What you’ll hear in this week's episodes are snapshots from the seven most popular interviews that when brought together take you on a journey of purpose, strengths, and how incorporating those into your brand and storytelling efforts reap many rewards. The links for each episode will be included in the show notes.

As I mentioned last week, I spent time looking at the most popular episodes. And what I have found is that my underlying goal is apparent in these interviews. My intention has always been to showcase conversations that either highlight individuals who are living their purpose and how they got there; or those who understand the underlying importance of intentionality with business decisions and how connecting those decisions to the business purpose is critical.

Let's talk about why a brand strategy is important. Having a strategy for your brand saves you from unnecessary work, it helps you make decisions rooted in the purpose of your business, and it offers confidence in the direction your business will go in the future.

Brands are the sum of all experiences with your business. Break that statement down: if brands are the sum of all experiences with your business, then the brand needs to influence all aspects of your business. This means your brand should be a filter you run all business decisions through - whether it is financial, people, operations, or marketing. All decisions need to be checked by brand. Just like finance has a voice, same with human resources, operations, and marketing.

For more information, check out the show notes. 

Find The Pursuit of Purpose on your favorite podcast player: 

• Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle
• Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify
• iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher
• Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

What is a niche? Niche is an important part of your brand and marketing. And how is a niche different than your target audience?  Or is it the same thing? Or part of your target audience?

In this week's episode, I explore the various definitions of niche, how temperament can be a differentiator for our brands, and the benefits of niching down. 

Show notes 

• Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle
• Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify
• iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher
• Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

Simon Sinek's latest book, The Infinite Game, is about understanding the difference between the infinite mindset and the finite mindset. He recently did an interview with Brene Brown on her podcast, Dare to Lead. It is well worth the time to listen - in fact, I've listened to it twice.

In this week's episode, I share my thoughts regarding this conversation as well as how clarity, consistency, and confidence helped me reach an initial step in a long-term goal. 

Show notes

Listen to the Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players: 

• Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle
• Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify
• iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher
• Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

Assessments are all about mapping personal and professional success but when Kristin Sherry wanted more and the answers weren't there - she wrote her own. YouMap®️ reveals the four pillars of career fit: strengths, values, preferred skills and interests.

Kristin Sherry used her strengths to chart a course toward an assessment that not only offered insight into who we are but also give us an action plan on how to use the results.

But this conversation isn't about the assessment or how she did it, it is about WHY Kristin did it.

Show notes

Listen to The Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players: 

• Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle
• Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify
• iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher
• Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

For human resources executive, Kim Hamer supporting your employees with cancer is personal. She has seen firsthand the impact a supportive leader can have on an employee coping either with their own cancer diagnosis or the diagnosis of their loved ones. Kim credits her husband's boss for giving her and her children three more years with Art, her husband, after this first entanglement with cancer. 

This experience led Kim to write her book, start her podcast, and redirect her professional energies toward helping managers and leaders be more supportive of their employees. This topic is close to my heart because I have been there and understand how challenging it can be for an employee who has a loved one with cancer. Knowing how and when to be supportive is not easy. 

Listen to the Pursuit of Purpose on these podcast players: 

Google: http://bit.ly/POPonGoogle Spotify: http://bit.ly/POPonSpotify iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/POPoniHeartRadio Stitcher: http://bit.ly/POPonStitcher Apple: http://bit.ly/POPonApple

Do you consider the learning styles of your target audience? No. Me neither. Until this week. As if there aren't enough things to consider, learning styles are not typical.

Last week I started teaching a course at a local community college and decided to do a learning style assessment to help me get to know the students better. The results were fascinating - and telling. And the more I thought about these learning styles, the more I wondered how we could use these in determining our communication and content development strategies. 

January has been the shortest and the longest month. Christmas seems like yesterday. But the last two weeks have felt like a month or longer.

Why? I started teaching a course at a local community college. Just when the teaching arrangements were finalized, client opportunities started to come again. And like many American's, I decided to focus on my health - so I changed up how I'm eating and participated in the 21-day meditation challenge through Ten Percent Happier. Add to this, life. And I was feeling very overwhelmed by January 30.

In this episode, I share a Brene Brown strategy that helped me overcome or at least manage, the overwhelm. It is the F'ing First Time (FFT). 

Successful brands start with trust. As Scott J. Miller starts building his new brand, independent of the Franklin Covey company, it must start on a foundation of trust. Miller recently moved on to become an entrepreneur, focusing on leadership development, keynote speaking, and continuing on as the host of the On Leadership podcast.

One of Miller's goals with starting his own business is teaching his three young sons how businesses operate and that hard work generates success. During our conversation, we talk about why this lesson is important for his boys to learn, our collective thoughts on rebranding, and most importantly, what makes a brand successful. 

Don't forget about PR - public relations (not press release).

Public relations is a valuable way to increase brand visibility. In a recent episode of Building a Story Brand, Donald Miller included the press release as one of the key pieces of a campaign. While I agree with him, I believe he was thinking too small. He should have said don't forget public relations. A press release is only part of the public relations effort.

My guest this week, Julie Livingston of Want Leverage Communications, shares how public relations can elevate the presence of a brand but it is not enough to just send out a press release. The way we consume media has grown and evolved over the last 20 years, which means public relations needed to evolve as well.