Bant Breen is the Founder and Executive Chairman for Qnary, an award-winning executive reputation management and talent branding company. As more people appear online, it’s become clear that their name searches need to be cleaned up and more professional. Qnary’s company grew dramatically during the pandemic because your online presence matters more than ever, and executives understand this.

 

In this episode, Bant talks about what executives should be thinking about when it comes to their online reputation, how to best reduce “bad” instances in your online presence, and why how you show up online really does matter more than you might think.

 

Tips on improving your online presence

 

• Do an analysis on how you show up today in the search results. Are you happy with the results?
• Executives might not think it matters. It does. Future recruits are looking you up! How do you want future employees to see you?
• Reporters want to cite you as a source, but you need a strong and respectable presence to do that. Do you have your credentials? Do you look reliable? Are your articles/thoughts properly linked?
• Executives can take advantage of mini videos (which rank more quickly in Google) to improve trustability. These videos can be just 2-3 minutes long.

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

About our guest

 

Bant Breen was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement in 2010 and has a global marketing and communications background steeped in digital and innovation. Prior to launching Qnary, Bant served as CEO at IPG’s Reprise Media. Bant had previously been President of Worldwide Digital Communications at IPG’s Initiative.

 

Before joining Initiative, Bant served as the Executive Director of the IPG Emerging Media Lab, created Ansible (IPG’s Mobile Marketing Agency), and led Universal McCann’s global digital communications offering. Bant also led IPG’s acquisition of Reprise Media in 2006 and managed IPG’s investments in Facebook, Radian6, and several other digital enterprises.

 

Before joining IPG, Bant was the Founder and President of a strategic marketing and communications consultancy affiliated with Dentsu Inc. Prior to that, he worked at Leo Burnett Worldwide leading their European digital operations and then integrating the Leo Burnett global digital network now known as Arc Worldwide. Bant started his career as a WPP Fellow. Bant also serves as a board member, advisor, and strategic investor to publicly traded companies and startups. Bant has worked and lived in Asia Pacific, Europe, and the U.S. but now lives in New York City with his wife, Carmen, and two sons, Alejandro and Nico.

 

Resources

 

Karen’s book The Brand Mapping Strategy was just produced and released on Amazon’s Audible as an audiobook. You can now get an audio version of the book read in its entirety by Karen.

 

The Brand Mapping Strategy, Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand

 

Tweetables and Quotes to Share

 

“In the beginning, Google was the first place and last place to look executives up, but it’s not the most important channel now. LinkedIn is the most important.” PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

“Companies jump to PR quickly. Now, it’s really important to get that foundation set before you make a big PR investment.” PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

“Writing is artistic, but it’s also quite mathematical. AI systems can read that and be able to understand it and mimic it.” PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

“The remote work, due to COVID-19, really accelerated social media’s significance. Thirty percent of people viewed social media presence as more important during the pandemic.” PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

Mushrooms, alternative alcohol, digital health and merch have been four of the fastest-growing sectors for startups and small businesses in the past year. Here 99designs by Vista CEO Patrick Llewellyn talks to Karen Tiber Leland about some of the global trends that have emerged on the design platform and among its customers and community.  

 

Trends among fastest growing sectors for startups and small businesses

 

• A platform like 99Designs by Vista reaches communities far and wide and it has given people new opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have had in their small town. People with disabilities have also found a new purpose.
• There’s been a surge in design requests from the wellness sector, plant-based alternative foods, and mushrooms!
• Local businesses are taking opportunities to create merch (which means more need for creative designs!) to increase revenue in their business.
• Personalized designs that incorporate the brand’s personality are on the rise. People want to see the “who” behind the brand.

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

About our guest

 

Patrick Llewellyn is CEO of 99designs by Vista, the global creative platform that makes it easy for small businesses to work with professional freelance designers online. 99designs has paid out more than US $400m to its creative community to date, working across brand and logo design, packaging, web design and more. Founded in 2008, 99designs has grown from a small, online forum into a worldwide community of talented designers that is now part of Vista, which includes VistaPrint and VistaCreate.

 

Resources

 

Karen’s book The Brand Mapping Strategy was just produced and released on Amazon’s Audible as an audiobook. You can now get an audio version of the book read in its entirety by Karen.

 

The Brand Mapping Strategy, Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand

Today’s guest is Peter Winick, the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage and the podcast host of Leveraging Thought Leadership. In this episode of Thought Talk, Peter talks about, you guessed it, thought leadership! Since it’s easy to have an opinion on social media, it’s so hard to get something good and worthy of substance in today’s fast-paced world. Intentional thought leadership changes that.

 

Thought leadership is a hot topic right now, but it can get a little cloudy on what it really is. Peter shares examples of what thought leadership is, what it is not, and how you can get the most out of it through authentic connections and putting your stake in the ground.

 

Tips on making thought leadership work for you

 

• Thought leadership means you have the courage to say something meaningful, profound, and different from the norm. You know you’re doing something right when 20% of the population disagrees with you.
• A classic mistake thought leaders make — They don’t have a strategy. Thought leadership is a business, at the end of the day.
• Want to be consistent in your thought leadership? Create an editorial calendar.
• Collaborate with experts who are also serving similar client demographics. They’re not really competitors!
• Consider writing a book. It is a great business card for your ideal client.
• The marketing strategies you do to put your work out there have to make sense for your ideal target market. Are your clients listening to radio? No? Then don’t do radio.

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

About our guest

 

Peter Winick is the founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. For the past two decades, he has helped individuals and organizations build and grow revenue streams through designing and growing their thought leadership platforms as well as acting as a guide and advisor for increasing business to business sales of thought leadership products.

 

His clients come from a diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. They include New York Times bestselling business book authors, members of the Speakers’ Hall of Fame, recipients of the Thinkers50 award, CEOs of public and privately held companies, and academics at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Wharton, Dartmouth, and London School of Business.

 

Peter has built his career and Thought Leadership Leverage to serve the needs of these individuals and others like them. Get in touch with him through his website Thought Leadership Leverage.

 

Resources

 

Karen’s book The Brand Mapping Strategy was just produced and released on Amazon’s Audible as an audiobook. You can now get an audio version of the book read in its entirety by Karen.

 

The Brand Mapping Strategy, Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand

As I head into my 79th episode of the Thought Talk podcast, I’ve decided to take a break, step back, and do a bit of reworking.  The Thought Talk podcast will be back by the end of March and better than ever.   

 

So for this episode I wanted to share with you four tips I learned decades ago that can help you ensure that your brand stays crazy ahead of your competition.  In all honesty, they are so simple, it’s easy to toss them off. But don’t - they can truly transform your career and business. 

 

These four simple things almost certainly ensure your personal, CEO, business, or executive brand will be successful. Tune in today and see you again at the end of March. 

 

4 ways how you show up that matter most 

 

• #1. Show up — whether it be on social media, a webinar, a conference, or even just being where you say you will- showing up makes the difference between your brand shining or you being forgotten.

 

• #2. Show up on-time — whether it means getting on a webinar when it starts, delivering something when you promise, or just plain old being on time for an appointment- showing up when you say you will can elevate your brand.  

 

• #3. Show up prepared — Taking the time to understand the people, situation, context, and objectives of the situation you are talking to says you have a brand that cares. 

 

• #4. Do what you say you will. Ultimately, brands are built on trust, trust is built on credibility, and credibility is built on promises kept.  The brand bottom line - do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it.  Sounds simple doesn’t it? Think how many people you interact with who don’t do this and how it makes you feel about them. 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

Resources

 

Looking for more tips? Karen’s latest book, No-Nonsense: Time Management: 50 Tips to Hack Your Time and Get Everything Done, offers a practical approach to tackling the kinds of productivity issues we face in today’s technological world.

 

You’ll find practical ways of assessing your relationship with time, avoiding interruptions and distractions by goal-setting, multi-purposing versus multitasking, delegating, managing online and offline meetings, maximizing to-do lists and minimizing unfinished business, embracing personal productivity habits, and right-sizing your social media and email, as well as many more readily actionable tips and tricks to hack your time.

Tweetables and Quotes to Share

 

If you just show up for something, you will be more successful than 90% of the people out there. If you want your brand to shine, you have to be visible; you have to show up. PODCAST: bit.ly/3rM17FQ @KarenFLeland

 

Think about the people around you that are never on time or arrive unprepared… how much credibility do they have with you? PODCAST: bit.ly/3rM17FQ @KarenFLeland

 

Brands are built on trust, trust is built on credibility, credibility is built on kept promises: always do what you say you’re going to do. PODCAST: bit.ly/3rM17FQ @KarenFLeland

 

Today’s guest, Lynette Sheppard is also known as the iPhone Diva. Lynette joins the show from the highly photographic island of Molokai in Hawaii to give us some insight on how we can best use our phones to practice creativity through photography. 

 

Lynette Sheppard has taught iPhoneography throughout Europe, Canada, and the United-States. She is known for her out-of-the-box imaginative uses of taking photographs and making images with an iPhone. 

 

When you take a photograph, is the app doing all the work? Does it still count as art?

Our discussion covers what makes art, how art can help you know yourself better, and some of the best apps for making great images with your phone. 

 

 

Tips for better photos

 

• Taking a better picture with your phone:
• • Train your eye, look at tons of pictures to find out what you like
  • Use the native camera: on the iPhone it’s great; take tons of pictures
  • Learn about composition
  • • What’s in the frame
    • When do you push the button
  • Editing — use the right tools

 

• Managing your photo collection — sort through your pictures quickly after having taken them, for multiples, pick one and delete the rest. If you want to show photos to people, pick your 10 or 15 best.

 

• Creativity — We are all creative, even if we don’t believe it. The iPhone allows us to play and all art starts as play.

 

• Feeling intimidated? Try Snapseed

 

• Printing — certain apps save at high resolution (Snapseed) but some others cut down on resolution (Diana Photo). The Big Photo app can let you know what kind of resolution you may have lost after editing.

 

• Unsure about intellectual property rights? Begin with found objects. Lynette touches on how she will use details of a painting to use as an overlay in a way that makes it unrecognizable. If it is recognizable and modern, she says that artists are generous, and often asking for permission is enough.

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

About our guest

 

Writer, artist, and blogger, Lynette’s first published work was a terrible little poem. She was ten years old. She didn’t publish again until she became a registered nurse, but she never stopped wanting to tell stories. Now she makes up stuff all the time and occasionally tells the unvarnished truth.

 

[email protected]

Get in touch with Lynette through her website|Facebook|Steller

 

Mentioned

Foolproof

Diana photo

Distressed Fx

Touchretouch

Photo Manager pro

Snapseed

Color Thief

Big Photo

Anne Lamott — Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

 

Resources

Karen’s book The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand was just produced and released on Amazon’s Audible as an audiobook. You can now get an audio version of the book read in its entirety by Karen.

 

The Brand Mapping Strategy, Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand

Today’s guest is Theresa Souers, managing broker at Corcoran Global Living. Theresa has been in the real estate business for the past 25 years. On this episode of Thought Talk we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the broader real estate market and the implications for buyers, sellers, and investors alike.

 

You will want to take notes as Theresa shares her impressions on this seller’s market, the trends that are here to stay, as well as the things we can expect to see in the future. Theresa also shares a treasure trove of tips for investing smart and buying right.

Tips on making sure buying or selling is for you

 

• Prioritize — sit with your family and make sure everyone’s needs are met; do you need to be near organized activities (sports, dance, music); what about educational needs?

 

• Test — visit the communities that interest you and stay there a while; you can find out by living there for a while if the location is right for you.  

 

• Don’t get caught up in the real estate frenzy — look at your budget, your projected income, your lifestyle and desired amenities. 

 

• Avoiding buying mistakes — do your homework, look at the value of the property you’re buying, look into the neighborhood, into potential resale, how long will it take to recuperate your investment; are you paying above market? Ask the right questions.

 

• Avoiding selling mistakes — ask yourself why you’re selling, and if you do sell, where are you going to go?

 

• Get the most out of the sale of your home. 

 

• Most people shop online, you have one chance to make that first impression.
• Invest in a professional photographer and a 3D video walkthrough.
• Stage your house, empty rooms don’t do well in photographs.
• Give each place in the home a purpose.
• Make sure the REALTOR® you work with has an extensive marketing program.

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

About our guest

 

Theresa Souers has more than 25 years of experience in the real estate industry and is currently partners with Corcoran Global Living based in South Lake Tahoe, California. Founded on the principle of putting people first, the Souers Team and Corcoran Global Living serve the California and Nevada markets with 25 strategically located offices.

 

Consistently in the top 1% of REALTORS® in the South Lake Tahoe area for more than two decades, Theresa and her team have received a number of professional recognitions including:

 

REALTOR® of the Year — South Tahoe Association of REALTORS®

Distinguished Service — South Tahoe Association of REALTORS®

Presidential Award — South Tahoe Association of REALTORS®

 

Get in touch with Teresa through the website Home in Tahoe

 

Resources

 

Karen’s book The Brand Mapping Strategy was just produced and released on Amazon’s Audible as an audiobook. You can now get an audio version of the book read in its entirety by Karen.

 

The Brand Mapping Strategy, Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand

Overcoming Multitasking Madness for a More Efficient Workflow

 

Karen’s latest book, No Nonsense: Time Management: 50 Tips to Hack Your Time and Get Everything Done is now available for order on Amazon. Today, Karen tackles one of the topics addressed in the book, a problem all of us face: multitasking madness.

 

Studies have found that when people switch back and forth between tasks, they experience substantial losses in efficiency and accuracy — in some cases as much as 50%. In today’s non-stop tech world overcoming multitasking is a critical part of learning to work from home efficiently.

 

Tips

 

• Turn off your tech — the frequent bells and whistles coming from your devices can easily lead you to stray from the job at hand- stop it before it even starts. Try airline mode or even software that prevents access for a certain period of time.

 

• Create task times — set aside specific time windows to do one task, or one type of task- i.e. your phone calls, your emails, etc.

 

• Make the most of mornings — spend your first hour doing a task that requires focus, and don’t check your email before then.

 

• Track your to-dos — build a capture system to write down all your to-dos instead of trying to do them right away.

 

• Desktop inbox — create a space on your desk where you can temporarily place items that need attention so you can easily find them.

 

• Plan open space — Give yourself space and time to catch up on new things that have come in or to process late to-dos. Leave 15 minutes between each Zoom call.

 

• Don’t multitask, multi-purpose — listen to a business book while driving, catch up on reading while on the treadmill, do some paperwork in your various appointment waiting rooms, etc.

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

Resources

 

Karen’s tenth book, No Nonsense: Time Management: 50 Tips to Hack Your Time and Get Everything Done, was written with her former business partner Keith Bailey. The book offers a practical approach to tackling the kinds of productivity issues we face in today’s technological world.

 

You’ll find practical ways of assessing your relationship with time, avoiding interruptions and distractions by goal-setting, multi-purposing versus multitasking, delegating, managing online and offline meetings, maximizing to-do lists and minimizing unfinished business, embracing personal productivity habits, and right-sizing your social media and email, as well as many more readily actionable tips and tricks to hack your time.

 

Find it in print on Amazon and other online retailers.

 

Mentioned

“Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching”, by Rubinstein, Meyer, and Evans

Never Check Email In The Morning: And Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work, by  Julie Morgenstern

 

Tweetables and Quotes to Share

 

The ding of the email, the ping of the text, I know those things can seem harmless but they can really tempt you to stray from the job at hand. PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland 

 

Set aside a particular set of time to do all your phone calls, your emails, your errands, to work on your project. PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

Capture your to-dos in writing, any system will work, but make sure you have one to keep that kind of track. PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

Instead of booking every minute of every day, leave some time open where you can actually catch up on things that come in, or process items that have been hanging around. PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

 

Multitasking is really defined by the switching back and forth, and it’s the switching of your attention back and forth that creates a problem. PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland 

You don’t want to multitask, but you do want to multi-purpose. PODCAST: Thought Talk @KarenFLeland

On my most recent Peloton bike ride, the gentleman leading the session said something that I found applies to so many aspects of our professional lives: “Less excuses, more adjustments.” In today's short episode, I will share five ways for you to fine-tune your business goals by doing just that.

Oftentimes when we work on our time management, personal brands, marketing plan, or business development we throw up our hands and give up when things don't go as planned.

Today’s podcast is all about making small adjustments in your business goals as you go along so that you don’t feel the need to tackle everything all at once or get it perfect the first time out. 

Fine-tuning tips toward achieving your business goals

• One small thing at a time — when something isn’t working, don’t try to fix everything at once: try changing just one element as a starting point in achieving your business goal. 
• Brick by brick — you’re not building the whole wall at once, you’re making a brick: every small action you take towards your business goal helps get you there.
• Be less critical — don’t judge things you did wrong in the past: focus on the small changes that can take you forward in your chosen business goal. 
• Find the holes — find the little things that may be missing in your overall business goal plan and fix those. 
• What can you do that will bring the most value for the least amount of effort (check my 80/20 rule podcast for tips on identifying those areas of improvement: Bit.ly/3q8k2c4)?

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

Resources

If you’re looking to optimize your time, be more productive, and fine-tune your routine, I invite you to pre-order my latest book No Nonsense Time Management: 50 Smart Solutions, Powerful Habits & Proven Time Hacks To Make The Most of Your Day.

 

Tweetables and Quotes to Share

It’s really all about seeing what’s working, what’s not, and making fine-tuned adjustments as we go. PODCAST: https://bit.ly/2NlK51q @KarenFLeland 

When something isn’t working, don’t try to fix everything at once, try changing just one element at a time. PODCAST: https://bit.ly/2NlK51q @KarenFLeland 

You’re not building the whole wall at once, you’re making a brick. PODCAST: https://bit.ly/2NlK51q @KarenFLeland 

If we move away from the dialogue of “It’s bad,” “it’s wrong,” “We should have done it a different way,” we actually move much faster. PODCAST: https://bit.ly/2NlK51q @KarenFLeland 

 

Listen to the podcast here:

[smart_track_player url="]

Even as we sit on the verge of bringing an end to COVID-19 with the new vaccines, the trend towards a decentralized workforce seems likely to be an integral part of the new normal. With that in mind, in this episode I talk about going beyond team building to team branding. 

 

Team branding is essentially about defining a given team’s brand and then translating that brand into a strategy, a code of conduct, and a series of actions. If you do it right, it can have a powerful impact on a team’s alignment, effectiveness, and engagement. 

 

Pre-COVID I always did team branding work in person - usually on off-sites.  However, I’ve found a variety of interactive ways to get a group engaged on video conferencing. 

Do you need a team brand?

 

• Does your team need a deeper alignment or commitment to their current project or overall strategic direction?

 

• Does your team want a closer relationship with their team members and a clearly defined code of conduct? This is especially important if you’ve found that working remotely has broken team cohesiveness.

 

• Does your team need a renewed engagement with the team or renewed inspiration for a project or departmental purpose, as we move into 2021?

 

• Does your team struggle with the resolution of ongoing issues or disagreements you want to see solved?

 

• Are you having difficulty getting your team members to embrace change - either personally or as a group?

 

• Do you have an upcoming project, new team member, or have you recently had major changes in your team players?

 

• Have you recently gone through organizational, market, or team changes that would make a revision of your current team brand important? 

 

If you find yourself having answered any of these affirmatively, there is a good chance a team branding might be your best bet in 2021. 

 

Take a look at my book The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build And Accelerate Your Brand or contact me directly at [email protected] for a free consultation. 

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

Resources

 

If you think a team brand might be something that would be good for your organization or your department, then I invite you to reach out to me at [email protected] and set up a free consultation call where we can discuss your team needs and the possibility of generating a team brand.

 

The other thing you can do is look at my book The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build And Accelerate Your Brand, available on Amazon which has a whole chapter on team branding.

Today I am talking about a great principle you should be applying to your business for the coming year. I’ve been using the 80/20 rule for years and regularly suggest it to my clients, and although most of you may already know of the 80/20 rule, very few know where it comes from and how broadly it applies.

 

In 1897, an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto identified that 80% of the wealth was owned by 20% of the population. This may seem too broad, but listen in for a breakdown and actionable tips on how this rule applies to different aspects of your business and how you can put it to use for the new year.

 

All of the 80/20 rules are mentioned in Karen’s book.

 

Tips

 

• 80% of your goals are driven by 20% of your tasks — identity which items on your to-do will take you closest to those goals.

 

• 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results — learning which of your labors make the most effective use of your time is important.

 

• 80% of the value you receive from your business reading comes from 20% of the material that you read — carefully select the publications that consistently produce the most value for your time.

 

• 20% of your business relationships give you 80% of the support you need — identify who has your back and return the favor in kind: make it a priority to maintain your relationships with the people that make your life easier.

 

• 80% of the value your clients receive is a direct result of 20% of what your company does — make sure to know what that 20% is and improve it at every opportunity.

 

• Find more information on this last tip in my new book: 20% of your time management habits cause 80% of your productivity problems — most of your productivity issues can be boiled down to a few bad habits, identify the worst of them and make a commitment to work on those in the coming year.

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

Resources

All of the tips mentioned above are available in my 10th book — No Nonsense: Time Management: 50 Tips to Hack Your Time and Get Everything Done — which will be out on December 31st through Career Press. It’s a practical book about being more productive and achieving better time management in an age where many of us are working from home.

I recently renewed my long time passion for horseback riding and met today’s guest — Barbra Schulte — at the C Lazy U dude ranch in Granby, Colorado where she was teaching peak performance on and off a horse. 

Barbra is a Professional Cutting Horse Trainer, personal peak performance coach, and Equine Consultant. She is a Cowgirl Hall of Fame inductee and, this January, Barbra will be awarded the prestigious Women of the West Award given by Western Horseman Magazine.

Barbra joins me on the podcast to discuss how she became interested in optimal human performance and to share some of her tips on finding your path to peak performance. 

Listen in to learn the connection between positive and negative emotions and their impact on performance and to gain some serious tips on how to move past your hurdles and get yourself to your highest peak performance level.

 

The 3 biggest hurdles to peak performance and how to move past them

 

• Blame — even self-blame — is a way to trick your mind into taking the pressure off of yourself in a situation — “who cares, I’m not putting any more energy into this”. It is the most difficult emotion to get past to achieve high performance.

 

• Anger — unlike blame, anger has some measure of energy and so you can propel yourself towards peak performance with it; make sure to watch the direction of this energy, steer it away from blame.

 

• Nerves/anxiety/fear — nerves are the closest emotion to shifting into that positive emotional mindset and peak performance. 

 

• How to shift away from negative emotions and find your calmness:
• • Recognize your current state and name it
  • Get calm — conscious breathing (inhale for four, exhale for four) — take the time you need to lower your heart rate; it takes practice.
  • Direct your energy and move forward.
  • Over time, you can work to condition the calmness by adding a physical trigger.

 

About Karen Tiber Leland

 

Karen Tiber Leland is the founder of Sterling Marketing Group, a branding, marketing, and color strategy and implementation firm helping CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs develop stronger personal, business, and team brands. Her clients include Cisco, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Apple Computer, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

She is also the best-selling author of nine traditionally-published business books that have sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into 10 languages. Her most recent book is The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. She regularly writes for Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com and has had articles published in Self, The Los Angeles Times, American Way, The Boston Globe, and many others.

 

Karen has spoken for Harvard, The AMA, Direct Marketing Association, and Stanford, among others. She has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Oprah.

 

Get in touch with Karen on Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook

 

About Our Guest

 

Barbra Schulte is a Professional Cutting Horse Trainer, Personal Performance Coach, Author, Clinician, and Equine Consultant. Barbra has been involved with horses her entire life. Beginning in early childhood and continuing through college, she helped market and show many of her family’s 500 head of horses. She competed in western pleasure, reining, horsemanship, and cutting.

 

After high school, Barbra went on to gain a Master’s degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology. In a few short years, she became an administrator at the Arizona State School for the Deaf and taught at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

 

In 1983, Barbra’s love of horses led her back to the competitive arena where she embarked on a career as a Professional Horse Trainer. In 1986, after reading Mental Toughness for Sports, by Dr. James Loehr of LGE Sports Science, Inc., she began to incorporate his training techniques into her regimen.

 

You can learn more about Barbra Schulte on her Website

 

Mentioned

Dr. Jim Loehr

Human Performance Institute

Cowgirl Hall of Fame and Museum

Women of the West Award

 

Resources

 

We are almost at the end of 2020 and one of the things you want to think about is the kind of brand you want to be building for 2021. Because of COVID-19 and where we are technologically, there are more eyeballs than ever looking at people online. How you look and how your brand looks online really makes a difference in how you get and convert clients.

 

If you feel like you might want some help planning your 2021 personal or business brand, you should consider a Rent My Brain session. That's a one-hour session I do with you to take a look at where you are with your brand, where you want to be, and how to get there.

 

If you’re interested, just reach out to me at [email protected].