Gain Credibility and Boost your Personal Brand: The Unwritten Etiquette of Discussion Groups

Believe it or not, there's no faster way to gain credibility in today's competitive world than to establish your own discussion group. A discussion group provides a fantastic way to boost your personal brand or grow your business or organisation because it provides a meeting place for everyone who wants to discuss your particular subject.

A discussion group can be defined as a group of people who get together to exchange information, experiences or their opinions. In most cases, these people will be working towards the same goal.

Groups of individuals can bring a broad range of ideas, knowledge and skills to bear on problems with new legislation, standards, marketing, human resources, profitability etc. The exchange of ideas can act as a stimulus to the imagination, encouraging individuals to explore ideas they would not otherwise consider. 

“CEO Branding” has never been a more important or relevant topic than it is in today’s highly charged business and economic climate.

With the public’s overall perception of CEOs as a class being at near all-time lows, there is much work to be done in the arena of CEO Branding. Most CEOs readily understand the need to build brand equity at the corporate level or for products, services, intellectual property, etc. However while times are changing, there are still very few CEOs who understand the substantial benefits that are created from increasing their personal brand equity.

Don't Let Others Define You

The world is changing at such a rapid pace there’s never been a better time to ask yourself these questions:

• Are you an industry leader?
• Do you stand out among your competitors and colleagues?
• Should you command higher compensation or fees?
• Can you choose which clients or assignments you want?
• Are you achieving your goals?

It used to be that only large businesses worried about branding. To thrive, they had to distinguish their company from the competition. This meant carving out a niche based on competitive advantages and specific corporate attributes. They crafted and maintained a strategic brand-a unique, useful promise to current and prospective customers-to gain brand equity and loyalty. This was business, after all.

It's a brand new work and business world. And we do mean "brand."

Everyone has a personal brand, whether they like the concept or loathe it.  It’s inescapable.  It used to be that only large businesses worried about branding. To thrive, they had to distinguish their company from the competition.  

This meant carving out a niche based on competitive advantages and specific corporate attributes. They crafted and maintained a strategic brand - a unique, useful promise to current and prospective customers - to gain brand equity and loyalty. This was business, after all.  

Why personal branding? If you don't brand yourself, you can rest assured that others are branding you. And letting others brand you can be risky business.Instead, we should have control, as much as we can, in determining our reputation, our image, and the intangibles, the ephemerals, and the perceptions and ideas that other people have about us.

Without the underpinnings of passion driving our actions, careers and business, we are not who we were meant to be - we may be better than ordinary, but we are not yet extraordinaryThe world is changing at such a rapid pace there has never been a better time to ask yourself these questions: