Choose Your Seven Words, Then Live Them: A Honest Take on The Leadership Journey

I remember the exact moment the book found me. I was tired from a long week, sitting with a lukewarm coffee, when I read: “Leadership is a journey, not a destination.” I stopped. It felt like a hand on my shoulder. Nancy Vepraskas, in The Leadership Journey, doesn’t promise easy. She names the work. She says this road shapes character, earns trust, and builds legacies. That felt true in my bones.

Your Brand Is Already Speaking

Nancy is clear: every leader has a brand. The only question is whether you are shaping it. She writes that your brand is your professional reputation, how others experience you, and what they expect when they see your name on a calendar or email. The line that stays with me is this: “We often judge ourselves by our intentions. Others judge us by our actions.” That gap is where trust grows or breaks.

Here is the gift. You cannot control every perception, but you can choose your pattern. Show up consistently. Communicate clearly. Deliver with integrity. Small behaviors add up. Every meeting, email, and hallway conversation sends a signal about who you are and what you value.

Start With Seven Words

Nancy offers a simple start: choose seven adjectives that reflect you at your best. Then do the hard work of aligning your behavior to those words. The work is not picking the words. The work is living them. As she puts it, your brand “is not a tagline or logo.” It is who you are in action, on repeat.

If you want more clarity, Nancy names tools she trusts. Kolbe shows how you take action. DiSC shines a light on how you communicate and influence. EQ-i helps you understand emotional intelligence. The Enneagram explores your core drivers. She is careful here: these tools are not your brand; they reveal patterns. Use them to “know your superpowers and your kryptonite,” not to excuse behavior.

The Quiet Power of Invitations

This is the part people miss. Your brand decides what rooms you are invited into. Clarity widens the doors. Leaders known as clear thinkers, strong communicators, and trustworthy partners get asked into the work that matters: strategy, growth, complex challenges, innovation, even board conversations. Nancy nudges us with two questions: What am I doing that proves these traits? What do I need to stop doing that dilutes my brand?

Managing Up Without Manipulation

Many leaders tense up at “managing up.” Nancy gently reframes it. She prefers to “focus attention up and out,” or “strategic support.” It is not “giving to get.” It is aligning with your boss’s goals, pressures, and style to lift the whole organization. Ask yourself: What do they need to succeed? Where can I release pressure? How can I anticipate rather than react?

She gets practical. Think up, not down. Keep your boss informed so they are never surprised. Learn their communication style. Bring solutions, not just problems. Learn from their experience. Each day, choose to be in service to your boss’s success. That is not weakness. That is leadership that moves the business forward.

Managing Across: Become a Valued Partner

Your brand lives in how you work across the company. Understand the landscape beyond your team. Learn other groups’ constraints. Orchestrate collaboration. Listen more than you speak. Ask hard, clarifying questions. Support decisions, even when they differ from your personal preference. Offer resources. Follow through. Know when to lead, when to follow, and when to facilitate. The goal, as Nancy says, is to become a valued partner. That is how reach grows.

Managing the Team: You Are Always On

Nancy does not let us off the hook inside our own teams. Your team reflects your standards. Build trust so people share wins, losses, and expectations openly. Develop each person for this job and the next. Have hard conversations early and often. She calls you the “Chief Encourager.” Pair empathy with accountability. Waiting too long makes change harder. Even in relaxed settings, remember: you are the leader. You are always on.

Own Your Role, Not Everyone’s Job

Here is a shift that changes everything. Own your role by focusing on the three to five critical impact responsibilities only you can do. Then, subtract as you add. Build the right team so you can let go of tasks others can handle. Step fully into the role you have now, not the job you used to do. Practice self-care so you lead from strength, present in the moment, with an eye on the future. As Nancy writes, growth happens one step at a time. Celebrate the small wins. Refine your focus.

I hear her mentor’s reminder in my ear: “For everything we add, we must subtract an equal amount.” That is how you protect the work only you can do.

Look Up and Out

Strong leaders look beyond their desks. Grow your business and industry acumen. Stay informed through reports, publications, events, and networks. Spot threats and opportunities before they harden. Embrace technology and look for ways to use the tools you already have, including AI, to streamline work and make better decisions. Set specific, measurable goals for your learning so you keep pace with your industry. Leaders who look up and out give their teams an edge.

A Simple Weekly Brand Check

The most practical habit in the book might be the simplest. Take ten minutes each week and ask:

• What did I do that strengthened my brand?
• What did I do that undermined it?
• What would someone watching me say I value most?
• What will I do differently next time?

Nancy’s point is plain: leadership brand is built one interaction at a time. Over time, the pattern becomes clear, and that is what people trust.

Try This This Week

• Write your seven words. Choose one meeting to live them out loud. Make it small and specific.
• Ask your boss one question that releases pressure for them. Act on what you learn, and keep them informed.
• Offer a resource to one cross-functional partner. Follow through until the outcome is real.
• Circle the work only you can do. Delegate one task. Subtract as you add.
• Read one credible industry source. Share one trend and why it matters.

A Quiet Promise You Can Keep

This is why Nancy Vepraskas’s The Leadership Journey landed so deeply for me. It is guidance and challenge held together. She asks us to lead up, across, and down with clarity. To develop our craft. To own our role. And to shape a brand that keeps a quiet promise: I will lead with purpose, respect, and authenticity.

“Leadership is a journey,” she reminds us. If you chose your seven words today, what would your team say about them next Friday?