Season 3 Ep. 24: Developing Thought Leadership

Crafting Credibility: The Art of Owning Your Story

Madeline Fetterly: So a lot of women are like, I don't want to brag. And the reality is that's just fundamentally not what we're doing. When you tell somebody about the work that you do or the project you worked on and the team that came alongside you and helped get it across the finish line, you're just telling people about what you're doing. You're not bragging. And there are all kinds of ways with the right language and the right framing that it doesn't look like now. You're just telling people what you're doing.

SK: Welcome to The Ladies Who Lead podcast. This is a community of women supporting women. Tune in every other Thursday to hear from SK Vaughn as she catches up with ordinary ladies doing extraordinary things. We will cover topics like diversity and inclusion, gender pay gaps, thought leadership, and respect in the workplace. We want to celebrate with you and hear stories of success and hard lessons learned. Whether you are a lady who leads in the boardroom or a lady who leads in your community, this is the place for you. Let's do this.

SK: Madeline Federally is a partnership builder, creative storyteller, strategic thinker, and champion for women's leadership. She is driven by the belief that we each have a story to tell and a voice. It's up to us to choose how we use it. As the founder and CEO of Be the Brand, Madeline partners with Fortune 500 executives, CEOs, industry leaders, business owners, and corporations to craft and amplify individual thought leadership and build purposeful and powerful online brands. Madeline is a well-sought-after speaker for podcasts, large speaking engagements, and workshops. Her unique expertise in leveraging digital for personal branding sets Be the Brand apart and positions the company as a leader in digital transformation. Under her vision and leadership, Be the Brand has quickly grown, establishing itself among leading executives, c C-suite corporate leaders, major associations, firms, and companies as a trusted source of professional branding coaching. When Madeline's not doing all of that, she is a full-time mom and is living her best life, and I love following along in her journey. I'm so excited to have Madeline on this week's episode. Welcome, hi!

Madeline Fetterly: So great to be here. Thanks for having me.

SK: Absolutely. Well, I always kick off every episode with, how are you surviving and thriving this week? So while you're thinking through that, I'll go first. I am surviving. Well, I feel like I've just been constantly on the go saying yes to everything, which has been a part of my 2024 New Year's resolution. So for that metric, I'm sticking to it. I'm having fun this year, in so many years of just constantly hustling and trying to get some goals accomplished, this year I'm going to take it a little bit slower, enjoy the ride, and look around, and just have fun. So I've done that, but I'm very tired. All the yeses have made me not have as much sleep, so a little bit surviving on that front as we just wrapped up Mardi Gras and Valentine's and all the things. But I am thriving because it's at least in mobile here, I can't speak for DC. Spring has sprung, but mobile is always very hot, so I'm enjoying the spring weather while it's lasting. While I realize other places, it probably still feels like winter. So I just really love this weather and just the seasonal change. And spring is one of my happier seasons throughout the year. So really just looking forward to a fun-filled spring season. What about you, Madeline? Those are great.

Madeline Fetterly: Yeah, I think my surviving will be the opposite of your thriving. So it's cold here where I'm in Washington, DC, and it's cold here this week and it's supposed to rain. And so the weather kind of has me, in a little bit of skill, like that winter survival mode. I have two little kids, so it's also like six seasons, everybody always coming home with like a fever or something like that. So, yeah, surviving there. So thriving definitely is with March, it's Women's History Month. And there's just always so much amazing thought leadership and initiatives going on about amazing women, inspiring women across all different industries and sectors. And so I always just get so filled up and so inspired in March just by seeing all these testimonies of women doing really incredible stuff. And it always kind of helps get me mentally over the finish line as we finish Q one, which is always a big quarter. And then, of course, as we head into the spring and the summer, it's just a wonderful little source of inspiration for me.

SK: Yes, I love that. So, Madeline, we're just going to dive on in. I love a good, hard launch into the first question, which is a little bit overwhelming to most people, but give us a little bit of your background and what kind of led you to your current role? Kind of skim a little bit of your background for us. Sure.

Madeline Fetterly: Yeah, I'm happy to do that. So my first kind of career was working in international nonprofits in a fundraising role, and I really kind of stumbled into fundraising, I think most fundraisers do. And it was just such a wonderful place. To be, because it taught me really important skills, like how to work with people, how to, do business development, how to market and brand things, how to talk about things that matter. So my first career was really in international fundraising. And while I was in that role, I had the really incredible opportunity to work with amazing women leading all over the world. So these women leaders were just doing really inspiring stuff, and these were international women, but then also women, like, in our board or here in Washington, DC. So early on, I just really was so inspired by a lot of incredible women. I would meet them, spend time with them, and then go home and want to tell my mom about them, or my sister, or my neighbor, and go to look them up online and realize they had almost no digital presence.

And so I really felt like this was such a shame, such a missed opportunity, because these are the women leading their organizations, leading their businesses, doing really important work, and they had this incredible in-person professional reputation. But when you look them up online, it's just not translating in the same way. And now we know, of course, that having, like, a digital presence or a digital brand is so critical to helping you continue to excel, continue to level up, and continue, really to get the credit for the really important work that you're doing. So that was the idea behind Be the Brand. At the beginning, I was working really just part-time, almost as like a passion project. Just is there something here? Is there a way to help women show up better in the public domain, in the public space? And so, we've been in business for about three years, and since that time, we've really had the wonderful opportunity to work with so many incredible women, primarily professional women, who are really ready to show up and level up online and really make sure that that in-person professional credibility is translated into an online format.

SK: That's incredible and very exciting, because also, being on the other side of this mic, there are so many incredible women out there who are doing such big things and important work. And I think it's a wonderful thing that you're doing. It's helping to translate that in the modern day of marketing. And so that's exciting that you're able to kind of find that niche. Tell me a little bit more about Be the Brand, though. How did you kind of get started and what's kind of your plan as you move forward with the company?

Madeline Fetterly:  We really started at the beginning just with the idea and really just kind of throwing spaghetti against the wall. I pitched the idea to my very first client, this incredible woman who I was just so inspired by. And I was like, you're amazing, but you're not online. And so there's a limit to how much visibility you can really get unless we get you set up, really, like on LinkedIn. And a lot of the women we work with, they have really grown up behind really big bosses. Maybe they worked in government, really big corporate bosses. And there's a lot of impostor syndrome, and there's a lot of hesitation about stepping out and stepping into the limelight.

One of the things we work on a lot in our meetings with clients and stuff is really kind of breaking down barriers that we have in our mind that are preventing us from just talking with authority about the work that we do or the work that they do and why it matters and why it's important. So one of my favorite things we talk about a lot is that telling is not the same as bragging. So a lot of women are like, I don't want to brag. And the reality is that's just fundamentally not what we're doing. When you tell somebody about the work that you do or the project you worked on and the team that came alongside you and helped get it across the finish line, you're just telling people about what you're doing. You're not bragging. And there are all kinds of ways with the right language and the right framing, that it doesn't look like bragging. You're just telling people what you're doing.

So we really work on that a lot with clients. So we work one one-on-one with folks. We also run like, a LinkedIn accelerator, which is all of our philosophy, content, and curriculum. We do group coaching together. You work one-on-one with members of our team. And it's really designed to help people get the skills, the training, the tools, the confidence that they need to really accelerate and advance on their LinkedIn to make sure that they're getting the credit and the visibility that they deserve. I really tell people, that if you're not on LinkedIn, you're leaving influence, power, and money on the table by not really investing in being on LinkedIn and showcasing your professional life.

SK: That’s a great point, being on LinkedIn and being kind of the expert in that particular channel, what type of content do you feel like resonates the most across the board, consistently from client to client?

Madeline Fetterly: So, LinkedIn has really turned into an incredible thought leadership platform. It is, as we all know, essentially free marketing for ourselves. But it really, in the last several years, has pivoted away from just being like an online resume or an online Rolodex. And it really is a place where thought leadership is happening. The content that we see performing best is clients talking about issues from their own point of view and adding some of their own key takeaways, insights, lessons learned, and those kinds of things. So things that feel personal, but also feel, like, authoritative. I am an expert in this issue. This is a really great report that I just read, and here are three things I want you to know coming out of it. So we really see that almost always perform the best.

LinkedIn, of course, at the end of the day, is still a social media platform. And so things that have photos, people who go to events, whether it's like a community event, so a gala or a fundraiser, or like a panel discussion or a conference, a team meeting, there's so many kind of professional happenings that go on in our week over week, life and our professional life. So photos from those and reflections of that time, people receiving awards or being featured in articles and podcasts. I really feel like from my time on the platform and working with people and being successful on the platform, LinkedIn is like an all-tide rise place. People are celebrating and cheerleading other people on the platform. And so when you receive an award or participate in something, we see that content performing really well as well.

SK: Speaking of, you kind of touched on this a little bit, but what would you say is thought leadership? And what, are some more actionable next steps our listeners can take in becoming a thought leader? Because I feel like the word thought leadership is tossed around a lot, but it can feel a little bit, a little overwhelming or, like, high pressure to show up consistently. But what would you say is thought leadership? And what are some small ways people can begin taking a step forward?

Madeline Fetterly: I think the most important thing to consider with thought leadership is that it needs to be specific and authentic to you. So, I would really think about, what are the things that you can speak very credibly and very easily about. If you're like, I want to be a thought leader for XYZ issue, but you don't actually know much about XYZ issue. Like, If you couldn't speak off the cuff for 30 minutes about X, Y, or Z issues, then I wouldn't go there. Think about the other areas and the other subject matter expertise that you have. The exercise we go through a lot is like, if you were asked to be on a panel, what would that topic of the panel be? And so, for a lot of people, what this actually means is they're taking their big career, 30, 40 years. And we're conducting a great audit on the career and we're deciding, okay, what are the two or three issues that you actually want to have thought leadership around? And let's talk about those two or three things again and again and again and again to establish that credibility and that visibility and your authority on the issue.

SK: Yeah, that's a great point. And what is kind of your process or approach when working with the client? And kind of walk us through a little bit of that.

Madeline Fetterly: So, we always start with clients with a big kind of branding workshop. So like I said, a lot of the folks that come to us, they've been working for many decades, they've had incredible professional experiences, and they're really trying, of course, to leverage LinkedIn to continue to showcase their credibility, their authority. A lot of folks are looking for new or bigger opportunities. And so we always want to think about, okay, what is your in-person reputation and what is your professional brand? What are you known for? And then, of all of those things and that big career, we look at those things and we choose four or five that we're going to focus on, on LinkedIn, and those are the four or five that are going to help that person get to their next, whatever that might be.

And so we talk a lot about how a personal brand is a unique set of characteristics that you emphasize again and again and again. And a smart personal brand is one that you're in control of. And the great thing about digital and your LinkedIn is you're 100% in control of what you put on your LinkedIn. You're 100% in control of what you say about you. And so we like to really have that strategy behind us to be like, we could talk about 30 different things, but if we do that, that's not really saying much about anything. So instead we want to be, selective and we want to help us point in the direction that we're headed in and then really focus in on those things and just say it again and again and again to establish that online credibility.

SK: That's a great point. What do you feel like are the most important attributes of a successful leader in today's market, and especially in the thought leadership space?

Madeline Fetterly: I think authenticity for sure. I mean, that's such a buzzword. But coming out of the pandemic, people's trust and authenticity are so important if you're in an executive leadership role. The way we think about authenticity here at Be the Brand is we think about instead of being authentic, being multidimensional, so my personal example for that is I have small kids, so I'm a mom. I'm a working mom. And so my most authentic self is on the couch with the babies and crayons all over the place and maybe some goldfish crumbs on me. And that's where I am at this stage in my life. That is not what I'm showcasing online. I'm not putting pictures of my kids up. I'm not looking disheveled or stressed or anything like that. But because I am a working parent, and that's very important to me, I will talk about parental leave or work-life balance or working parenthood, and I'm very happy to have that part of me and that multidimensional side of me online because it matters to me.

And so that's kind of how we think about some of these multidimensional parts of ourselves. Like, we don't want to just be out there 100% on LinkedIn. It's still like a very kind of guarded professional landscape. But there are ways you can talk about your humanness and your personhood in a real way that just honestly, I think, generates a lot of trust and a lot of credibility when you kind of pull back the veil a little bit into who you are as a person. We always want to show up online as people. Nobody cares what a robot has to say, but we care about what people have to say. And so that really is the most important thing.

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SK: have some more technical questions about LinkedIn because here we are. I'm also a marketer, so I find this specifically interesting. But I've seen different people post articles from LinkedIn to their feed versus like, a blog link or something of that nature. Do you find that to be highly effective? Or is that something where it's like, you may not want to necessarily post expert articles every single day, or however often do you find a lot of people doing that in this space? Or are you saying that's probably not?

Madeline Fetterly:  A 2020 if somebody posts like, a Washington Post article on LinkedIn? Or do you mean using LinkedIn's article feature?

SK: LinkedIn's article feature. So original content that they're writing themselves from their expertise.

Madeline Fetterly: I think it's a great tool. Totally. We've had clients that have done article series. you can also turn your article series into a newsletter, I think that's on LinkedIn. A LinkedIn newsletter. That's a smart strategy. I think the platform is really encouraging this year, and so there's probably a lot of built-in support to help your newsletter or your article series be successful. But no totally. I think. I think utilizing the features that LinkedIn has to offer is a smart strategy as long as you have the capacity and the time to maintain it. It's kind of like, don't have the social media baby if you're not ready to feed the social media baby and raise the social media baby. And so I think you have to make sure you have that capacity to do it consistently and in the right way. But if you have it totally, I think they're great tools to utilize.

SK: And so with Be the Brand, do you all directly post on your client’s behalf, or is this something that you're just more involving the strategy of this is what you could do? How do you all go about walking alongside your clients? We do both.

Madeline Fetterly: So, we have an agency model where we work directly with clients, manage their content, and manage the posting on the platform. And then we also have more of like the coaching side of the business where we partner with individuals on the strategy. Basically, we run trainings to help them be able to manage it on their own with success.

SK: So, kind of shifting gears a little bit, what do you feel like has been the biggest highlight of your career so far when looking back on all the different people that you've had the pleasure of working with and maybe some of, the different nuances of where you've worked, what has been kind of your biggest highlight?

Madeline Fetterly:  So, I have two, and they're very different. I would say, honestly, the biggest career is just the honor and the privilege of running and working here at Be the Brand. I mean, the whole point of what we do is, that I believe in the power of women, and I believe in the power of more women speaking in the public space. And so we are just helping give capacity and tools to amazing women speaking out, showing up, and being part of public conversations that they probably would not be a part of otherwise because of a capacity issue. And so, in a way, I really feel like we're democratizing access to thought leadership, and we're doing it specifically with women.

And that's just like an incredible honor and privilege to be able to do that. So I think that is the honor of my career so far. The other is, this is very specific, but when I worked in international development, I was doing fundraising, and we got to leave a donor trip of women over to India to see the women that we were working with in action. And it was so incredible. We did this three-day, three-city tour where we went to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Calcutta, and we visited women on the ground, running really social service organizations like shelters and those types of things for the community. And it was so inspiring.

There are so many people out there who really, honestly just do life-changing, life-saving work because they believe it's the right thing to do. And we were supporting those women, and so it was really powerful to visit them and to see their work in action and really be so inspired and just reminded that our world and our life is so much bigger than what is right in front of us day to day. And there is so many ways that we can give, of ourselves to help and serve others.

SK: That's powerful. What advice would you give to your younger self looking back throughout your career?

Madeline Fetterly: To myself? Yeah. I mean, I would say just like, go for it. I would probably tell myself to trust myself earlier on, be like, you don't need to be so worried all the time about the house of cards falling apart. You need to know that you are skilled and you can trust yourself and you're good at what you do. And if something does fall apart or if the trains do run off the track, that at that time you will have the skills and ability to figure it out. So it's not necessarily like a delusion that everything's always going to be perfect, but rather leaning into the trust that you're good at what you do.

But also, if something happens, you can figure it out, is definitely what I would tell myself. And then for others, what I would tell others is, that it's okay to have a windy career path. I did one thing for a long time. I had education, grad school, first career, second career, and then Be the Brand. So it's okay to have a windy path, and it's okay if you don't necessarily know exactly where the path is going to take you as long as you're growing, and trying. If it feels like. I think a lot about how work feels.

I've been in situations where it felt bad, and letting that just be a full sentence like this does not feel good. And so how can I figure out a way to make this better? And so just trusting that it's okay if the path feels a little windy, like, as long as you're growing and trying new things and adjusting and evolving as a person, that you can still have a really meaningful career and end up in some really wonderful places.

SK: Absolutely. That's some great advice, tucking those away. And what do you feel like is next for Be the Brand? Do you all have any fun things on the horizon?

Madeline Fetterly: So, we're really leaning into our LinkedIn accelerator program, where, again, we're providing all of the skills, tools, and strategy to really help equip more people to be successful on LinkedIn. And the reason that we're really leaning into that is because we can just serve more and more people that way and have people really learn and flourish online, in particular on LinkedIn. And so I would really say, of course, if you're not leveraging like you're leaving, as I said earlier, money, influence, power on the table, and being on LinkedIn in the right way can be an incredible force multiplier for your career. And so, through this program, we really are helping people get there and accelerate in their careers and, doing it in a way that's really sustainable for them. Like we say, you can ten times your career with only 50 minutes a week on LinkedIn. And I really believe that if you commit to just like, a little bit of time every week on LinkedIn, you can really accelerate in your goals. So, we're really excited about that. We're really doubling down over there, simply again, because we can reach more and more people with that kind of approach.

SK: Very neat. And my last question, which happens to be my favorite question, I ask every guest this, and I think it's unique because everyone has a different perspective. But how do you define success for yourself? Yeah, it's such a great question.

Madeline Fetterly: I mean, I think at the end of the day, success for me really looks like harmony between the home and the professional life. And what I mean by that is like, every day and every week it can change. So some week's success for me feels like I picked up the kids at 330 from school. We went to a park, we had a lovely evening together, and I really got to maximize the time with them. And then other week's success is leading a huge workshop or landing a big client or launching a new initiative or hitting a revenue goal or hiring a new team member. And those weeks are just equally exciting and also feel very successful. So, I think for me, in this stage of life where I have small kids and I am still hustling in my career, it has to be about the harmony between the two, because I think we've all either experienced burnout or spiraled towards burnout, and it's just such a bad place. And I just have no interest in living my life like that. And so just the success of, the balance of the two is something that really matters to me.

SK: Yes, that's a great answer. And I think about that myself. I think it's so easy sometimes to just get plugged in too much to where you're not leaving room for yourself and for your family and the things that you value the most and the people you value most. So, I definitely think there's got to be harmony in both your profession as well as your personal life. So, thank you for sharing that.

Madeline Fetterly: Yeah, definitely.

SK: Well, Madeline, this has been so much fun, getting to connect and hear your thoughts around thought leadership and Be the Brand as well as being a working mom. Thank you for your time. But before we close out, how can our listeners find you? What's your shameless plug?

Madeline Fetterly:  So, we're on all the platforms, of course. Be the Brand Collective on LinkedIn, and Instagram, that's the name of our website, Be the Brand Collective. So that would be the best place to check us out. And we'd love for anybody interested to talk to us about our LinkedIn accelerator program. We're currently taking on new women to join that. and men, too. Men are interested, so, yeah, those would be the best ways to find us.

SK: Perfect. Well, again, thank you so much for your time, and can't wait to see more from Be the Brand.

Madeline Fetterly: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SK: Thank you for listening to another episode of The Ladies Who Lead podcast. Looking for another way to engage with The Ladies Who Lead podcast? Check out our Instagram in our show notes at The Ladies Who Lead. And don't forget to check out our website, www.theladieswholead.com

Until next time, I'm SK Vaughn.