Welcome to Women's Leadership Success, episode #142 on transforming your executive presence and advancing your career through leadership brand building. In this special podcast, executive leadership coach Sabrina Braham reveals the key strategies from her new Leadership Brand Blueprint Accelerator (see below) that help women leaders unlock their next-level career potential.
Why Your Leadership Brand Matters More Than Your Technical Skills
For ambitious women in management, director, VP, C-Suite, or founder roles, there's a critical gap that often prevents career advancement despite stellar qualifications. According to recent McKinsey research, while women have made significant progress in leadership representation, they still face unique barriers to advancement – with one key factor being the development of a strong leadership brand.
"People can be very, very talented in their jobs, but they get so busy that they forget to pay attention to the things that will actually help their brand, help them deepen relationships, and help them be seen as a leader in their company," explains Sabrina Braham, who has spent 30 years coaching executives in Fortune 50 and Fortune 1000 companies.
This leadership blind spot explains why technically brilliant women often get passed over for promotions.
The critical differentiator isn't your expertise – it's how others perceive your leadership presence.
The Surprising Career Impact of Commitment Tracking
The first cornerstone of an influential leadership brand is commitment accountability – a simple practice that transforms how others perceive your reliability and trustworthiness.
Why Senior Executives Track Their Commitments
In Sabrina's extensive coaching experience with C-suite leaders, she's observed a fascinating pattern:
"When I'm coaching a senior Vice President, CEO, CFO, or COO, they're much more likely to be on time, show up, and do the things they said they would do than people at the lower ranks."
This insight reveals a critical truth: Tracking and honoring commitments isn't just good practice – it's a distinguishing characteristic of those who reach the highest leadership levels.
Real-World Results: How Commitment Tracking Transformed Kathleen's Career
Consider the case of Kathleen, a talented leader at a Fortune 50 company who had been there since its founding yet hadn't been promoted to Vice President despite her capabilities.
"She was so intent on the goals she had, she forgot to pay attention to the people and what she needed to do for them," Sabrina explains. "As she began to pay attention to what her commitments were, how she was keeping them, and her relationships with other people, she began to improve. Over time, that led to her becoming a Vice President."
Why Your Brain Needs a Commitment System
When you implement a commitment tracking system, you activate what neuroscientists call the reticular activating system – the part of your brain that filters information based on what you consciously value.
"When you start paying attention to the commitments you want to keep, it starts making you more aware of how you can improve, how you can update people, and let them know what's happening. It basically ups your game," Sabrina explains.
The 1-10 Scale That Transforms Leadership Effectiveness
A key component of Sabrina's Leadership Brand Blueprint is the 1-10 rating scale – a deceptively simple tool that creates remarkable clarity for leadership development.
Why the Scale Works When Other Feedback Fails
"What we tend to do in meetings and giving feedback is somewhat nebulous," Sabrina notes. "When you use a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the worst job you could be doing and 10 being the most incredible job ever, people are pretty consistent over time with their scores."
This consistency means you can accurately track progress while avoiding vague assessments that don't lead to improvement.
The 0.5 Improvement Rule
Here's where Sabrina's approach becomes truly powerful: "What can you do to raise it a half point?"
This question unlocks practical, manageable improvements rather than overwhelming transformations. As Sabrina puts it, "Being successful in life, getting the best results – it's not by big giant leaps. It's by these little tiny movements toward your goal."
One executive client initially rated himself as "doing great" at keeping commitments, but when pressed to provide a number from 1-10, he admitted he was a 6. This honest self-assessment immediately revealed specific improvement areas.
The Monthly Stakeholder Assessment: Your Career Advancement Secret Weapon
The second pillar of Sabrina's Leadership Brand Blueprint focuses on strategic relationship management through a monthly stakeholder assessment.
Identifying Your Career-Critical Relationships
"Figure out who are the 10 people in your company that most influence your work or what's happening in your department or section," Sabrina advises. "Then, how good of a relationship do you have with each one of th