Lida Citroen works with international leaders on dynamic personal branding and reputation management strategies to make them more intentional, focused and relevant. Her latest book is Control the Narrative – ​​Building, Pivoting and Repairing Your Reputation. Listen in as Lida talks about how to recover from a public reputation blunder, how to remain authentic while curating a specific message, and the power of personal brand.

Key Takeaways

[3:55] Everyone has a brand or a reputation; whether it’s intentional or not, that’s another story. Everyone needs to be thinking about this, no matter where they are in their career. 

[5:45] A good measurement for reputation and brand success is knowing you’re consistently attracting the right kind of opportunities.

[12:40] It’s important to discard what’s no longer serving you as you adapt to a new culture.

[13:15] Personal branding is all about you and it’s centered around you, but context and the situation matters. You can have a refined message and still be authentic to you.

[16:55] Where people fall short in their personal brand is that they’re trying to appeal to everybody. This is the wrong message you’re putting out.

[18:25] Lida shares a story where a client of hers needed a reputation repair when they hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Sometimes you can have your reputation tarnished just by who you are associated with.

[21:50] What might be an innocent share of a meme can turn into a big explosion on social media. There are a lot of little landmines you have to navigate through today.

[23:10] It’s natural to disable all social media when the world is attacking you, but that means only the negative narrative is getting spread around.

[27:30] Unfortunately, so many people just react to social media instead of creating meaningful intention around it.

[28:50] The biggest contributor to a tarnished reputation is that people have forgotten about the importance of boundaries and privacy. You can be authentic without having it all “hang out.” Sometimes, it’s best not to share that political/religious/etc. message publicly, especially if it’s not in line with your brand and the work that you do.

[34:10] Listener challenge: Start paying attention to other people’s perceptions about you.

---

The Leadership Podcast is sponsored by W.S. Darley & Company.  

Founded in 1908, Darley remains a family owned and operated business, providing the highest quality equipment solutions to our country’s warfighters and firefighters.  

Learn more at darley.com and darleydefense.com

Quotable Quotes

Resources Mentioned

• Sponsored by: Darley.com.
• Connect with Lida: Lida360.com, and @Lida360 on Twitter
• Buy Lida’s books: Lida360.com/store