Consistency

What is your favorite brand?  Whether Nike, Apple, Starbucks or another product come to mind, these companies understand that success is achieved through consistency, which drives brand loyalty.

Is your brand consistent Monday to Monday™ or do you keep your listeners guessing on who is going to show up every day? Consistency is a key element of influence. Inconsistency leads to a lack of trust. If people don’t trust you, they won’t act on your recommendations or follow your lead. Good leaders show up and are influential in the moment.Influential leaders show up for every moment. You can’t discount the importance of a 140-character tweet, a quick after-hours text to a client or the description on your profile or corporate website. When your message, actions and presence are consistent, your influence grows. Consistency means that no matter whom you communicate with, what medium you communicate through or when you interact with someone, you are always seen as confident, credible and trustworthy. Someone who follows you on social media has the same experience as they do talking with you one-on-one.

Do you bring your “A game” to all your interactions? If you want to be perceived as an influential leader, you can’t facilitate a meeting with a powerful executive presence and then follow up with an email filled with typos and mistakes (even if you send it via smartphone).

To take your career to the next level, you have to be influential Monday to Monday.™ Imagine the reputation you would create for yourself and the level of influence you would have if you put the same amount of effort, focus and preparation into every interaction. There are very few people who consistently communicate with influence. If you can train yourself to do that, you will set yourself apart from the crowd.