• Define Yourself! Your Brand Value in the Workplace
• 1:15-4:15 p.m. Monday
• West, Room 3018

A personal brand helps professionals define and express their unique value. The Monday session “Define Yourself! Your Brand Value in the Workplace” sets the framework for building brand awareness and credibility.

“Anesthesiologists have the potential to be leaders within their groups, hospitals and state and national societies. You need a strong and unique brand in order to gain the relationships and reputation you need to achieve your career goals and become a leader,” said Anna M. Allred, M.D., a critical care anesthesiologist and Associate Physician for U.S. Anesthesia Partners, Houston.

Anna M. Allred, M.D., will offer tips for building your personal brand.

Dr. Allred will moderate the session, which was developed by the ASA Ad Hoc Committee on Women in Anesthesia and is jointly sponsored by ASA and U.S. Anesthesia Partners. Joining Dr. Allred is Marny L. Lifshen of Marny Lifshen Communications in Austin, Texas. Lifshen helps professionals develop brand awareness and credibility and establish relationships with key influencers. She’ll provide strategies to overcome barriers to establishing good relationships by avoiding assumptions, stereotypes and judgments and focusing on getting to know people better.

The session will pinpoint the benefits of a personal brand and the five steps to building a powerful personal brand. This includes defining your current brand, determining how others perceive you, identifying your brand heroes, describing how you want your brand to evolve and creating a plan of specific and achievable action steps.

“Whether you are aware of it or not, you already have a brand and reputation,” said Dr. Allred. “This session will help you identify how you are perceived and create a plan to strengthen and improve your brand to obtain the opportunities you want.”

The speakers also will discuss the need to build positive and productive relationships with peers, coworkers and influencers, a crucial element of managing your personal brand.

Relationships with mentors and sponsors also are integral to developing an appropriate and unique brand.

“Mentors can give us honest, constructive and specific feedback on how we need to adapt and/or elevate our brands, especially when we are at a critical point in our career, such as looking for a promotion or a new position,” Lifshen said.

Designed for anyone at any stage of his or her career, the session may be especially helpful for residents or young physicians. Some discussion will address challenges facing female physicians.

“Women tend to wait for the invitation – to go to lunch, to attend a meeting, to be considered for a promotion or to serve on a committee or board of directors. When you see a leadership opportunity that interests you, whether it’s within or outside of your organization, find out who the decision-makers are and ask to be considered. Asking for the opportunity is a simple but important step toward becoming a leader,” Lifshen said.

Roundtable discussions will offer attendees the opportunity to share their own experiences with personal brands and to begin the process of determining what their brand is and what they want it to be. Dr. Allred will present a brief case study to illustrate how a person’s brand can affect his or her career both negatively and positively.