Activating the future by building ‘Brand Me’
Fri 07 May 2010
, Ann de Jaeger, Executive Learning Partnership
The output generated at the LEAP leadership event in March shows that we need a distinctively different next generation business model if women are to lead the way. ELP’s Brand Me programme allows women to take these insights to the next level.
The power of difference. Collaboration. Elected (not appointed) leaders. Transparency. Entrepreneurship and innovation through trust. Daring to let go. These are examples of the output generated at the LEAP leadership event on March 4. At a personal level, the women who attended that event seemed to be urging each other to have the courage to push for these fundamental shifts. To create the change they envisioned they realised they would need to be clear on their purpose, move out of their comfort zone, and make an active commitment to doing what they believe in – all the while having a lot of fun and staying true to themselves.
What women need
I was struck by the outcomes of the LEAP leadership event, having conducted numerous interviews on the question: What do women need in order to move up in the corporate ranks without losing their authenticity?
Unrecognised
This question was born out of our experience at Executive Learning Partnership (ELP) in running hundreds of executive development workshops. Through our work with a lot of men and fewer women, we came across example after example where female talent remained largely unrecognised, unrewarded and undervalued. Through this, we realised that women would benefit from a programme tailored to meet the specific development needs and issues facing the next generation of female leaders.
‘Ideal leadership’
As an internal development project, we began to design “the ideal leadership programme” for women ready to take the next step on their leadership journey. The underlying idea was to help women do this successfully and remain their authentic selves, rather than the “warped” personalities we often encountered in the top layers.
Experts in the field
Through an extensive literature review we distilled some 20 hypotheses and tested those with 30 senior women as well as experts in the field like Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, author of Why Women Mean Business. Using their inputs, we designed the programme and then tested it with more than 20 senior women as well as a number of men representing a range of industries in the profit, governmental and not-for-profit sectors.
Multiple levels
The result is Brand Me; a two-and-a-half day integrated programme that works on multiple levels including the rational (head), the emotions (heart), and action (hands). During the programme, participants develop their own personal brand and work on their vision and leadership repertoire, enabling them to be more powerful as they move (up) through the company or set up their own companies. This integrated approach is what distinguishes Brand Me from other programmes aimed at female audiences.
Equilibrium
Our aim is to help truly authentic women make it to the top of organisations in order to restore the natural equilibrium between feminine and masculine energy in the corporate world. In this way we believe we can contribute to building the kind of organisations and world envisioned by LEAP.
To find out more about Brand Me, please visit: www.brandme.org or contact me directly via ann.dejaeger@elpnetwork.com or
T. +32 (16) 24.19.13.
The next Brand Me program will take place on June 15-17th, 2010
near London.
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