Illustra Image Consulting Blog

Brand and Image Expert Sarah Hathorn to Address Association of Image Consultants International During Major NYC Event

On January 29, 2011, I will be the Education Day presenter for the New York Tri-State Chapter of the Association of Image Consultants International (AICI) later this month. I will be delivering a dynamic, interactive program titled “Empower Your Company Brand.”

The program will be presented on January 29th, 2011 from 9:00 am - 5:00 PM at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. AICI members can earn 0.6 CEU’s and special discounts are available to those who register online on or before January 15th at the event website address (aicinytristate.org/events).

Advance Yourself By Advancing Your Leaders

Many leaders want to use their positions as a platform to selfishly showcase their expertise because in today’s world they may be afraid of losing their jobs to downsizing. When people on their team come up with a fabulous concept that gets implemented and is extremely success, the designated leader want to take all the credit. But real leadership – the kind that earns promotions to senior executive positions – requires that you become a platform and springboard for advancing your employee and team members not yourself.

TIP: People love to work for confident leaders who are secure enough in their own abilities to give credit to the people on their teams. When you celebrate your team’s successes and give recognition to tem members your superiors realize you know how to build and manage a talented high performance team. Trust me – all organizations seek that kind of gifted leader.

Getting your people positioned to move up the corporate ladder is crucial today. Are you giving your leaders the boost they need?



Do you want to use this blog article?
You may, as long as you include this complete bio with it:
Sarah Hathorn is a professional image consultant, certified personal brand strategist, speaker, and author. Her company, Illustra Image Consulting, works with high-achieving future leaders and large businesses by enhancing their corporate and personal brand image to take their businesses and careers to the next level.
Blog, Ezine & Website: www.illustraconsulting.com
Copyright © 2011, Sarah Hathorn, AICI CIP, CPBS

Personal Branding Catering to Corporate Executives in 2010

If you happen to be a leader who works within a corporate structure, you also need to know how to successfully enhance the company’s brand values through your overall presence. As a top professional you are held to a higher standard and expected to look, speak and act in a manner that always conveys a positive image of the firm. Your total image and brand package needs to resonate with the organizations mission statement, the firm’s values, and the unique value offering that you want to represent to your clients. You and everyone on your team is an ambassador for the firm, and each of you convey silent but potent messages about the organization that delivers an impact through every interaction you have, both inside and outside of the company.

Not only you, as the top leader and executive head, but also everyone else on your entire team is part of the best marketing tool you have at your disposal when it comes to communicating external clients about your corporate brand. As the old saying goes, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get when you’ve always gotten.” But do something truly innovative by leveraging the power of personal branding and you can make a remarkable strategic change and thrive despite the doom and gloom of the current economy. 

This is an excerpt from my FREE special report entitled, 5 Secret Strategies To Empower Your Professional Presence. If you are a top leader or high achiever working in a corporate environment download your FREE 30-page copy to learn more secrets to a strong leadership presence to take your vision to a reality!

Click here to get your free copy

I’d also love to hear your perspective about the excerpt I’ve shared with you today! Please feel free to submit a blog post.   

Do you want to use this blog article?

You may, as long as you include this complete bio with it:

Sarah Hathorn is a professional image consultant, certified personal brand strategist, speaker, and author. 

Her company, Illustra Image Consulting, works with high-achieving future leaders and large businesses by enhancing their corporate and personal brand image to take their businesses and careers to the next level.

Blog, Ezine & Website: www.illustraimageconsulting.com

Copyright © 2010, Sarah Hathorn, AICI CIP, CPBS

Personal Branding: Raising Your Web Visibility

 As a woman leader, when you belong to a few online social networking sites, participate in the company blog, join Internet groups, or have an article or book published on the web, you are raising your visibility and presence in a time when everyone needs more business.

It communicates to others that you are the celebrity expert in your industry, knowledgeable about technology, and stay on the cutting-edge of business getting ideas. You can utilize the web as your new marketing tool. When people Google you or go to your website, you are visible to thousands of people who years ago would have no idea how to find you if they did need your company’s services. The Internet is the new forum for human resource managers or the executive committee of an organization to search for leaders for specific career promotions.

Google yourself and see how many times your name comes up in the search engines! It may be eye-opening that you aren’t the expert in your industry and you may need to work on your personal brand visibility.

What does your personal branding online presence convey about you as a key leader in this competitive business environment? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Do you want to use this blog article?

You may, as long as you include this complete bio with it:

Sarah Hathorn is a professional image consultant, certified personal brand strategist, speaker, and author. 

Her company, Illustra Image Consulting, works with high-achieving future leaders and large businesses by enhancing their corporate and personal brand image to take their businesses and careers to the next level.

Blog, Ezine & Website: www.illustraimageconsulting.com

Copyright © 2010, Sarah Hathorn, AICI CIP, CPBS

My New Facebook Page

I'm thrilled to announce the completion of my new Facebook Page! Hop on over and take a look. I hope you'll connect with me too, by clicking the "Like" button at the top of the page.

You'll find more tips on leading edge image and brand management that every successful leader needs to know.

How to Express Professional Image Concerns to Your Employees

Lately it seems that almost every day I hear from a human resource professional who is struggling to talk with someone in their organization about their image. Personal image can be a very private, personal, and difficult thing to talk about, after all. Who among us wants to find out that our interpretation of the dress code was wrong or that our image is not a positive reflection of the one the boss envisions? While it can be a delicate matter to have this kind of conversation, I always advise the human resource manager that it is really no different than addressing an employee who comes to work late or whose work is not up to standard. It’s just that many employees who have a strong work ethic, great performance, and an energetic “get it done” attitude have never really learned the how-to’s of creating a top-notch professional image. So that’s when the organization’s human resource team calls to seek my professional advice.

I always make sure that in discussing the individual I find out specifics about how he or she does not best represent the corporate brand in terms of a professional presence. It’s important to understand specifics, not broad generalizations, and I’ve heard them all. Inappropriate dress and grooming essentials, poor table manners, ineffective email communication skills, a lack of rapport, deficient inter-office communications and platform skills, a lack of office etiquette – the list goes on and on.

Typically during the course of the conversation I find out that the employee in question is a highly valued employee and company asset. Of course they are! Otherwise why would a large organization seek out a consultant and coach for professional advice on how to deal with that employee’s personal image?

It’s never easy, of course. I often revert back to the many conversations I had with different levels of employees during my days as a senior executive with Macy’s. After each of those conversations I always felt relieved that the discussion was behind us so that I could begin to see how the employee was going to respond and work to solve the issue at hand. Now that I work as a consultant with organizations I am able to offer tips, advice, and my executive coaching skills –before, during, and after these conversations.

It’s always an eye-opener for the employee to hear this type of constructive feedback. But after our first session they realize how wonderful the organization was that it was willing to seek an image coach to give them the specific skills and tools they needed to enhance their image.  I’ve never yet worked with a company that did not feel that a positive shift or change happened, once the individual understood how their image represented the organization and I had an opportunity to coach them to bring out their ultimate potential.

We have also found that these valued employees remain with the organization for a longer duration of employment and feel very positive about the organization and their workplace experience. They appreciate that their company enlisted an experienced outside consultant to help them polish their professional development skills.