, and turn! No ‘shopping around’ for the best turning spot, no stopping completely – as the next turn will only be more difficult!

3. A lot of the fears are just in your head

There are some very real fears when you’re skiing – accidents do happen, even with experienced skiers, and they can happen when you least expect it. I’ve fallen twice this week while WALKING so it’s not even just the skiing that you need to watch out for. However, I’ve actually very rarely fallen and when I have (TOUCH WOOD) it’s not been particularly traumatic; I have always made it down the slope, however terrified I’ve been; and I’m only getting better, so really there’s less and less to worry about. In fact the fears only make me tense up and do all the things that interfere with my technique so, as is often the case, your fears are actually having the opposite effect to what you are hoping.

4. You should be facing the slope head on and leaning forwards

Your natural reaction is to want to lean back, away from the steep slope that’s laid out in front of you – but in fact this is counter-productive, giving you less control over your skis and making it more likely that you’ll fall. Leaning forwards, down the slope, will make sure that the skis press evenly into the snow along their full length so that you have better control. The other normal tendency for beginners is to swing the body round with each turn, rather than facing the slope head on so that you can see where you’re going and again so that your weight is correctly distributed.

5. It gets easier with practice

I used to be scared just of the overall environment when you’re skiing: dangling from the sky in a little cabin, making sure you get off the chair lift in time, being able to control your skis enough to be able to stop when you need to! Of course over the years all these things have become a natural part of the process and no longer terrify me. It’s the same with the skiing itself, the more turns you do, the more you challenge yourself to take on trickier slopes, the better you get. You can let your fear stop you, stick to the easier pistes or even avoid skiing altogether – or you can commit to getting better, to pushing yourself and to keep practising. As the ski school ads around Verbier proclaim: better skiers have more fun!

In fact, the previous points essentially come down to this: you have to commit to each action you take, each move you make. You don’t want to be hesitating, you don’t want to be leaning back and you don’t want to be fighting against the natural force of gravity! I find that if I just take some deep breaths, find a rhythm and stop over-thinking it, I get into a really nice flow and it’s much less work. And for all the dangers and fears, it’s so totally worth it for the views, the food and the exhilarating feeling of whooshing down the mountain.

Travel with a Purpose: Finding your “why”

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I’ve written before about the different reasons why people travel, provoked by a friend who claimed that “of course everyone likes to travel as it’s just going on holiday”.

Langkawi, Malaysia
Nothing wrong with a holiday!

Travel can of course be “just” a holiday, or perhaps an escape from something back home. It can also provide some much-needed time and space to process things that are happening and to gain a new perspective on a problem or a situation. It can be a way of getting out of your comfort zone, putting yourself in unfamiliar situations so that you continue to learn and to grow. It can be a way to meet interesting people that you’d never come across back home; and it can be many other things too.

Do you know why you travel?

It’s impossible not to notice all the messages we see these days about quitting your job and becoming a digital nomad, working from the beach on your laptop, travelling long term without a care in the world – but this isn’t for everyone. Likewise I’ve come across all sorts of sporty types and professional adventurers who do things like cycling backwards through the Amazon – and this definitely isn’t for everyone either! When you haven’t defined your own reasons for travelling, your own purpose, I find it’s easy to get caught up in other people’s plans and approaches to life.

I wonder if we might not also get lost in meaningless activities or distracted by things that aren’t really that important. There can be a manic urge to tick the boxes, to “see everything”, to make the most of our time while we’re in a particular city or country. We may rush around or flock to the popular sights and miss out on richer, more subtle experiences.

On my current trip to Japan, I’ve been struck by the absurdity of TripAdvisor and other similar reviews of sightseeing destinations.

Inari Shrine
Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine in Kyoto. Getting there early, we were able to experience the shrines before the hordes descended…

Who is really to say that Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine (sitting at the base of a mountain, it encompasses a long corridor of distinctive red shrines, which were soon infiltrated by hordes of tourists from all over the world) is #1 of 847 things to do in Kyoto, while Sanjusangendo Hall (a Buddhist temple that includes a long wooden building containing an awe-inspiring one thousand life-sized statues) is #4?

Or that Rokuon-ji Temple (a beautiful Golden Pavilion where we were herded along the path in a Disneyland-type queue system) is #2 and the Gion neighbourhood (a historical geisha district that is lit up beautifully with lanterns at night) is #14?

I never set myself a clear purpose for this trip, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “see the top 10 ‘things to do’ on TripAdvisor for every city I visit”.

I’ve also been swept up in what I can only define as online hype and PR gimmicks. These make us go out of our way for experiences that can simply never be as epic as it is claimed, whether on TripAdvisor or in travel magazines, or on one of the many blogs from intrepid explorers around the world.

tuna auction
Big tuna. No comment.

In Kurashiki, I queued for over an hour for a “happy pudding”. This small vanilla dessert was very nice and, sure, the smiley face on top was a cute touch – but was it that much better than the smile-less pudding from across the street? A friend of mine here in Japan topped this with her own story of waiting for three hours for shave ice at some presumably celebrated café. And I have since exceeded that again by staying up all night to be one of the lucky 120 people who got to visit the early-morning tuna auction at the Tsukiji fish market.

We often chase these unique, “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences, ticking things off our bucket list, looking for things to do that will give us stories to tell.

As Richard says in The Beach (a film that was made 16 years ago, when the whole backpacking scene in Asia in particular was really thriving):

“Trust me, it’s paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven’t tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It’s probably worth it.”

It definitely hurt lying on that cold floor for three hours on Wednesday night as I waited for the tuna auction to begin… but was it worth it?!

Of course you could say that it’s through accepting all these invitations, trying new things, that we get to have the very experiences that we’re actually craving – even if they’re not what we were expecting.

happy pudding
Feeling happy after pudding!

The happy pudding may have been over-hyped, but it still makes me smile when I think about it – and the hour we waited was spent outside in the sunshine, watching people go by and chatting to others who were similarly lured by the pudding. The tuna auction was not the captivating experience that had been promised, but the hours that led up to it in the company of a new group of friends (involving chocolate bread and an impromptu karaoke session up on a bridge in goodness-knows-where) were all the more unforgettable. And, of course, I now have a ridiculous story to tell people about the time I stayed up all night to walk around a wet and cold fish market at five in the morning…

Having a purpose can help to remind you why you travel, when you find reasons to start to question yourself – and help you to decide when it’s time to stop.

open road
On the road again – but where are you going?

You may be missing important milestones back home, away from your family and friends; you may have to say no to job opportunities that require you to be in a particular place at a particular time; and although I think you increase your chances of meeting your soul mate when you travel, it can be hard when you have to say goodbye before you’ve worked out if it could be him.

All this being said, maybe it works in the other direction as well: maybe you can actually find your purpose by travelling.

Maybe you fall in love with a country and decide to move there more permanently. Maybe you fall in love with a person and decide to move to be closer to each other. Maybe your discovery has nothing to do with the act of travel itself but it’s simply a realisation that manifests itself during your travels.

Maybe the point is this: although travel on the surface looks like it’s about the packing of your suitcase, the flight to the other side of the world, the names of the cities and the sights that you’ll see… it’s not about that at all.

Like all of life, it’s about those moments: the laughter and the intimate conversations you share with fellow travellers whom you may never see again; the delicious meal at the little restaurant that someone takes you to and that you never would have found by yourself; the stranger on the street who gives you his umbrella and then continues on in the rain; the new ideas and insights that come to you that will change the way you look at things when you get back home.

These moments may be harder to pin down than the top 10 sights on TripAdvisor – but I think that’s why they’re worth treasuring; and, in the end, I think that’s why I travel.

5 Life Lessons From 3 Days of Boot Camp

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Hiking in the Welsh mountainsI’ve just returned from my first-ever boot camp, feeling a little sore but full of good intentions and with plenty of things to think about. Thanks to a couple of very stubborn colds and an also-very-stubborn runner’s knee, I haven’t been exercising much since December. Recently I’ve been putting much more focus on my health and wellness, so what better way to kickstart it all with a week of exercise out in the fresh air, nutritious food, and lots of sleep?!

We arrived in Gobowen, Wales, on Monday and so had three full days of circuits and hiking, with healthy meals throughout. A typical day would look like this:

7am circuit training (tabata / high-intensity interval training)
8am breakfast
9.30am circuit training, boxing, running with a snack break
1pm lunch
2.30-4.30pm hilly hike with a snack break
6pm dinner
Optional yoga (using my iPhone app), sports massage and/or hot tub session
9pm bed!

Here’s a little video from our final day, a full-day hike through the beautiful Welsh countryside: snow, waterfalls, and, of course, lots of sheep:

We burned an average of 4,000 calories a day and each of us has lost both pounds and inches. More importantly, however, I think we’ve been given a lot of food for thought (*hoho*) that we can take home and continue to reflect on. Our instructors, both with over 20 years of experience in the military and really lovely guys, were full of wisdom and positivity. I think their little maxims are applicable not just to fitness but also to life.

Here are 5 life lessons from our 3 days of boot camp:

1. “Visualise your goals”

Welsh countryside
Some of the views during our full-day hike on the final day

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of goals. Goals can give you a sense of purpose in life, focus your limited time and energy on what’s really important, and motivate you to achieve something that is meaningful to you. This week at boot camp, we were asked to define our goals on Monday, and encouraged to remember them and to really focus on them throughout the week. If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, then how can you ever get there? Visualising what you’re trying to achieve, and keeping it top of mind, will make you work that little bit harder and help you not to get distracted.

2. “You won’t be an achiever if you’re not a believer”

I’ve written about this before, too: although you may have set fantastic goals with the best of intentions, you might be held back by your limiting beliefs. You have to believe that you’re going to achieve your goals, or you’ll never get there. Maybe you tell yourself you don’t have time, or your job is too stressful, or you can’t afford it, or some other justification for why your goal is just too hard to achieve. Whatever the reasons – excuses – you give yourself, you need to break these down before you’ll make a breakthrough. Reframe your beliefs in positive terms: I can make time, this is a priority, I choose this over that, I’m strong, I can do this!

3. “The only thing that stands in your way is you”

HIIT exercises
A few of the circuits we were put through

It’s definitely easy to blame other factors for your own weaknesses: you can’t say no when your colleagues pass around a pack of biscuits, your friends encourage you to have another drink or to eat that dessert at the weekend, your husband says you’re being silly. Ultimately, however, these are your goals, you are the one who will achieve them, and you are the only one who will stand in your way. Nobody is forcing you to act in a particular way and you can choose to be strong, choose to resist, choose to make your own choices. It can be incredibly empowering when you recognise that you are in control of your own actions and you really take ownership of your goals and your behaviour. At the end of every day, ask yourself: did my actions today move me closer to my goals? If not, what I can I do differently tomorrow?

4. “Every movement you do chisels your body”

I think this was my favourite call to action of the week. Each and every thing you do, each time you work that little bit harder, each time you keep pushing yourself when you feel like giving up, you are having an impact on your body shape. Whatever the goal, we tend to think in terms of drastic changes, big leaps forward, good or bad. In fact, each and every small step we take will move us forwards; every single thing we do will have an effect (depending on the action, that effect will be positive or negative). We don’t need to think in such black-and-white terms, all or nothing. Knowing that every little thing we do will have an impact will help to motivate you to go that bit further when you don’t think you can.

5. “Don’t let your imagination be your limitation”

The food at boot camp
Here’s a little selection of the food we were served during the week. Not bad, eh?

We did a huge range of different exercises throughout the week, with a minimal amount of equipment. The only things we had were mats, resistance bands, and boxing gloves. The world is your gym, whether you use lampposts or trees or fences, and you can even use your own body weight. I’m definitely guilty of blaming my irregular schedule and constant travel for making it very difficult to exercise – but that’s really a poor excuse! Aside from hotel gyms you can do all sorts of circuits in your room or out in the park. Same for food: the chef this week cooked up some very tasty and creative concoctions. Why not get resourceful and invent your own solutions with the materials and environment you have at your disposal?

The overall message is very much consistent with my own position on this blog: take control of your own life and career, set meaningful goals, and take one step at a time to get there.

 

Prestige Boot Camp runs boot camp retreats in Wales as well as Devon, Suffolk, Spain and Portugal. They also run sessions in Hyde Park – I went last year and it was great. They really care about the participants, it’s not some horrible shouty military mania, and the results are there as well.