IAM1672 – Personal Brand Specialist Enables CEOs and Executives to Define Their Brands

Why it was selected for “CBNation Architects”: Jen does so many awesome things and she fully understands how a brand, especially your personal brand is a foundation of the business that you build and grow. She understands the importance of strategy and knowing your “why” and how that directs so much of us as individuals but also our organizations.

Check out premium content in the CBNation Library at http://cbnation.co/library and pick up our eBook to hear some of the best lessons at http://cbnation.co/shop.

Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/2021/09/05/iam1119-personal-brand-enables-ceos-and-executives-to-define-their-brands/

Transcription:

Jen Dalton Teaser 00:00

I think it's important to remember that from an imposter syndrome standpoint, and interestingly enough, there's research that shows 70% of people have imposter syndrome. There's a difference in knowing who you are and knowing what your job entails or information about a company.

Intro 00:21

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders, without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. The I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:48

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. And if you've been listening this year, we're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes under certain categories or topics that we think are gonna be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners.

This month is going to be about not forgetting about the human part of business. Often we forget about the human part of life. We often forget about the human part of business. So look forward to self-care tips, fitness, burnout, purpose, biz and personal, personal branding, motivation, drive, success, understanding your why, and of course, how important customer service is. But at the heart of it, it's all about, remembering the human part of business. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I am CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jen Dalton of Brand Mirror. Jen, it's great to have you on the show.

Jen Dalton 01:45

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 01:47

Super excited to have you on and before we jumped into the interview, I wanted to read a little bit more about Jen so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And as a personal brand specialist with entrepreneurship in her DNA, Jen helps business owners and executives define how they show up as leaders and make the most of their strengths, and tend to their legacy growth and visibility.

She is passionate about enabling individuals and companies to define their brands and differentiate themselves in authentic, credible, and relevant ways to the market. She is the author of The Intentional Entrepreneur in 2016, and Listen: How to Embrace The Difficult Conversations Life Throws At You (December 7th, 2020). An international speaker and reputation coach, she collaborates with CEO's, executives, and startups to live their purpose authentically and intentionally.

She's been featured at Inc., Forbes Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, the Washington Post, and HLN. And Jen is a mover and shaker always doing phenomenal things in the community, in the DMV area. So super excited to have her on the show and hear about how she makes all these businesses and entrepreneurs and executives able to communicate all the awesome things they're doing.

So, Jen, great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Jen Dalton 02:59

I am so excited to be here. I can't wait.

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Gresham Harkless 03:01

Definitely. Well, let's do it then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Jen Dalton 03:10

Well, it all started when I was five. No, I'm kidding a little bit. But my parents were entrepreneurs and my grandparents were entrepreneurs. And although there might have been some child labor involved as a child of entrepreneurs, I always knew I wanted to have my own business. But I also knew I really wanted to go into the corporate world and learn a lot. You know, make mistakes, get to know bright people, get exposure to how big companies work. And so on my 10th anniversary, I actually had my second son and I thought, you know, I wanna be able to tell my kids about the next decade. And I wanna really love it being about me choosing to go live my why and my purpose.

And so that's where it started. And, you know, in parallel, I had gone back to get my executive MBA at Georgetown, knowing I wanted to do branding and strategy work, which is what I had done in my corporate career, but not really knowing what that meant. And my classmates who were fantastic humans had no idea how to talk about themselves. And so as we were going through this expensive but worth it program, they were trying to figure out how do I transition from the role I'm in to a CEO or to starting a business? And as we worked through that, I really started to think about personal brand and what does that mean and how do we define it.

I read Start with Why by Simon Sinek. And then I pursued personal brand certifications and the weekend before I graduated, so April 27th, which is my first son's birthday, I launched Brand Mirror. And that's been nine years. So that's where it all started. I didn't fall into it. I meandered down a path along the way.

Gresham Harkless 04:57

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that, and I'm definitely obligated to say Hoya Saxa to you as a fellow grad as well too. I'm definitely excited to hear you doing so many phenomenal things, but I love how you talked about meandering through that journey because I think so many times when you see people doing really phenomenal and awesome things, you don't take into account like how every single part of their life builds up to that moment. So I love that you mentioned that and you being able to go through that journey and learn so much, make connections I imagine too, and be able to do all the awesomeness you've been able to do.

Jen Dalton 05:27

Absolutely. I went to Georgetown's undergrad business school and really enjoyed it. But I have to say, going back for my executive MBA when you're older and you appreciate learning and education, really helped me. And you also appreciate the value of networking. It really helped me expand my entrepreneurial network because there were amazing entrepreneurs that I met through Georgetown as well, which really opened my thinking about it. And that's where I had my first entrepreneurial mastermind through one of the programs there and with Jeff Reed who works on their entrepreneurship initiative. So Georgetown has played a huge role in me launching my business.

Gresham Harkless 06:08

I know you landed on Brand Mirror doing really phenomenal things, so I wanted to drill down a little bit more hear about how you're working with your clients and how that process goes.

Jen Dalton 06:16

So I love what you said a moment ago, and I think of it the same way people need to build their brand before they need it, you know, and we all have a brand. Whether we manage it or not is totally different. But what I found when I was working and meeting a lot of entrepreneurs and when I started my own business, you don't have a business brand. You only have your personal brand and your reputation to get it growing and to launch it. And so it's abundantly clear when you make that transition how important your personal brand and your reputation is.

Then if you fast forward to CEOs who've had companies for a few years or a company, they are the face of the business. And so I find myself working with startup CEOs, trying to leverage their reputation to launch and figuring out their why and embedding it in their business from the beginning. For CEOs who are in more mature companies, it's about how are you the face of the business. How are you attracting talent? How are you growing revenue and being visible because it's not about the CEO, it's not about that person in the sense that it's really their job to communicate with confidence. Here's the value that our company and our people bring. And so I think from a personal brand standpoint, that ends up being, knowing your why, knowing how you bring value to an organization.

For CEOs though, it also means if you're building a business to sell it, how does your personal brand play a role in that? Because it's very different than if it's a family business or a legacy business that you wanna hold onto. So it's also a strategic choice, and I think a lot of times leaders are busy leading and they don't have time or they don't create time to step back and think about those things. So those end up being the questions I really help people figure out, you know, who are they in the beginning? How does their personal brand help their business over time? And then when they wanna pivot or do the next thing, what brand do they need to have built along the way that will help them do that?

Gresham Harkless 08:33

Yeah, absolutely. And as an English major as well, I also love words, so I definitely love that. And not only how it sounds, but also what it means as well too and how that manifests itself. And so, I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for yourself individually or your business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jen Dalton 08:54

So I'm a very structured person. My areas of expertise and I make my clients go through this as part of a process as well, are that I love structure, I love strategy, and I love clarity. And so when I work with clients, I take them through very specific, unique, I think, and differentiated exercises that really help them. No kidding. Think about what's your why. And then also really think big picture. What's the impact you were putting on this earth to make?

Gresham Harkless 09:30

I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Jen Dalton 09:42

I love paper and writing on paper. So I've been working really hard to transition out of being in paper and move to more digital and make everything accessible for my clients, whether it's my handwritten notes on, you know, remarkable or iPad. But I think it's important to find the tools that meet you where they are and also move you forward. Because I don't like typing. I'm actually a very good typist, but that's not how I create, I create by writing and sketching and drawing. And so, you know, my recommendation would be to find those tools that work best for you. I'll use tools like Otter to record stuff if I'm speaking, or rev.com, if I do a video so I can easily create more content by getting transcriptions and things like that.

Gresham Harkless 10:34

I wanted to ask you now about what I call a CEO Nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client about branding, or it could be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Jen Dalton 10:48

I was just talking about this the other day. When I think about what I would tell my younger self, I think it's important to remember that from an imposter syndrome standpoint, and interestingly enough, there's research that shows 70% of people have imposter syndrome, there's a difference between knowing who you are and knowing what your job entails or information about a company. I think it's very important. I don't like the phrase fake it till you make it. I think in order to be authentic, you have to know who you are and show up and decide what signals do you give that show your authenticity. So do you sit down with people regularly and talk with them and listen or do you send thank you notes or do you do a phone call every once in a while?

That has nothing to do with if you move and switch companies and go to a new role. Yes, you're gonna have to learn that business and learn that role, that it's not about faking it till you make it. You can still be a very authentic leader and show up and still have to learn some more about a business, but you're not faking it. You know, because you will need to show up and say, who do I need to meet in the first hundred days? What should I know? And that's okay. That's being vulnerable, that's learning. So I think that's probably one of the biggest things that I've always had a pet peeve around that phrase.

And only recently did I really think it through all the way to the end and come to my own opinion about, well, what, what would I say instead? And so that's my golden nugget for entrepreneurs or people starting out. It's not about faking it till you make it. It's about knowing your why, knowing who you are, and then learning other stuff, but you're not faking who you are.

Gresham Harkless 12:31

Now I Wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote and quote, CEOs on this show. So Jen, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jen Dalton 12:41

Oh, we were just talking about empathy and I was thinking about Chief Empathy Officer.

Gresham Harkless 12:45

Ah, I like that.

Jen Dalton 12:47

I know, and most people, you know, empathy may not seem as sexy as like Chief Executive Officer or Chief Experience Officer, but I think, CEO is a leader who is there for their people and leads from the heart because the company is only made up of its people. Like the logo and the brand and the building are not people, they don't have souls, they don't have hearts.

So I think a leader, you know, their job is to leave a company better off, the people better off than when they started. And hopefully, that's in really powerful ways. And I think their job is to evolve and constantly challenge the status quo and not get comfortable.

Gresham Harkless 13:30

Absolutely, appreciate that, Jen. And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course how best they can get ahold of you, get a copy of the books and find about all the awesome things you're working on.

Jen Dalton 13:44

I just wanna say thank you for the work you're doing and for giving people a platform to share their thoughts, it's important to share what they've learned. I can be reached at brandmirror.com or thenoisebreaker.com and I have a lot of different content and thought leadership that is available.

Lots of free downloads around where do you start with your brand strategy, and how are you showing up on LinkedIn, and building a digital presence. But mainly just thank you to you. I appreciate the time today and I appreciate the opportunity. We had some great discussions. We could keep talking, but I know it's a holiday weekend.

Gresham Harkless 14:20

Yes, absolutely. Well we definitely have more and more spots on, so we'll definitely have to have you back on and drill down even more. But we will have the links and information in the show notes. And I love the work that you do because I think just like you, what I try to do is to try to hear people's stories. You help bring that out so that they're able to talk about that and talk about the ramifications of that in their business and organizations and probably on a deeper level in their lives. So I appreciate you so much for the work that you do, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:14:45] Outro:

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at blue16media.com.

This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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