What happens when a journalist, who supposedly makes his living speaking the truth to the public, opens his mouth, and an offensive opinion drops out? Don Lemon can tell you that the initial blowback can be considerable. When he implied that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was “past her prime,” the outcry was immediate, and he was taken off the air … for a few days. He didn’t end up being a victim of cancel culture, and he went back on his usual program, addressing the news without mentioning a scandal. After some commentary about this development, the news cycles moved on, and t ..read more

Your pitch is a critical test of your business, forcing you to synthesize your value proposition in a clear, concise, and engaging manner. This is the moment where you convince the people holding the purse strings that they would be wise to invest in what you’re selling. Your brand should be infused into every slide in the pitch deck, letting potential investors and other stakeholders truly grasp what you stand for. It can feel impossible to incorporate so much into so little, but here are 5 things that should come across loud and clear. 1. Know Your Story; Know Your Ask You want your potentia ..read more

When you leave the room…do people think of you for opportunities? According to our guest Jen Dalton, your personal brand is 90% what people think about you. Listen to this important conversation to begin building your personal brand. Our goal is to create a community that inspires and engages all women in the life sciences and STEM. Check out our partner Women In Bio – an organization dedicated to the promotion of diversity and inclusion for all women, in life sciences and beyond! From classroom to boardroom, WIB has something for everyone. Being a WIB member has incredible benefits; virtual ..read more

Since April was National Stress Awareness Month and May is Mental Health Awareness Month, it is a good time to take a 360° look at the role stress plays in your life. You can take a stress assessment to measure your stress levels and carve out some time to identify the factors that might be contributing. Work, family, and other parts of your life may not allow you the flexibility to eliminate stress entirely. Still, knowledge is power, and knowing where the pressure comes from might provide insight into stress management. If you think your stress doesn’t matter, consider these five ways t ..read more

Whether you are building a business brand strategy or a personal brand strategy, your brand increases in effectively conveying and promoting your value proposition if you take the time to understand, measure, and assess it regularly. The initial work of developing and strategizing the deployment of a brand can’t be the end of this work. Just like a business plan or professional goals, a brand thrives with attention, measurement, and recalibration as needed. Here are five essential steps to being intentional and self-reflective about branding. 1. Do a 360° Brand Assessment When was the last tim ..read more

The Great Resignation may be a phenomenon, but the monthly jobs reports show that hiring is happening at a brisk pace as well. Many of these new hires are looking for a better opportunity and a good match for their personal values. Good onboarding is the key to employee retention in the job-hopping world we live in, but this process needs to be about more than basic policies and job training. Welcoming a new team member also means integrating their personal brand into the team, the culture, and the larger organization. Here are some critical steps to take. 1. 360° View ..read more

A great business brand is all about creating an effective emotional connection with key constituencies, including customers, prospects, employees, and partners. Brand connection increases confidence in the business, which accelerates your audience’s choice. A brand is never static — it constantly balances between consistent messaging and adaptation to new circumstances, technologies and opportunities. As we enter 2022, here are five brand trends that businesses should consider to stay at the top of their game. 1. Alignment of purpose, mission, values, and vision Lately, a critical challen ..read more

As we approach the end of 2021 it’s a good time for leaders to assess the business and brand strategy and make adjustments and decisions on where to focus and invest resources in the coming year. There are various directions a business leader may decide to go in and a critical point of analysis is the state of the brand. In this case, the state of the brand is less about name, logo, colors — it is about the reputation and “referability” of the brand in the target market. With a robust brand, a business leader can analyze three elements: awareness, likeability, and market-share to guide their p ..read more

CEOs no longer have the option of staying in the shadows. A 2017 study found that millennials aren’t the only group who care about CEO engagement — over half of the members of each age group surveyed expect CEOs to be visible, and even active in the public sphere. Before a CEO can effectively represent the company, they need to make sure they have a personal brand that can be identified, understood, and adds value. CEOs should be sure to ask themselves some important questions: 1. Are you findable, consistent, and on-brand? If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? If ..read more

Not everyone is a comedian, but humor is not only a tool to be used by people who use funny as a personal brand. Using different styles of humor as part of a communication style can enhance your brand whether you are concerned about being thought of as “too serious” or simply seeking to stand out. You don’t need to have a stand-up routine since humor and other emotions can blend well together and even help in certain circumstances. Here are moments and ways that utilizing humor can really make a difference. A Healthy Approach More than the greatest medicine, laughter is an incredibly val ..read more