Your Leadership Brand: Infomercial or Intentional? Part 1

If your leadership were an advertisement, what would the people you lead think and say about it? Would they describe you as trustworthy, caring, consistent, accountable, and committed to helping people succeed? Or would your leadership look more like one of those late-night infomercials advertising a product that promises to do everything perfectly for just $9.99? I think you know what I’m getting at with that second statement, but just in case you don’t, let me explain.

We’ve all seen those commercials where a product sounds almost too good to be true. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been sucked in by a few of those claims myself, hoping the product would perform exactly as advertised.

Sometimes it does, and sometimes it ends up sitting somewhere in the house collecting dust because what was promised and what was delivered were two very different things. So, what does this have to do with leadership? Everything! 

Leaders have brands too. Whether we think intentionally about our leadership brand or not, people are already forming opinions based on what they experience from us. And those opinions are rarely formed by one big moment. More often, they are shaped through the small, repeated interactions that tell people what they can expect from us. That is why it is worth asking:

• How do you communicate when things are difficult? 

• Do you follow through on what you say?

• Can people disagree with you?

• What happens when someone makes a mistake?

• Do you give feedback only when something goes wrong, or are you  actively helping people grow?

• Are the expectations you place on others the same expectations you hold for yourself?

The answers to those questions become part of your leadership brand.

And that is where the difference between an infomercial mindset and an intentional mindset begins to matter. What we say about our leadership may create an initial impression, but what people consistently experience determines whether that impression holds up.

The Infomercial Mindset

Think about how many of us approach an interview for a leadership position.

During that conversation, we are essentially presenting an infomercial.

We talk about our leadership experience, our ability to develop people, how we build strong teams, manage conflict, communicate effectively, achieve results, and navigate change.

We are selling our experience and expertise for the purpose of getting the buyer (the hiring manager, executive team, or organization) to say yes. And there is nothing inherently wrong with that. We should be able to articulate the value we bring. But once the organization says yes, another question becomes much more important:

Will people actually experience the leadership you advertised?

Years ago, when I was in leadership at a former company, I was responsible for interviewing people for open positions within our department. Our leadership team eventually began noticing a troubling pattern with some of the people we hired.

These individuals were incredibly persuasive during the interview. Then they came to work. I used to joke that we interviewed one person, but their stunt double showed up for the job.

The difference between what had been presented during the interview and what people experienced afterward was significant enough that our leadership team had to reconsider how we approached hiring. It became a tremendous learning experience for us.

That experience taught us something larger than how to interview more effectively. It reminded us that people can make persuasive claims about who they are and what they will deliver, but credibility is built only when those claims are supported by consistent behavior. Leadership works the same way.

People eventually discover whether the advertisement matches the product.

A leader may say, “My door is always open,” but employees learn whether it really is.

A leader may say, “I want honest feedback,” but people notice what happens when someone actually disagrees.

A leader may describe themselves as people-centered, but employees experience whether performance pressure causes that commitment to disappear.

This is where intention and impact begin to separate. A leader may genuinely mean everything they say, but leadership brand is shaped by whether those intentions are consistently translated into behaviors other people can see and experience. That is where leadership brand moves beyond what we say about ourselves.

The Intentional Mindset

Leadership brand is not about creating an image that looks impressive from the outside only. It is about becoming intentional about the experience your leadership creates for other people.

That requires alignment between what you value, what you say, and what you consistently do.

Your intentions matter, but intentions alone do not define your leadership brand. 

• Your behaviors do

• Your decisions do

• Your communication does

• Your follow-through does

And ultimately, the experiences other people have with you become the evidence they use to decide what kind of leader you are. That is why building a leadership brand requires an intentional mindset. It means asking yourself:

What do I want people to think, feel, and say about my leadership after they have experienced it?

And then comes the harder question:

Do my everyday behaviors actually give them a reason to say those things?

That is where the work begins.

In Part 2, we’ll look more closely at how leadership brands are built, not through slogans or leadership statements, but through the everyday moments people experience with us.

Want to receive the next insight before it is shared on social media?

Subscribe to the PROGENY1 newsletter and be among the first to receive Part 3 of Your Leadership Brand: Infomercial or Intentional?