Elevate Your Mindset: Think Like an Industry Thought Leader

After 8 years of running a full-service Personal Branding + Elevation Agency, one thing has become abundantly clear. If your mindset doesn’t match your vision, you will never attract the level of success you intend to.

Mindset is everything. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t synonymous with degrees (MBA, PhD, Esq, etc.), an Ivy league education or a privileged background. I have countless clients that fit into one or all of the previous categories but still didn’t consider themselves worthy of stepping out as a Thought Leader within their industry. With all of the success they have obtained throughout their career, they still doubted themselves and held themselves back from amazing opportunities because they didn’t feel ready, worthy or deserving.

Early last year, I was hired by a VP at a major Financial Institution. He was smart, savvy and extremely well-connected. He had spent the majority of his career working for someone who saw his brilliance and continuously identified opportunities for him to step out onto a bigger platform. It was the recipe for perfect success…until his boss retired.

Once that happened, every ounce of doubt crept in and he wasn’t even sure how to articulate the value he brought to his organization. So it was of no surprise that he soon started to question his job security.

It takes a lot of work to truly be able to look in the mirror and see the following staring back:

Game Changer

Industry Thought Leader

 Success

But the reality is, if that is not what you see when you look at yourself, how can anyone else? If you want to completely elevate your level of industry play it is time to spend just as much time, if not more, working on your “internal branding,” or how you see yourself. You want to work, just like athletes do, to elevate your internal vision.

Get really clear about who you are. What do you? What do you bring to the table? What separates you from your competition? What lessons you have learned from your failures? How much time are you spending on your Personal Elevation™ and Development? How much further along are you this year than last? Would you hire you and why?

Remind yourself who you are and why your industry is better off because you are in it…and then go start your day. Nobody is going to turn toward you and pay attention to what you have to say unless you believe what you have to say is worthy of paying attention to.

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Jennifer Ransaw Smith is a nationally recognized  Personal Elevation™ Architect, Leadership Development Mentor and Personal Brand Strategist. She specializes in igniting the visibility, credibility, and profitability of professional women. If you are interested in joining her tribe of “Undeniably Fierce,” women from across the globe or learning how to Boost Your Status, sign up for her FREE Master Class at www.personalelevation.com