This was the questioned posed to me during a recent, 'Women in Leadership' forum.

Let me explain.

As I was presenting on the role our personal brand plays in putting forward an aligned image of who we are and what we do, one woman wanted to know what the best approach was to craft a personal brand.

She specifically wanted to know whether she should make over her outside image to trigger the internal shift or whether she should get clarity from within which would fuel the outside transformation.

On the surface, the answer seems obvious, inside out approach, right?

Over the last ten years, I've served over 3000 professional women from all industries and across the country and beyond. I've had the time and experience now to observe interesting patterns around the question above. Let's delve deeper and explore both approaches to crafting an authentically aligned personal brand.

The Inside Out Approach

For the majority of my clients, they have taken the inside-out approach.

They have recognised that in order to have the authentic long term impact they desire they need to take five steps backwards before they can leap forward.

When I have spent time uncovering my client's values, strengths, super powers, and aspirations, together we have been able to build her an authentically aligned personal brand that has longevity and consistency.

As humans we are multidimensional and in order for me to truly create a brand for a client, it means I need to get inside their head, peel away the layers and really uncover her essence.

Whilst it may be considered time-consuming, this element of your personal growth is not one you can rush. It's a journey of self-reflection, self-acceptance, and honesty.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Aristotle

Do you ever feel like somewhere along your corporate career you've disconnected with the real you?

This was me in 2004. At the time, I was working at Roche, travelling the globe and working on cutting-edge cancer therapies. Whilst I loved what I did, I had this deep desire to want to "SERVE" in a bigger way. Wanting to be of service, sounded weak and vulnerable and I was too afraid of what others might think. So I pressed on and continued to ignore the whispers.

After a significant turning point at work, I realised that I needed to listen to the whispers. For the past ten years, I've been privileged to have served over 3000 professional women and c-suite executives and have helped them create a personal brand that overcomes bias and allows them to lead with confidence.

During this time, it became apparent to me that many of them had become disconnected. They no longer knew who they were. They were dressing like men, sounding like men and acting like men. Yet, I would catch glimpses of their deep feminine energy during our many conversations.

When I'm working with professional women including c-suite executives, creating their personal brand always starts with an in-depth discussion around their values, what they want from their careers and wardrobe and why often they feel disconnected with who they are, what they do and how they do it.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, former Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer and Vogue editor Anna Wintour have adopted their own “leadership look” based on wearing vibrant shift dresses and heels. While these women’s styles vary, the focus is the same, their clothes fit perfectly, they wear high-quality fabrics, and pay simple attention to accessories and grooming.

When I take my clients through a yin/yang exercise, I discover that many of them have hidden yin leadership qualities that are buried away and are only ever seen at home. Many professional women reject the feminine parts of themselves for fear of not being taken seriously.

Have women been conditioned to be more masculine in a corporate world? I think so! In the past, for women to wield power in what was historically a man’s world, she had to pretty much dress like a man. This is no longer the case and we’re free to present a new image of what leadership looks like.

If I were to ask you, "What qualities do leaders possess". It's highly likely the Masculine / Yang qualities will surface first.

The good news is that the world is changing. We are starting to embrace feminine energy. In the "Athena Doctrine", the author’s proprietary survey of 64,000 people around the world shows, traditionally feminine leadership and values are now more popular than the macho paradigm of the past.

The most innovative among us are breaking away from traditional structures to be more flexible, collaborative and nurturing. All over the world, people are deploying feminine thinking and values to make their lives, and the world, better.

So when it comes to your personal brand, how do you strike the balance between feminine and masculine energy?

Let's look at Oprah as an example.

Oprah naturally exhibits more yang physical characteristics due to her build and dark features. However, when she wears her hair curly, she instantly looks softer (more yin). When she wears her hair straight paired with dark solid frames, she instantly looks more yang as seen below. You'll notice in the top left image, the curved frames of her glasses, although dark, help her look more yin than yang.

Women love to talk things out, right!

I always feel better when I speak with my girlfriends about an issue or situation. 

They help put things into perspective and the issue no longer seems as bad as what I thought it was.

For me hosting live events,  is like coming together with my girlfriends.  

We talk about our style dilemma's, getting to the c-suite seat, how to be heard and seen walking the corporate corridors, our wardrobe woe's and our shopping catastrophes.

More often than not, most women in the room have either experienced the same issue or at the very least empathise with the situation.

It just shows me that we are all in this together. 

I've often asked myself, "Why do I love hosting live events"? Why am I so drawn to them? 

For me, there is nothing that beats the open honest communication and connection that all women make in the room. 

Here are some images taken from my very first workshops in 2008/2009 at Bondi Westfield, Sydney.

I've been running live events for nine years and our workshops are sacred places where we get to talk freely about our challenges and know that we won't be judged. 

We're not perfect and we all have areas of our lives we want to change or improve. Life, after all, is a journey of personal growth, learning, and reflection.

Being able to create a safe place where we can talk freely is so important and that's what we've created at, "The Art Of Self Packaging For Success" workshop

As professional women, dressing to reflect your position, values and personal brand is no longer an option. 

In this world of choice and change, you need to be the agile leader of your life. 

I want you to think of your personal brand as your ASSET. 

Come and join me and twenty other women on July 22nd for the #1 Style + Branding event for professional women.

Hope to see you there. Click here to register.

Styling Your Success

Janette x