Authenticity is not a brand value. Authenticity is knowing what your brand values and then living them. Stop using authenticity as a catch-all for what you hope to be… take the time to define the values your brand represents.

"Comparison is the thief of joy," Theodore Roosevelt How do you respond when you hit a milestone in your business? Do celebrate when you hit a milestone in your business? Or do you compare what others have done to your accomplishments? Roosevelt's quote is true. When we focus our time and attention on what others are doing, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to celebrate our wins. 

We've all been there.... working while anxious about how you are performing. Are you doing the right thing? Meeting expectations? Can you do more? "When you are anxious, you are thinking about the future. Being able to see the future, or envision what is possible, is a fabulously important skill." And when this vision includes a view of "what if" and "how come," the anxious feeling enters the equation and achievement is rooted in that feeling. Dr. Susan Bernstein calls this anxious achievement.

Daniel Pink digs into whether there is such a thing as perfect timing. His book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing attempts to answer this question and explain how there is more to timing than most of us believe. Holly Adams and I both read the book recently and decided to bring our discussion of it to the podcast this week. We share our thoughts on larks, owls, and third birds - which we think we are - and other key takeaways from the book. 

Is the use of jargon a pro or a con in business? This has been a popular topic lately. And I don't know that there is a right answer. But first and foremost, you need to know your audience and how well they are going to understand the jargon you fall into using frequently. If you spend a lot of time explaining the words you are using, you might be relying on jargon too often. 

"Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind." I shared this quote from Brene Brown recently. And just putting it out into the universe has brought so many examples of this to light. In this episode, I share my thoughts about the variety of ways that uncertainty and the lack of clarity make the task at hand harder - for your audience or yourself. Why do we make things harder than they need to be? 

What you’ll hear in this week's episodes are snapshots from the seven most popular interviews that when brought together take you on a journey of purpose, strengths, and how incorporating those into your brand and storytelling efforts reap many rewards. The links for each episode will be included in the show notes.

Brands are the sum of all experiences with your business. Let's talk about why a brand strategy is important. Having a strategy for your brand saves you from unnecessary work, it helps you make decisions rooted in the purpose of your business, and it offers confidence in the direction your business will go in the future.

What is a niche? Niche is an important part of your brand and marketing. And how is a niche different than your target audience?  Or is it the same thing? Or part of your target audience? In this week's episode, I explore the various definitions of niche, how temperament can be a differentiator for our brands, and the benefits of niching down. 

Simon Sinek's latest book, The Infinite Game, is about understanding the difference between the infinite mindset and the finite mindset. He recently did an interview with Brene Brown on her podcast, Dare to Lead. It is well worth the time to listen - in fact, I've listened to it twice. In this week's episode, I share my thoughts regarding this conversation as well as how clarity, consistency, and confidence helped me reach an initial step in a long-term goal. 

Assessments are all about mapping personal and professional success but when Kristin Sherry wanted more and the answers weren't there - she wrote her own: YouMap®️ Kristin used her strengths to chart a course toward an assessment that not only offered insight into who we are but also give us an action plan on how to use the results. But this conversation isn't about the assessment or how she did it, it is about WHY Kristin did it.

For human resources executive, Kim Hamer supporting your employees with cancer is personal. She has seen firsthand the impact a supportive leader can have on an employee coping either with their own cancer diagnosis or the diagnosis of their loved ones.

Do you consider the learning styles of your target audience? No. Me neither. As if there aren't enough things to consider, learning styles are not typical. Last week I started teaching a course and decided to do a learning style assessment to help me get to know the students better. The results were fascinating - and telling. And the more I thought about these learning styles, the more I wondered how we could use these in determining our communication and content development strategies. 

January was the shortest and the longest month. Christmas seems like yesterday. And the last two weeks have felt like months. Why? I started teaching a course. Just when the teaching started, client opportunities started again. And like many American's, I decided to focus on my health - so I changed my diet and did a 21-day meditation challenge. Add to this, life. The result: overwhelm. Here how I tackled it.

Successful brands start with trust. As Scott J. Miller builds his new brand, independent of Franklin Covey, it starts with trust. Miller recently became an entrepreneur, focused on leadership development and speaking. One of Miller's goals is teaching his three young sons about business and hard work generates success. During our conversation, we talk about why this is important, our collective thoughts on rebranding, and most importantly, what makes a brand successful. 

Don't forget about PR - public relations (not press release). Public relations is a valuable way to increase brand visibility. My guest this week, Julie Livingston of Want Leverage Communications, shares how public relations can elevate the presence of a brand but it is not enough to just send out a press release. The way we consume media has grown and evolved over the last 20 years, which means public relations needed to evolve as well.

Brand and branding often are thought of as confusing and frustrating or to go the opposite direction - oversimplified as being only the logo, color, and tagline of a business. Making these five mindset shifts will lead to branding success. I'd like to say these five mindsets were of my own creative writing and intellect - but that would not be giving credit where credit is due. I found these from a post by dailycreative.io. When I saw their post, I was struck by the truth behind these five...

After being asked many times, I'm sharing how I come up with content ideas. When I bumped up my LinkedIn activity from occasional to daily, I needed more ideas than ever before. And before this, I agonized over writing a post to the point it may never be posted. So how do I find all these ideas? Well, that is a work in progress. 

Imagine living a life of possibilities. This attitude, mindset, or, as my guest on this week's podcast calls it - purpose - is vital to her very existence. Meet Melissa Ciciola  Melissa spent her time during the pandemic doing what many of us have done - reflecting on our lives, searching for answers, reflecting on where she had been and how she got there. But I bet her results are very different than most. She put words to her purpose and is now living her best life as a result.

Back in August, I made the decision to up my game on LinkedIn. The platform has the potential to be a benefit for business development for my business - especially with the pandemic turning traditional networking into a bigger challenge than it was before.  Later that month, I started an accelerated version of a strategy course. One of the assignments was to post daily for 30 days... which turned into 60 consecutive days.  This episode is about what I've learned from that experience. 

Financial anxiety. At some point in our lives, we've all faced it. And with the uncertainty of the pandemic happening around the world, many of us are probably living with it currently. This is where someone like Lindsay Bryan-Podvin can be helpful. Lindsay is a financial therapist.

Your brand is what is said about you when you are not in the room. A brand strategy will help you make sure what is said is what you WANT to be said. And to get there, a strategist will help guide the way.

October's favorites are more about looking forward to November than reflecting on the learnings of October. It is about recognizing and honoring those with lung cancer and becoming more aware of how we speak to those with cancer. And it is how we can teach our future leaders to reframe traditional roles - in business and in life.

Asking for help is not a weakness - it is a sign of strength.  In this week's episode, I talk about different ways our subconscious tricks us into believing going alone is our best option. Additionally, I share a few suggestions to consider when it comes to getting support or help with our work. 

The Jeopardy song. James Earl Jones' voice. The Netflix sound. These sounds represent specific brands. Sounds - whether it is a song, a voice, or a recognized tone - immediately bring something to mind. Jodi Krangle, my guest on this episode of The Pursuit of Purpose, is a voice artist who helps bring brands to life with her voice. Our discussion focuses on what she wants to know about brands to help her bring her best voice to the brands that hire her.