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Tell Your Leadership Story

The best way to begin to understand your leader image is to create your own leadership story. This is something like an autobiography. You can use your personal leadership experiences from work or other life experiences to write your story.

One way to understand your leader image is to pretend you are watching a movie about yourself. Begin by writing about a situation where you were leading others. Include as much detail as possible. Perhaps the scene is a meeting or a presentation. Describe in detail your movements, voice tone, and the words you use as you watch yourself in the scene. 

Your leadership story may take a few weeks to complete. After you write out your story, reread it, and add other details as you write your drafts. Use your story drafts as a tool to discover how you may want to reshape your leader image.

Gather Some "Focus Group" Feedback

Once you have your leadership story, read it to people who know you. Ask them to tell you their impressions of the leader in your story. Ask about how successful or inspirational they view that leader.

Listen carefully to the leader image they describe. Take a few notes so that you can apply their feedback to your leader image action plan.

Your Action Plan

Your action plan should be simple. Choose one or two leader characteristics to practice each day. The actions can be as simple as increasing your vocal volume when speaking with others at meetings. Daily practice will help you begin to develop your brand for your leader image.

Choose actions that you can apply in situations where you have the most visibility with others. Situations such as meetings and presentations allow others to react to your leader image and provide a great opportunity to get feedback and help you can fine-tune your image.

It may take several months or longer to begin to see progress and understand how others respond to your leadership. You will need patience and dedication to achieve the image you desire.

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