Personal brand conference keynote at St James’s Place 

Both Dave Keeling and Laura Drury got to take part in St James’s Place Wealth Management  annual conference this year where they delivered sessions on personal brand.

Your brand influences the perception of others and has an impact on the decisions people make about you, which is why you need to be sure how you want to be perceived. 

In order to have a strong personal brand you need to put the focus on the first bit – ‘personal’. This encompasses your values, the behaviours that stem from them and the decisions you make because of them. Those values also influence your perceptions of the world so you need awareness about how they can help and sometimes hinder.

Social intelligence is also another key element of personal brand. Some people are blessed with natural social intelligence. They are the ones at parties who saunter around, catching everyone’s attention, mystifying all with their ability to either hold a conversation or step back, completely absorbed in what someone else is saying. They are both interesting and interested at the same time and can make you feel like you are the only person in the room. All this whilst remaining genuine and maintaining their authenticity.

For others, understandably, this is something that needs work. So, what do we need to consider?

Social intelligence requires:

• An understanding of the unspoken rules and norms.
• Strong emotional intelligence, so we identify and manage our own emotions and tune into how others are feeling.
• Brilliant communication skills, particularly where listening is concerned.

At St James’s Place, Dave and Laura focused on these areas during the sessions through various activities. One saw delegates adopting various status roles in simulated situations that didn’t feel natural to them. In order to use social intelligence with skill, they had to adopt the status that most befitted the situation, whilst being true to themselves.  They learned that authenticity isn’t about staying in our comfort zones, it’s about sticking to our values. Even if that means standing up for ourselves or sometimes stepping back.