Welcome to my 2nd newsletter. Thank you to my early supporters 🎉

Rihanna was paid $0.00 for her Superbowl performance.

Why? Because she understands the power of branding. Her Fenty makeup mid-set moment was so iconic that it generated $5.6 million USD in brand value in the first 12 hours.

Surprisingly, many aspiring and current Chiefs of Staff don't fully understand branding. Some aren’t clear on how it can help them land a Chief of Staff job, become a better leader on the job, and secure an attractive exit opportunity.

The common mistake for many is they don't have a distinct brand or any brand at all. Let’s dive into the nitty gritty around branding.

✅ Branding can help you land a Chief of Staff job

Whether you are an aspiring Chief of Staff or a current Chief of Staff looking for your next gig, branding can help you cut through the noise of candidates and rise to the top.

It might come as a surprise to some, but I encourage you to take inspiration from high school college essays. Picture the college admissions officer, reading 100s of essays about the same boring topics.

Let me ask you a question: How do you get into a top 20 school?”

Answer: A unique tagline and a different story than everyone else is telling. Spolier alert, you can’t just rely on building houses in Mexico during the summer or doing part-time research work at your local college like everyone else.

You have to bring your profile to life with a compelling and surprising narrative.

Are you the student so inspired by hedgehogs that you set up a conservation fund for prickly animals?

Are you the high schooler that got in touch with her Spanish roots, learned Flamenco dance and made a YouTube channel featuring pop-flamenco choreography?

Are you the teenager who created special relationships with elderly folks and started a old people holiday card-making drive for your local nursing home?

So I encourage you to dig deep and think about what special skills you bring to the table as a Chief of Staff.

What unique domain expertise you possess? What professional experiences make you stand out? What unsuspected circumstances surround your life story?

You could be a military cadet who has transitioned to the business world with a love for structure and execution to grow Fortune 1000 companies.

You could be a first generation immigrant from an uncommon country turned business analyst who thrives on scrappiness to build Series A/B startups.

You could be a climatetech domain expert with special passion for non-profit and for-profit environmental issues who wants to leverage their strategy and operations experience to make a change at private foundations.

Use this exercise to craft your tagline and splash it all over your candidate materials - your LinkedIn, your resume, your cover letter, and your outreach messages. Go to market with this new branding, test it out and see what the market responds with (i.e. are you getting interviews and offers?).

PS LinkedIn is a free branding and sales page. Use it wisely. Update your profile photo, cover photo, about me, work experience and featured section to align with your brand.

Now, once you’ve got the job, what’s next?

✅ Branding can help you on the job

Your executive presence and how you show up every day will constitute your personal brand at work.

Every stakeholder impression of your Chief of Staff services will affect your brand. So stay conscious about how you fit in with your company’s culture.

Are you more structured while others are more free flowing? Are you more conservative in your attire while others wear t-shirts and flip flops?

Think: What are the keywords that you want associated with you as an executive business partner? Trustworthy, dependable, execution oriented, strategic, creative…?

Finally, who are your leadership role models? What's your leadership style? What's your brand of leadership?

And don’t forget, it’s never to late to evolve your identity. Who do you want to become? and why?

Once you answer these questions, you can create your own development path to becoming the leader you've always wanted to be.

Remember, with every internal and external stakeholder interaction, you can assess whether or not your brand has strengthened or weakened.

With stakeholders whom you would like to maintain an exceptionally strong relationship, pay special attention to your interactions with them. If there is an issue that comes up, proactively protect your reputation and address the problem so that your brand doesn’t suffer. Studies show that the optimal ratio is 5 positive interactions : 1 negative interaction to maintain healthy relationships.

Complete this thought exercise and get started in building your brand at work.

PS I encourage you to start posting on LinkedIn weekly to build your reputation online. Hint: your content pillars are related to Chief of Staff and your newfound brand identity.

All of this branding work has a point too… which brings me to:

✅ Branding can help you land an amazing exit opportunity

In my last newsletter, I talked about the 7 Exit Opportunities for the Senior Chief of Staff, including taking on a director role, founding a company, consulting, VC, PE, another Chief of Staff job and no exit.

Now that you’ve created a unique brand identity as a Chief of Staff, it’s time to leverage all of the brand equity and relationships that you have developed over your tenure as a Chief of Staff.

Use these to uncover and explore new opportunities. Some of the best jobs are hidden in personal networks, so go back to all of the external relationships that you have developed. Discretely mention to them that you are thinking of moving on and if they have any opportunities that have come across their desk that would fit your profile.

Use your own brand definition to qualify whether these opportunities are a good fit. Hold up a potential job prospect and compare it to who you are. Ask yourself, does this further my brand equity? Would it increase my star in the professional world?

Here’s the bottom line. Invest in yourself and strengthen your branding. If you follow these steps, you will secure a Chief of Staff job, develop into a rockstar Chief of Staff on the job, and have your pick of opportunities to choose from when you exit the job.

Take some time this week to think about your brand. Get clear on who you are. And then begin your transformation. Onwards!

Interested in branding yourself as an A-Player Chief of Staff job seeker?

Are you an aspiring Chief of Staff? I’m teaching a live, 1-week Chief of Staff Job Seekers Bootcamp to help folks stand out from the crowd of applicants and become an A+ Chief of Staff candidate.

Branding is a key component of this course. Join your classmates to define your target Chief of Staff job, leverage your unique storyline, and create a vivid picture of yourself as a top candidate.

Along the way you will get actionable tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile and resume as well as a clear strategy for outreach.

This cohort-driven course will give you a chance to connect with peers and you'll get live feedback from me.

Use the coupon code NEWSLETTER during checkout to get 20% off the enrollment fee. And feel free to send this newsletter to someone who is job searching right now.

Class starts next Monday evening. Scholarships are available for those with financial need, are between jobs, or are in graduate school. DM me for more details.

Want to strengthen your Chief of Staff brand at work?

At Cedar, we are building a small team of executive coaches who help Chiefs of Staff become a high performance leader. We coach folks on topics like upleveling your skills, creating trust with your boss, deciding on exit opportunities. And of course, branding yourself as an elite Chief of Staff.

👉🏼 Reply to this email if you’re interested in learning more about our 1:1 Leadership Coaching for current Chiefs of Staff.

Building Out My Chief of Staff Job Board

At Cedar, we are constantly talking with CEOs, CXOs, founders and top executives about their Chief of Staff needs. Please stay tuned to this newsletter for a dedicated job board that shows open listings for Chief of Staff and senior operations roles.

👉🏼 Reply to this email if you are a founder/recruiter looking to advertise your Chief of Staff job post to my newsletter audience.

Help Us Grow

Our mission is to impact 100,000 top executives and Chiefs of Staff. If this newsletter would help someone in your network understand the power of branding and how it can help them get a Chief of Staff job, develop into a better leader at work, or land an amazing Chief of Staff exit opportunity, please forward it to them.

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Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for next week’s edition.