A recent lightning talks round, hosted by the brilliant Marketing Meetup, featured six individual speakers, each of whom had just 8 minutes each to present on their topic. 

A standout chat for me was by Phil Ossai, founder of personal branding agency OSSAI. 

Phil proposed the thought that "personal branding" and "compound effect" are two phrases that are rarely combined, yet when we look at case studies of firms who understand the concept, the chances are that you’ve heard of the people working behind those brands. Furthermore, when you look at the effects of building staff in unison with your firm, it can help with talent retention, company culture, brand awareness and top-line revenue. 

Some key takeaways:

• Engaging in personal branding can be just as much a leadership challenge as it is a marketing challenge. The more the example is set from the top, the more likely others are to follow. 
• On that point - everyone, regardless of seniority, has something interesting to say. Help them say it!
• Write the post! What you might consider to be ‘common knowledge’, could be a complete game changer to someone else - don’t shy away in fear that it won’t be insightful. 
• Align the personal branding vision with the overall vision of your firm
• Remain data-focused - always have some data to prove the ROI to help you get that buy-in from senior leadership.