Afraid to get “too political” at work? Nervous to raise your voice on the issues that matter most?
The world of business is changing – transforming from a sector that serves only to deliver profit to shareholders, to delivering value to all stakeholders, and whether you’re a brand, a CEO, or an employee, knowing how to define and defend your values is a key leadership skill for the future.
Thought leadership agency The Humblebrag, founded and launched by brand strategist and activist Lucy von Sturmer in 2017, has launched a one-of-a-kind personal branding course to help individuals across the world – existing and emerging leaders – tap into their purpose, define and activate their values, and gain more influence to join the growing movement of business as a force for good.
As a boutique consultancy, the launch of this course allows The Humblebrag to have more reach, sharing the strategy used for companies and brands with individuals too; from entrepreneurs, freelancers to students. Most importantly, it allows The Humblebrag – led by founder Lucy von Sturmer – to inspire and support more individuals to become agents of change, at a time when the world needs it most.
We sat down with Lucy to learn more about this.
What inspired you to launch ‘The Humblebrag Academy?
As a business, our main focus is working with mission-driven companies and brands to define their voice, and help them to amplify their visibility and impact using media, community and creativity as a tool.
We’re a small team with a big mission – to amplify the visibility of more diverse voices driving forward change – and I’ve been looking for a way to scale our services, and our time, to be able to support more individuals to step into this space.
Who’s your target audience?
The truth is, whether you want to grow within a company or grow your own, connecting your personal mission with your work is incredibly powerful. So our target audience is really anyone looking to be more visible as an ‘agent of change’ and who is interested in either pivoting towards, or enhancing their career, in social impact and sustainability.
In a nutshell, our audience falls into two categories: emerging leaders who want to enhance their reputation and visibility within the growing movement of ‘business as a force for good,’ or existing leaders who need support to become more courageous as ‘values-driven’ leaders.
We also work directly with companies offering a more bespoke service to coach their leadership teams (or emerging leadership teams) on how they can become stronger brand ambassadors – and so far have been lucky enough to work with Danone, Solidaridad and Erasmus University at this scale to date.
What is the structure of the course?
The first course is focussed on honing in on the core of an individuals ‘brand strategy as a change-maker, while the second is focussed on ‘amplifying your voice’ – using the media as a tool.
The first is a good introduction for anyone into the world of ‘values-driven leadership’ and for those that choose to work as part of a small group, I’ll be giving direct feedback on each of their assignments; reworking their mission and vision statement, their USP and personal key messages, and their bio.
In the second course, we will be training individuals on the “how” of how to raise their voice; covering everything from writing an effective think-piece or opinion editorial, to how to pitch your story to the press. I strongly believe in the saying “see it; be it” and so by following both trajectories, we hope to support more individuals to gain the visibility they deserve!
What are you hoping people have learned at the end of the course?
Rather than a “step-by-step” approach to building your reputation as a change-maker, I hope to have trained people to THINK and ACT like a strategist. We’re providing the tools, insights, prompts, community, and feedback, and my hope is that participants will walk away with an emboldened sense of courage – a framework and strategy to implement – and the ambition to build a career, and a life, that makes a positive impact in the world.
