Group: EJWP3
Location: Brussels, Belgium
EJWP3’s Training Week in Brussels began with development sessions on personal-professional branding. EJWP trainer Filip Grisar led participants into methods of strategically establishing their values and objectives, and then communicating in authentic ways to impact for the intended results.
Key considerations for participants in the sessions were:
– What is your story? WHY – WHAT – HOW
– How can you inspire people?
– Why you are doing what you are doing?
The focus was to influence people to be inspired, and to further increase their interest and motivation in the personal brands to be created or more completely developed. “It was quite of an effort for some of us to get to the ‘why’ we do what we do, and to not get lost in the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ in the process,” said Maureen Walschot, EJWP participant from Belgium.
Participants also discussed where charisma influences the impact in personal branding and how it’s a subjective component. For example, they agreed that Angela Merkel and Martin Luther King Jr. were charismatic leaders, and then considered the more challenging question of if Vladimir Putin’s brand is charismatic.
“We are in a world of immediate results, everything goes fast. Taking time to know what drives this, and to reflect, isn’t easy. We worked on how participants can use their strengths and experiences to build a strong personal branding so people can be inspired by their story. It’s important to be aware not only of content, but also on relationships and connections with others. Personal branding is more than having a nice profile to “sell.” It’s also – and mainly – about making a real difference, said trainer Filip Grisar.
The day wrapped up with participants sharing their personal branding stories they created during the day. Some taglines in their presentations included: “No border, all genders” and “Leave no one behind.” “It was not an easy exercise for everybody, but we did learn more about ourselves and about each other. It was interesting to see each of our stories and how we narrated them, even if we knew already some parts,” said Maureen.
