Many professionals struggle to showcase their value, missing opportunities and career growth. Without a clear personal brand, others define your reputation for you.This lack of visibility leads to stalled promotions and overlooked achievements, especially for women.By owning your narrative and amplifying your impact, you can attract the opportunities you deserve.

Dr. Carol Parker Walsh, JD, PhD, is an expert in transformative leadership and human development. She’s an accomplished former attorney, senior leader, professor, and dean who has won multiple awards for her impact on people-centered leadership. As the CEO of Carol Parker Walsh Consulting Group, her firm specializes in elevating and retaining top talent through leadership development, executive coaching, and organizational renewal and partners with organizations to increase engagement and productivity. 

In this episode, Carol shares the importance of actively shaping your personal brand rather than letting others define it. She shares practical steps, like gathering feedback and aligning your brand with your strengths, to ensure it reflects your value; as branding isn’t a one-time effort—it’s an ongoing process that evolves with your career.

What you will learn from this episode:

  • Learn to own your value and discover how to articulate your unique contributions and ensure your accomplishments don’t go unnoticed.
  • Know how to boost your career opportunities and understand how a strong personal brand can open doors, from promotions to leadership roles.
  • Get actionable steps to define, communicate, and elevate your professional reputation.

On brand assessment:

“One of the easiest first steps you can do is, ask three to five people that you respect and value, this question: ‘What three words come to mind when you think of me professionally?”

– Carol Parker Walsh

Valuable Free Resource: 

Topics Covered:

02:17 – How she transitioned from a career as a labor and employment attorney to organizational consulting

03:27 – Describing her ideal client

04:17 – The challenges her clients face that she helps with and how she aids in finding solutions

05:50 – What personal branding is all about 

07:25 – The importance of actively communicating your value and the many ways you can do it

10:25 – Why women must actively showcase their accomplishments

11:47 – One simple tip to assess if your perceived value aligns with how you want to be seen

13:28 – Identifying gaps in your brand perception and crafting a clear narrative around your unique value

15:25 – Explaining how this personal branding assessment can apply to a team context

16:52 – Q: How is my brand articulated and how can I continually make sure that my brand is being developed and presented in a way that is always aligned to where I’m at? A: This is an aspect of reputation management, which is so important because this is not a one or done deal. You don’t position your brand and then put it out there and never touch it again, or never contribute to it. It is a living ongoing process. 

18:20 – Highlighting how a well-defined personal brand serves as a versatile foundation for increasing visibility

Key Takeaways:

“Definitely, communication is a key part of branding. It has to be visible, and the only way to be visible is to communicate it.” – Carol Parker Walsh

“If people are giving you information that’s not aligned with who you think you are and what you think is showing up in the world, then you know you have some work to do. And that information will give you knowledge to know where you need to start building things up, how you need to start articulating things better, and the areas in which you want to put out there.” – Carol Parker Walsh

“If you’ve taken Strengths Finder or Enneagram or any of those type of things, if there are some words in there, phrases that really align to who you are and what you want to present in the world, you can borrow from that information to help articulate the story and articulate your brand.” – Carol Parker Walsh

Ways to Connect with Carol Parker Walsh:

Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown:

 

Full Episode Transcript:

Carol Parker Walsh 00:00

This is not a one or done deal. You don’t position your brand and then put it out there and never touch it again, or never contribute to it. It is a living ongoing process. So once you’re able to articulate it, you constantly want to feed it, you want to update it, you want to make sure it’s aligned.

Sarah E. Brown 00:27

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women where we talk about challenges senior female leaders face in being happy and successful at work. I’m your host, Dr. Sarah E. Brown.

My guest today is Dr. Carol Parker Walsh. She’s an expert in transformative leadership and human development. She’s an accomplished former attorney, senior leader, professor, and dean who has won multiple awards for her impact on people-centered leadership as the CEO of Carol Parker Walsh Consulting Group. Her firm specializes in elevating and retaining top talent through leadership development, executive coaching, and organizational renewal, and partners with organizations to increase engagement and productivity. She’s a TEDx speaker, a sought-after keynote presenter, and she has won numerous awards, a master certified executive coach, an ICF Certified Coach, Dr. Walsh, received her BA in Organizational Communication from Loyola University, her JD from Chicago, Kent College of Law, and PhD from Fielding Graduate University. That’s a lot of degrees.

Carol Parker Walsh 02:02

Thank you very much for having me.

Sarah E. Brown 02:07

Oh, I’m very curious about this. Tell me about your former career before you transitioned into doing this kind of coaching.

Carol Parker Walsh 02:17

Yeah. Well, as I mentioned, I started my career as a labor and employment attorney in Chicago and worked for national labor unions as labor counsel, and then transitioned into doing employment discrimination litigation for organizations. And I did that for 10 years before I realized that it wasn’t, not that I wasn’t well suited for it, but I didn’t want to spend my life in an adversarial fight. And that’s what law is. You’re just constantly embroiled in a fight. And I used to love when I was able to do mediative work or help organizations come with solutions. So I transitioned in going inside of organizations, helping them not be sued, and how they could function better and giving them the benefit of my perspective on maybe how they could position themselves in better ways for their employees. And while transitioning into that work, I decided to go back to school, which is why I got my doctorate in this work, to really understand some of the theoretical underpinnings that would support my ability to do it. And also directed some graduate programs and things of that nature before I launched my own practice 10 years ago.

Sarah E. Brown 03:23

Wow. So what kinds of clients come to you?

Carol Parker Walsh 03:27

Well, we get a lot of organizations that are struggling with engagement and performance and productivity within their groups. Or there’s some conflict issues or communication challenges. I get a lot of senior female leaders who want support in elevating their visibility, their executive presence, their leadership acumen, so they can be better leaders, whether they’re emerging leaders moving up along the ranks, or whether they just position themselves into the C-suite or executive levels and really want to be the best possible leader they can be. So those are the type of clients we get, either from an organizational perspective or an individual who wants that ability to support and elevate their talent and ability.

Sarah E. Brown 04:08

So when a senior woman leader, for example, comes to you, what’s the biggest challenge she’s facing at that point in time?

Carol Parker Walsh 04:17

Well, there could be several, but one of the issues I think we’re going to really talk about is how can she position her unique promise of value to the organization? How can she elevate her presence, be seen, be known, and be seen as a viable contributor to the organization? And usually it stems around wanting to either promote to a higher level or be better at what they do in their roles. So they’re usually, as I said, senior executive or C-suite levels that are trying to really solidify their ability to be successful in that work.

Sarah E. Brown 04:50

And how do they go about doing that when you are working with them? How do you get them to think this through?

Carol Parker Walsh 04:56

Well, it starts a lot with having them understand and really start developing confidence in the ability to articulate their value. I think one of the biggest challenges for female leaders is their inability to own their voice, own their significance, to talk about their expertise and their accomplishments in a way that increases their visibility and their value to an organization. Statistically, women tend to undermine or underplay their expertise and accomplishments, or they wait for other people to acknowledge them or celebrate them. And women have to wait on that. So women have to learn how to, particularly female leaders, how to translate that and articulate that in a way that an organization sees what they’re contributing, the results that they deliver, the outcomes that they bring based on the work that they do.

Sarah E. Brown 05:48

Is this what you call a brand?

Carol Parker Walsh 05:50

This is exactly part of branding, right? And branding fundamentally is about your unique promise of value. I mean, that’s the definition of it. It’s how do you position and showcase your unique promise of value out to the world? And oftentimes people mistake that for thinking, ‘Well, I have a title, or I have a degree, or I have this experience,’ that should…which is a part of your branding. It’s part of those credibility markers. But really it’s about your unique value. And your unique value is translated through how all of the beautiful things that you bring to the table translates into the results and outcomes that you can bring in the work that you do, in the industry that you’re in, in the job that you hold, or the role that you hold or things of that nature. So it’s understanding the larger framework of being able to translate that into a narrative that allows people to really understand why you rise above your competitors, right? Because there’s a lot of people out there that may have the same degree or the same title or same experience or education, but how do you allow yourself to stand out and above your competitors in a way that people want to know more about you? And that’s basically what a brand is about.

Sarah E. Brown 07:01

Okay, I want to talk to you about the what, why’s, and how to’s in a minute. But first, before we do that, I want to know, let’s suppose that I had this narrative about my unique value in the organization. What do I do with it? I mean, do I walk into my boss’s office and say, ‘Let me tell you about my unique value to the organization?’ I mean, how do I use it?

Carol Parker Walsh 07:25

Yeah, there’s a lot of ways to use it. You want to make sure that your digital footprint is representing that. And yes, you do want to periodically go into your boss’s office and let them know, I’ve done some great things. Whether every time you are able to accomplish something or do something, whether it’s inside of the organization, or maybe you’re a part of an outside organization or you’re doing work that can elevate the reputation of the organization because you’re a part of it, you want to send a memo out to your boss to let them know. You want to send the memo out to key players within the organization to say, ‘I’m so excited that I just had the opportunity to do X, Y, Z,’ or, ‘I just want you to celebrate with me that we were able as a team to get this done. And because of the leadership that I was able to bring forth, we were able to accomplish X, Y, Z.’

So definitely, communication is a key part of branding. It has to be visible, and the only way to be visible is to communicate it. But also, one of the things that people under utilize is LinkedIn. I believe that every leader should think of LinkedIn as their personal website. And a lot of times what people do is they have substandard profiles that regurgitate their resume. But if you think about it as your personal website, what would you want people to know that’s compelling enough to make them want to click on there to learn more? And that’s how you want to build your LinkedIn profile. And that’s where you definitely can bring all those credibility markers, those accomplishments, those successes by posting them, by sharing them, by celebrating them with the community to raise your visibility so people can see what you can do, what you can contribute in the organization and within the industry itself.

Sarah E. Brown 09:03

Okay. I was going to ask you about LinkedIn because I was just thinking, boy, that would be the perfect place to continue to build the brand. So let me see if I got this right. So what it is, is being very clear and having a narrative around your unique contribution, your unique value to the organization or whoever you’re serving. Yes?

Carol Parker Walsh 09:25

Absolutely.

Advertisement 09:31

Hi, this is Sarah Brown again, the host of the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women. I hope you are enjoying this episode and gaining some tips and inspiration on how you can be happier, more successful, and experience less stress at work. If you would like to learn more about how you can take control of your career and do it your way, visit sarahebrown.com. There you will be able to download a free chapter from my book, ‘Let Your Personality Be Your Career Guide.’ It contains information and exercises on how you can identify your unique interests, strengths, and needs, and translate that into career goals that are just right for you. Now, back to this informative episode.

Sarah E. Brown 10:25

Okay. And it’s important because nobody is going to toot our whistle as much as we do.

Carol Parker Walsh 10:34

Absolutely, particularly women. Women are known statistically for not doing that. We undervalue ourselves, whether it’s in a salary negotiation or whether it’s presenting our accomplishments or owning our voice and significance, or taking credit for the work that we’ve accomplished with. We statistically don’t do it. And that makes us miss out on opportunities. And that’s why for women, I particularly am more emboldened about this work with them because of that statistic that keeps us from doing it. So 100%. Yeah.

Sarah E. Brown 11:03

Okay. So the ‘why’ is really about being able to take advantage of opportunities, but it’s also about getting credibility for an opinion or an idea that we’ve got.

Carol Parker Walsh 11:16

Absolutely. And it creates opportunities. So you’ll get tapped on the shoulder for things because people can see, ‘Oh, you’re good at this, or you’ve accomplished that, or you have experience in this.’ People don’t know that unless you tell them that we are in a very highly competitive landscape. There is so much information coming at people nonstop day in and out. There’s so much information, there’s so many things. So we have to find a way to stand above the fray, and this is the way to do it.

Sarah E. Brown 11:44

Okay. So how do you go about doing it?

Carol Parker Walsh 11:47

Well, I will tell you one simple thing to do as a starting place. If you have not done your brand, I always tell people, you have a brand, it’s just whether or not you’ve articulated it yourself or not. Has it been curated by you? Or just people are making assumptions about you. So one of the easiest first steps you can do is, ask three to five people that you respect and value, this question, ‘What three words come to mind when you think of me professionally?’ If you start there, because the first step is assessing where your brand is positioned. So asking other people their perceptions of you and the world will give you great insight for them to know, are you demonstrating that unique promise of value? Are you showcasing those accomplishments? If people are giving you information that’s not aligned with who you think you are and what you think is showing up in the world, then you know you have some work to do. So that’s one quick, simple step that you can start with in order to assess your brand. And that information will give you knowledge to know where you need to start building things up, how you need to start articulating things better, and the areas in which you want to put out there.

Sarah E. Brown 12:52

Okay. So one of the questions I ask my clients is, go ask three people, ‘When I was at my best, what was I doing?’ So it’s a similar kind of question, but I like the idea of capsulizing that into three words.

Carol Parker Walsh 13:07

Yes. Because you want to think about your brand in those terms. Like, if you had to articulate what your brand is in the world, what would be the three or five things you would say they are? And if they don’t match what people are giving back to you, then you know you’re not aligned in your brand and you need to do some work around that.

Sarah E. Brown 13:24

And what do you do if you’re not aligned? That was going to be my next question.

Carol Parker Walsh 13:28

Yeah, well, once you get that data, that information from other people, go through, and actually I have an assessment that you can like kind of go through and ask yourself some questions to really articulate where are the areas that there are holes in that, then you want to begin to think about what is the unique brand of value that I bring to the table? Look at all your education and experience, look at all your background, look at all the things that you’ve accomplished, and be able to inform that into a story or a narrative that speaks to, ‘I’m a person who is able to impact organizations through X, Y, Z, and because of my unique background and experience, I’m able to deliver results in this way, in a way that no one else can.’ So then you want to start articulating that, and you want to think about how I can surmise that into maybe three or four key attributes that would speak to what I do? And you can also use, let me just say this too. You can also use, if you’ve taken assessments, if you’ve taken Strengths Finder or Enneagram or any of those type of things, if there’s some words in there, phrases that really align to who you are and what you want to present in the world, you can borrow from that information to help articulate the story and articulate your brand.

And then once you get clear on the three or four ways that I really make an impact, the three or four ways my unique value is demonstrated, maybe through integrity or problem solving, or being able to be a risk taker or whatever the case is, then you want to make sure that those attributes are things that you’re always talking about. That the reason I was able to make this happen is because I have this combination of this unique ability to see things in a way that allows me to get things accomplished. And you want to talk about that over and over and over again, particularly, like, on LinkedIn or sharing it with other people, as I said, within the organization so that they understand that.

Sarah E. Brown 15:25

So it would appear to me that this is great advice for individuals, but could you do this in a team context as well?

Carol Parker Walsh 15:35

Absolutely. And I do this work a lot with teams, small groups, departments, and small nonprofits. We do a lot of helping them identify their brand, who they are and what they deliver uniquely to the organization or to their constituencies, to their stakeholders, to their customers, so that people can see the value that they bring and want more of that. They understand that what they’re doing isn’t just run of the mill work, but it’s something that’s elevated to a higher level. The beautiful thing about doing that when you do team branding is that the individuals on the team feel more valued with the work that they’re doing. They feel more aligned to the organizational mission, and they’re more engaged and excited about what they contribute because they know they’re part of something greater than just showing up to work and punching a clock. So team branding could be a very valuable process that you go through to really align and elevate engagement or productivity within your team.

Sarah E. Brown 16:33

That makes sense. So if I am a female leader listening to this, and I really want to understand the essence of branding, what question am I saying? Sarah, why don’t you ask this question? What’s the question that I’ve forgotten to ask you about the essence of that?

Carol Parker Walsh 16:52

Yeah, that’s really a great question. I think a key question to ask is, how is my brand articulated and how can I continually make sure that my brand is being developed and presented in a way that is always aligned to where I’m at? And this is an aspect of reputation management, which is so important because this is not a one or done deal. You don’t position your brand and then put it out there and never touch it again, or never contribute to it. It is a living ongoing process. So once you’re able to articulate it, you constantly want to feed it, you want to update it, you want to make sure it’s aligned. So say, for example, you decide to shift careers or make a transition, or you want to move into something slightly different, you need to then think about how does everything you bring to the table give you that unique promise of value into that new role, that new industry, that new field that you’re going to. So it’s an ongoing process. You always want to be elevating it, you want to stay relevant, you want to stay current. So it’s not a one or done proposition. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I want to communicate is that it’s an ongoing process, but once you get the groundwork laid, it becomes so much easier as you move forward.

Sarah E. Brown 18:13

I would think that once you’ve got the groundwork laid, you can use it on multiple different scenarios as well.

Carol Parker Walsh 18:20

Oh, absolutely. It’ll help you in interviewing, it’ll help you if you’re giving a presentation and you want to talk a little bit about your story when you’re giving a keynote or something of that nature, or, it really helps. The other key thing about your brand is that what’s also contributing to that is how you do what you do that makes it successful. So it gives you a framework that speaks about the way you do your work that you can share with other people, or teach other people, or give enlightenment to other people around that you can publish around it. There’s so many things you can do when you articulate the foundation of your brand, that can really help elevate your thought leadership and visibility in the world.

Sarah E. Brown 18:56

Very, very interesting. So Carol, where can my listeners find out more about this and reach out to you?

Carol Parker Walsh 19:04

Absolutely. Well, I have an article on Newsweek, actually about five ways midlife career professionals could elevate their brand. I have articles on my website, but particularly I have a guide which includes this assessment called Building a Compelling Brand. And if you go to www.carolparkerwalsh.com/store, go all the way to the bottom where the free resources are, you can get access to that free guide, Building a Compelling Personal Brand, and I walk you through all of the particulars in quite a bit of detail to help you figure out what it takes to build a compelling brand.

Sarah E. Brown 19:39

Very cool. And that’s all for free.

Carol Parker Walsh 19:43

That’s all for free. Yes.

Sarah E. Brown 19:45

Great. Carol, thank you so much for being with us today.

Carol Parker Walsh 19:49

Thank you for having me. This has been a fun conversation.

Sarah E. Brown 19:53

Thanks for listening to the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women. If you like what you are hearing, please go to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave a review. And if you would like more information on how we can help women in your organization to thrive, then go to www.sarahebrown.com. You can sign up for our newsletter, read show notes, and learn more about our podcast guests, read my blog, browse through the books, or contact us for a chat. Goodbye for now.

Sarah E. Brown
Sarah E. Brown