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Building your bakery brand

Inspirational leaders have commandments they work and live by. Commandments, or guidelines, lay the critical foundation for the development of leadership and business solutions.

1. Be Truthful:
Any leader aspiring to greatness must do two things all the time: Listen and tell the truth. Inspirational leaders own up to their mistakes and correct them as soon as possible. Do not blame others for your for your error. When someone comes up with a brilliant idea, give credit where credit is due. Do not take credit for the idea. You will be respected by your team.

2. Be consistent:
Leaders are always performing like an actor on a stage. you must consistently and authenticaly act out your part in front of your audiences. You must lead with high energy, all day, every day. You must protect your personal brand.  

3. Be empathetic:
To start using empathy more effectively, try to see things from the other person’s point of view. Validate the other’s perspective and examine your own attitude. You might be concerned with being right rather than finding a solution. Listen with your heart to learn the other’s feelings.

4. Be generous:
Every relationship needs to be a two-way street. However, before a relationship can be formed, you need to give with zero expectation of receiving anything in return.

5. Be strong:
Inspirational leaders bring a light to someone’s life. Become the message of hope and encouragement to your staff. Encouragement comes from focusing on the strength of another person to drive their motivation and perform better.

6. Be Articulate:
Effective leaders put words together based on the needs of others. Good leaders are able to articulate and clarify what many of us have been thinking. Inspirational leaders seek and inspire excellence, not perfectionism.

7. Be approachable:
Are you accessible? Do you have sociable body language? How you appear to others is key to being an inspirational leader. Some people have a fear of authority, but it’s your responsibility to remove barriers and establish a trusting environment.

8. Be a brand champion:
Passion creates a very attractive personal style of interaction, and inspires your team to become involved. They become a brand champion.

9. Be a genuine spirit
Talk to people: Listen to what they have to say, and what theyactually mean. Sometimes those two can be completely different. There is a beautiful story in everyone, so listen with an open mind.

10. Be credible:
Reputation is about earning credibility, not expecting it.  One way to earn credibility is to keep your promises, another is to be honest. If you are credible and honest, your personal brand will sell naturally. Your name can open and close doors for you. Guarding your personal brand needs to be a priority.:Make your brand work for you.

Michele Wierzgac is a leadership expert, keynote speaker, and author of the forthcoming book, Ass Kicking Women: How They Leverage Their Informal Networks For Success. https://micheleandco.com.