#Personal Branding by #Joy Kennelly, #Seth Godin, and #Dan Schwabel - Introduction #in
June 11, 2010
After recently experiencing poor leadership in an organization, I began a search to discover what quantifies great leadership and what qualities are common among those who are great leaders.
I focused in on creative leaders and how they lead because of my personal entertainment and fashion background and my own perspective as a leader.
That, and watching the fun times Bret Michaels and Sharon Osbourne had working together on their Celebrity Apprentice Team projects which helped me realize they are leaders even though they don't fit the corporate world's mold of leadership. They actually have fun doing what they're doing which is my main motivation in everything I do too.
This will be a series of posts on some of the things I've learned thus far on those who are successful in branding themselves as leaders others should follow.
My first stop was Borders where I researched the top selling leadership, marketing and success gurus. What I discovered was there were a few prolific authors who rose to the top of this genre like Seth Godin, Robin Sharma, and John C. Maxwell to name a few.
Because I've been tested reading 900 words a minute and am a voracious reader whose personal library would quickly outgrow anywhere I live, I then went to the library to check out books by these men.
I don't know if its gender bias, or if female leadership books fall into a different section of the bookshelf, but I found it interesting there weren't that many, or any, in the leadership category.
I've always worked best with men so it doesn't bother me too much not to read some fluffy female's perspective, but I am still curious to hear if there are any female leadership books out there! Sorry ladies, you know some of you can be fluffy and all warm & cozy don't deny it. lol
My dad wanted boys growing up so we were raised completely different than most little girls and as a result are very independent socially, mentally and relationally. Plus, living and traveling overseas as a child apparently affects the way I look at things too according to Third Culture Kid research.
Or maybe even more telling, we didn't have a TV in the house until I was a Junior in High School and only then because I won it selling the most candy bars (with my sister's help) in a school contest. Not being bombarded by commercials and other society programming of what a girl is supposed to be in your formative years does tend to make you think differently than the average female living in the US I'm learning.
That said, if any of you reading this have any recommendations for female leadership books, please leave a comment as I would love to hear. I am a woman after all and do love learning from everyone.Moving right along.
After collecting a stack of books to read and starting to read them, I then began searching for others who exhibited leadership qualities with something to say in the online realm in this regard as that's an area of focus for me also as a Social Media Strategist.
The guy who stood out to me immediately was Personal Branding Guru, Dan Schawbel. I'm sure there are others, but his profile and information caught my eye because of his age and his command of personal branding in the corporate world and online space.
In addition to reading and watching webinars, I also plan to start interviewing creative leaders in fashion, entertainment, food, and publishing which should be very interesting. I've also been invited to interview influential Hermosa Beach residents for Patch Hermosa which I'll announce here once they're published.
So, in the ensuing posts I'll be sharing what I've learned thus far and what I know about creative leadership having helped numerous people create their own personal brands as Actors, Fine Artists, Screenwriters, Filmmakers and others.
I'm breaking it up into separate posts because there's a lot of content and I want to give you a more in-depth analysis without overwhelming you with content.
More to come. Stay tuned...
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