How Do You Want to Be Seen?
August 2025
While working in the Fortune 100 world, it seemed whenever we had a change in leadership—anywhere from the CEO down to a new department head—some of us would inevitably be assigned to an ad hoc task force to create new vision and values statements to better reflect how our new leader wanted our organization to be seen within the industry.
Those of us assigned to such a task force typically thought, “Oh no, here we go again.” Given our mega-corporation had been in the business for decades, certainly all our existing customers, and virtually all our target clients, knew very well who we were. Our long-held reputation preceded us.
It’s one thing to create new mission, vision and values statements when creating or acquiring a new business entity. But for long-standing firms, it’s highly unlikely that customers will see you in a new light unless you dramatically change the way you conduct business. Just telling them that your organization has new and improved values won’t likely change the way you are seen, aside from with more skepticism.
I’ll never forget the time our headquarter-based marketing team announced that this new year would be “The Year of the Customer!” Not only did our customers roll their eyes in response to such an announcement, but those of us responsible for customer accounts wondered what our corporate teams thought we in the field had been doing all those years, if not serving and supporting our customers.
In my book Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring, Paul Spiegelman, co-founder and former CEO of BerylHealth, shared an amusing story of how one CEO attempted to enhance how his company would be seen following a merger. When the CEO hired Paul’s consulting firm to help them create a more employee-focused culture, Paul asked the CEO to share their core values. The CEO responded, “Well, you’ve got to give me a while. I’ve got to go find them.”
You know there is a problem when the CEO cannot articulate the values that the company supposedly holds most dear without looking them up. Not only should a CEO be able to immediately rattle off the company’s values, along with how they want to be seen in the world, but every member of the organization should be able to articulate how they personally help bring the corporate vision to life every single day.
That said, it’s virtually impossible to bring a company’s values to life in an organization where the CEO doesn’t even know what they are, or if the employees don’t believe in them. In the event you find your own values are not aligned with the values of your organization, it may be time to move on to a better match.
Regardless of your role at work or elsewhere, if you wish to be seen as a role-model leader, you need to know what makes you happy; you need to be true to yourself; and you need to BE yourself—wherever you are. It typically doesn’t work out well when you believe you should be seen one way home, some other way in your community endeavors, and yet another way at work. Attempting to do so makes life far too complicated and increases the likelihood that you’ll never be happy or comfortable in your own skin...not to mention you will likely be seen as erratic by anyone who deals with you in multiple venues.
The biggest challenge for some of us is that we’ve invested so much time and effort into becoming someone we are not (and never could be), we don’t even know what makes us truly happy or who we really are underneath the facade.
If you struggle with such concerns, try this simple exercise. Sit down in a quiet spot, close your eyes, and imagine how the various people in your workplace, neighborhood, social life, and at home see you. Consider:
How do you make people feel when they first meet you?
How would the people who know you well vs. superficially describe you?
Would the people you know in different environments describe you differently? How so?
What needs to change for you to be more comfortable just being yourself wherever you are?
Be candid.
Rest assured, it’s not typical for anyone to feel totally self-confident and satisfied with their own behavior 100% of the time and in every situation. We all experience fears, frustrations, limitations, and failures from time to time. We all make unintentional mistakes. Some of us don’t like who we become in certain situations or around certain people. Some of us might need a completely fresh restart.
The good news is that your life isn’t over yet, and you can always correct your course, even if you believe the only way to become truly happy with just being yourself is to change virtually every aspect of your life. Acknowledging the challenges you face in the various aspects of your life is the first step toward overcoming them and becoming a better you.
So, take heart in the awareness that we all learn something new every day and simply set an intention for yourself regarding how you would like to be seen by the world. Then keep on giving it your best shot.
As the lyrics to the 1971 song from the movie, Kotch, go: “Life is what you make it, and what you make it is up to you.”
The late poet and author, Maya Angelou, was perhaps best known for her wonderfully sage advice about life being what you make it. Two of my favorite quotes of hers are these: “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be,” and “Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”
My personal intention is to always be seen as that rainbow. How do you want to be seen?