Jeppe Vilstrup Hansgaard is the CEO of the consultancy Innovisor and has working experience in 20 different countries on three continents. I had the opportunity to meet him while I visited Copenhagen to speak at the IABC MENA Conference in 2018. He did a short central business district walking tour which I thoroughly enjoyed! A simple, down-to-earth and affable person, I admire the way he has gone about establishing a niche in the field of communications and change. His humility, his deep appreciation of human nature and ability to share knowledge widely has impressed me.
Jeppe holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Henley Business School in the UK and a certificate in strategic decision and risk management from Stanford School of Professional Development in the US.
In the 27th edition of Intraskope‘s Personal Branding Series, Jeppe Vilstrup Hansgaard highlights the value of sharing knowledge selflessly and the power of authenticity. Learn more in this interview.
Watch the YouTube video interview and read the complete interview below. Look up more such stories on my YouTube channel and on LinkedIn.
Interview
1. What according to you is personal branding?
It is the purposefully branding of yourself – to achieve an objective
2. Do you consider yourself a personal brand? If yes, how do you know it?
No, I do not work on my personal brand… but my habit of sharing probably gives me a personal brand.
3. What does one do to go about building a personal brand?
You voice your opinion, participate in conversations, write articles…
4. What are the attributes of a personal brand? And what do people associate your brand with?
I hope people associate me with authenticity and a good analytical eye for how people relate to each other
5. Based on your observations and learning who according to you is a personal brand? What characteristics do you admire about them?
I admire authenticity, passion and people that are in for the long run
6. What steps did you take to build your brand? How do you know it is working?
I felt like I had a story to tell, so I started sharing blog posts on Linkedin. Since I have gotten 10x as many followers on LinkedIn and about 3,000 followers on Twitter
7. What challenges did you face while building a personal brand? What techniques did you use?
My primary challenge is that I need to be inspired to share meaningful stories and to participate in conversations. In periods like during this pandemic, it is not always easy to be inspired. I needed to get away from it being a “to-do”-exercise. I have started to read a lot of fiction and non-fiction from non-related fields (especially history). Lately, I have also started to follow courses on Coursera.
8. During the process of building your own brand, what did you gain in the process? What did you lose?
I have become much more aware of what I don’t know – and also aware how to share what I know in short and crisp manner.
9. How can someone starting from scratch build a personal brand? What is the first step he or she must take?
Make sure you are aware of the investment of time it takes. Does that investment match what you are expecting to get out of it? I have for example skipped writing a book, although I have had several opportunities. I can also recommend reading Jonah Berger: Invisible Influence to gain a better understanding of what works, and what does not.
10. If you had the opportunity to change something about the way you built your personal brand, what would that be?
I am pretty happy with what I have done… and I am happy that started with international focus.
11. What is your recipe for personal branding success?
Discipline, Authenticity, Sharp eye for Communication
12. Who according to you are personal brands whom others can follow and learn from?
I follow a number of individuals. Seth Godin and Adam Grant are always great, but I can also recommend Hilton Barbour, who is a favorite of mine within Culture.
13. With COVID19 and other crises what steps can personal brands take?
COVID19 has been a huge opportunity for personal brands… In my view people long for humans and human stories.
14. What’s your advice for youngsters (Gen Z and others) who want to consider their personal brands?
Be true to yourself!
Liked this interview? Please do share your feedback and comments.
Keen to get ahead with your personal brand? Here are some resources:
- Take this course – Personal Branding 101: Unlock Your Potential and Stay Ahead
- Take a FREE assessment on personal branding.
- Refer to the 3C model on Personal Branding
- Sign up for a 60-minute personalized chat on personal branding
- Personal branding for corporate communicators
Missed the earlier episodes? Read the interviews with Muqbil Ahmar, Tinu Cherian Abraham, Joseph Fernandez, Christina Daniels,Karthik Srinivasan,Gautam Ghosh, Alexander Michael Gittens, Mubeen Azeez, Itzik Amiel, Mangal D Karnad, Abhijit Bhaduri, Sandeep K Krishnan PhD, Scott Shirai, Sunil Robert, Latha Vijaybaskar PhD, Abha Maryada Banerjee, Dr. Amit Nagpal, Sukanti Ghosh, Amith Prabhu, Dave Carroll, Prof. Deva Rangarajan, Ramesh Thomas, K V Dipu, Chip Helm, Suresh Ramdas and Karthik Nagendra PhD online and share your thoughts.
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