On a four-hour flight, what began as small talk with the gentleman seated next to me became a life memory, an aha moment, and a point in time not to be forgotten. The conversation started as many in-flight chats do, with a brief exchange about the departure and arrival cities, and then moved on to the inevitable question, “What do you do?”

My seatmate was an international executive with expertise in sales, building teams, and leadership. The descriptions he shared of his job and career were noticeably connected to his love of family, passion for photography, vision for new ventures, and desire to travel. His confidence and demeanor were both impressive and engaging. I proudly shared my role at Sedgwick and our work to transform traditional managed care products into products with emphasis on care management and quality health care embedded in the claims process. I focused on recognition of Sedgwick’s leaders, our position and growth in the market, my peers and their accomplishments, and our suite of products. I raved about our company culture, the leadership of our CEO, technology tools, level of client engagement, sales strategy, and approach to business. And, in explaining what I do, I proudly shared that I was a single mother, raising my two daughters since before they were school age, and that I returned to my small hometown to see family as often as possible.

We spent time discussing a growth company’s culture and key attributes that made Sedgwick successful. He inquired about ways in which I personally contributed to that success. My response centered on the organization, our teams, my peers, and the outcomes of those efforts. Similar to a professor with his student, my new mentor patiently redirected me to answer his question, “In what ways do you personally contribute to the success of Sedgwick?” With a slightly different approach, I shared my connection with clients and being a lead subject matter expert for sales and client services. I expanded upon my operational background, evolving the company’s practice group, leading strategy, and product development. As the student, I was keenly aware of missing the mark with my answer. After carefully listening to my response, and with purposeful intent, he asked, “What is your brand?” He explained, “I understand Sedgwick’s brand; you have explained that very, very well.” Perplexed, I hesitated to respond. “How does your brand help your company?” he asked.

Not unlike many women in business, I was told early in my career that individual accolades I might receive were not mine alone and must be positioned for the team. Any focus on personal accomplishments would be perceived as bragging, self-promoting, and intimidating to coworkers. Regardless of my male counterparts’ use of the word I, for women, the use was viewed as abrasive and indicative of the woman lacking the skill set to be a team player and leader. Because “we” had always been a more natural approach to conversation for me than “I,” reinforced by the managerial feedback, pluralistic terms became the norm. Even when referencing a personal opinion or individual contribution, I addressed the subject from a “we” perspective. Rarely did I speak openly about an accomplishment I achieved or my personal goals; rather I focused on “we,” always quick to deflect conversations regarding my personal contributions.

From a young age I was a believer in the phrase “feedback is a gift and what you do with it is your own.” With that in mind, I took feedback from managers to heart, with the goal of improving my approach and delivery for the betterment of the company and my future. Depending on the year and manager at the time, development feedback varied from working on specific personality traits to higher-level career advancement and development opportunities. At times, my focus was on tone, word usage, and facial expressions; at other points, my focus was on building inclusive teams, executive communication style, and leadership attributes. Whether feedback was from a 360-degree performance review or traditional performance review, I sought input and guidance from internal mentors, external sponsors, and career coaches. These individuals provided constructive feedback and supported my personal growth. Seeking feedback is a risk, but one that cannot be undervalued when it comes to growing as an individual and becoming the best “you” that you can be.

At other points in my career, having a visionary-strategic leadership style led some managers to say I was out for personal gain rather than a company win. Mentors helped me understand the importance of giving people time to think through an idea and buy in or offer acceptance. In time, I gained a deeper appreciation for various leadership styles, across the spectrum of visionary, strategic, and operational attributes. I came to recognize that some leaders fit only one style and are limited in their ability to shift their approach to address a particular organizational need, move a specific project forward, or drive performance at the right time. This gave me the push to keep working on finding balance in my own leadership style. Admittedly, I often embraced the style necessary to meet my manager’s expectations, rather than the style necessary to achieve success in my role and ensure success of the team.

When my seatmate asked how my brand helped my company, I was at a loss. I felt I was synonymous with my company’s brand and that being brand aware and a brand champion was, in large part, driving my professional success and organizational opportunities. Little did I know that understanding my personal brand and being authentic in acting on it would bring not only me greater success but also my company. As the flight landed, I was bound and determined to learn more about personal branding, although I still admit it brought an uncomfortable twinge. At the forefront of my angst was the realization that creating a personal brand would force me to become comfortable with the uncomfortable—acknowledging my personal contributions, along with my status as an industry thought leader; word choice, such as use of the word I rather than my comfort zone of pluralisms—and most definitely to become comfortable and confident in my leadership style, which would bring greater success to me and the company.

To my amazement, there were plenty of online resources and mentors to support creating a personal brand. I quickly engaged with both females and males who had boosted their careers and had doors open as a result of their brand. Creating a personal brand forces you to define your personal passions and align those with your career. Like leadership, branding is a personal journey. I encourage you to consider your personal brand as unique; no textbook or blog post has the answers to your brand and what will derive your personal happiness and business success. Wonderful advice I received early on in my branding development phase was to focus on consistency and not differentiation. Be true to yourself, be authentic, and your brand will be natural.

As I worked through personal attributes that are paramount to my brand, being a mother, daughter, and friend were not forgotten. My daughters have grown up in our single-parent household, and we live nearly 2,000 miles from my family. Regardless of how fiercely independent I might be, having loving, caring, and consistent help for my daughters was always critically important to me and never far from my thoughts. There was no place I would rather be than home, and while my daughters know that, they are also quick to acknowledge their desire to have a career that they love as much as I love mine. They are old enough to respect and appreciate what my career has afforded them and our family.

When my oldest daughter left for her first year of college earlier this month, inevitably I reflected on my own experience moving out of my parents’ house 30 years ago. Imagine the shock my parents faced when at 17 years old, a few short weeks before my senior year of high school, I sprung on them that I hoped to enter college instead. Unbeknown to my parents, I planned to move hours from home, pay for college working as a certified nursing aide, and pursue a childhood dream of becoming a nurse. Their response was overwhelmingly supportive, regardless of their fears for my well-being, questions, and concerns. I am touched by their unconditional love and forever grateful that their unwavering support instilled a level of resilience and perseverance within me to overcome any challenge.

My work family means the world to me, and two of my Twitter hashtags, consistent with my personal brand, include #workisfun and #friendsarefamily. When you love what you do and the people you get to do it with, work and life are so much more meaningful. Being a working and frequently traveling single mom is not a typical attribute to choose as part of a personal brand. But for me, being true to my authentic self, being a mom, daughter, and friend must be part of my brand.

Branding is social, and where better to place emphasis on my brand than on social media? I strengthened my LinkedIn profile to reflect more of my personal brand. Then I actively and regularly began to engage with others on the site. I initially requested connections with people I knew or those in similar careers to mine and individuals with careers that interested me. I joined a few groups that aligned with my personal and corporate brands and soon began to see the results of my efforts. By creating an appealing personal brand, I saw my connections increasing dramatically. These were people primarily seeking me out for advice, networking, and thought leadership. Through networking with other health care experts, the vision evolved for forming the LinkedIn group “Transforming Healthcare for Tomorrow.” This is a group in which the members are passionate about current news on health-related matters, and it has resulted in significant opportunities for my brand and that of my company.

My good friend and social media mentor, Jonathan Mast, Sedgwick’s social media director, suggested I join Twitter. At the time Jonathan made the suggestion, a tweet was as foreign to me as personal branding was when my seatmate suggested it. He reminded me that, just like personal branding, social media must be consistent, authentic, and, by providing value, critically important to your connections. When I made the commitment to align my brand with social media, I knew straightaway there was a significant work effort. To be consistent on social media requires a high level of personal engagement. I am a voracious reader, and, historically, reading was strictly personal. Choosing to engage with social media and align it with my brand required training my mind to think differently. It meant identifying meaningful and relevant industry news to share in an engaging manner. Your network wants to experience more than your company’s marketing or your own blog posts. I think the hardest part might be giving others a view into your life. Social media has significantly advanced my thought leadership position in health care, insurance, and workers’ compensation with nearly 25,000 followers, each of whom enlightens me with knowledge I would never have had without this amazing community.

As mature leaders often share, real leadership opportunities came when they realized leadership is about service. For me, recognizing that I wanted to give back to the industry in which I have worked for more than 25 years was an important part of my brand. Today, I am a proud board member of Kids’ Chance of America, a charity offering scholarships to children of employees catastrophically injured or killed while on the job. I am both grateful and humbled that my personal brand and outreach led to many organizations’ becoming Kids’ Chance partners and committing to give multiyear, six-figure donations to the charity. When a friend in the business asked me to join a small group of women and assist with creating a women’s networking and leadership group, I jumped at the opportunity. Engaging women in leadership discussions, mentoring and career development, and bringing the broader industry together to address gender gap and diversity and inclusion was right up my alley and aligned perfectly with my company and personal brands. As a proud board member of the Alliance of Women in Workers’ Compensation, I am actively engaged with creating and supporting their national and regional events, as well as spearheading the local ambassadors program across the country. Along with that line of service came the opportunity to fill a seat on the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) core funders committee. My thought leadership and operational claims and managed care background were a nice fit for the WCRI committee focused on medical and disability research. These are a few service examples of how I live my brand and how, through my engagement, my company benefits in a positive way.

For those who follow me, I consistently and with purpose address topics centering around leadership; business; health care; human resources and benefit programs; risk management and insurance; employee health, well-being, and productivity; health technology and digital health; population health and cultures of health; evolving health care delivery models; and patient engagement, experience, and safety. I regularly tweet, post, speak, and blog on the topics relevant to my brand. In a nutshell, or elevator speech as some like to reference, I am a chief health care strategist focusing on improving patient experience and health care delivery and transforming employee benefits. Listening and listening deeply, asking questions, and staying engaged with experts in the fields of insurance, health and health policy, health technology and innovation, human resources, and employee benefits and design experts, my company’s position in the marketplace and organizational awareness has significantly increased. My company is engaged with conversations and routinely exposed to new opportunities that are directly tied to my brand.

As my personal brand grew, so did requests for me to speak at conferences, attend industry thought leadership events, and respond to media inquiries. My company does a great job at managing my engagement to ensure events and requests align with the company’s brand or my personal brand. A few years ago, Sedgwick’s marketing and communications department decided to align me with another thought leader in the industry: Mark Walls of Safety National. Mark has amassed more than 25,000 followers in his Work Comp Analysis Group. Given that each of us has a personal brand with a large following, our companies created Out Front Ideas with Kimberly and Mark. The OFI educational series focuses on topics in the workers’ compensation and health care industry that are not given enough attention in mainstream media or conference outlets. The show is brought to our audience by way of webinars and live conference sessions. It has proven to draw more participants than the largest conference keynote addresses. I am fortunate to work with a team that maximizes my brand for the greater good of the company.

For me, building a brand was very personal. Other than a few trusted mentors and inquiries about branding, I embarked on creating a personal brand alone, without my company’s direction or a coach’s guidance. I am forever grateful for my seatmate’s advice on that flight nearly seven years ago. I trusted that branding would be good for my career and my company, and it was a win-win that my company embraced my brand with as much passion as I embrace the company’s brand.

Within two years of launching my personal brand, a CEO in the pharmacy benefits space suggested my company nominate me for the Business Insurance Women to Watch. My company had a great history and track record of nominating clients for industry awards; however, we had not yet nominated one of our own to be recognized by the industry. I am fortunate that Sedgwick’s president and CEO, Dave North, not only understood the value to my brand in being named a Woman to Watch, but also recognized the company’s brand exposure and value in becoming an active sponsor and participant in the Women to Watch conference over the past five years. Being recognized as a Woman to Watch in 2011 was monumental for me. The angst I faced in those early months of creating a personal brand and becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable was all worth it.

At Sedgwick, our subject matter experts, including me, work with our marketing and senior management using an annual thought leadership approach to bring forward the topics and perspectives that are most important to our audiences. Our collective goal is to be on the forefront of what is or could be most important to drive the conversation and service delivery in our industry forward. For me, that means speaking at conferences, hosting webinars, blogging, and promoting across social media on a variety of health care–related topics, as well as addressing the political, technological, and legislative landscape surrounding reform. Because of my interest and expertise in these areas, my company was able to promote my messages through Sedgwick-organized activities and mass-marketing platforms. And in turn, I use my personal brand to promote the company’s message platform. It is this symbiotic relationship and respect of both company and personal brand marketing that has made Sedgwick an ideal place for me to grow my career.

By sharing my experiences and through my thought leadership activities, I am hopeful the next generation of women in the workplace will have greater confidence and opportunities to overcome diversity and inclusion challenges. Use of the word I is not harmful to your career, and the most successful executives understand that individual contribution is important for team success. Seeking feedback from others is a personal growth tool that I highly recommend. However, feedback should not put you in an “analysis paralysis” state or make you constantly question your abilities. Take a thoughtful approach to assess the feedback and identify the points that will improve your skill sets and ultimately bring personal and professional success. And, finally, be true to your leadership style. We cannot mirror ourselves with each manager; rather, own your own style and, with that, grow to be a well-rounded peer, mentor, and team member with appreciation for all leadership styles.

Seven years ago, I boarded a flight and never expected my seatmate, Tom Dendy, and our conversation would be life changing. Tom has an incredible career reputation as an international business leader, mentor and coach, speaker, and venture investor. His business connections are worldwide and cross industry sectors from manufacturing to health care. Tom is quick to share a story about his family, wife Shelley, and sons Tim and Tyler. Family is as much a part of Tom’s brand as it is mine. I now look for “seatmate moments”—times when I can offer positive influence to others, whether it is in an individual conversation or more formal mentoring and coaching. Give back to others and invest in their careers. You never know how important it will be to them, and I promise you, you will get more out of it than you can ever imagine. Thank you, Tom, for all you have done to support my personal and career growth and for openly sharing your wisdom.