In this episode of "The Adaptive Executive," host Greg Ballard interviews Danielle Hughes, the Chief Personality Officer of More Than Words Marketing. Danielle shares her background and journey into marketing and copywriting. She emphasizes the importance of incorporating one's personality into their brand messaging and copywriting. By doing so, individuals can create deeper connections with their audience, attract the right clients, and stand out in the crowded market.

Greg and Danielle discuss the significance of words and narratives in communication and personal branding. They explore how understanding and expressing one's personality can lead to stronger connections within the workplace and improve interactions with clients. Danielle provides valuable advice on using the "About Me Mad Libs" approach to crafting a bio that represents your true self. The episode concludes with the realization that embracing one's personality can lead to increased trust, emotional connections, and better business outcomes. To learn more about this topic, connect with Danielle on LinkedIn or visit her website at More Than Words Copy.

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Hello, and welcome to the adaptive executive. I'm your host, Greg Ballard. And I am joined by the lovely Danielle Hughes. She is the chief personality Officer of more than words marketing. Danielle, a real treat to have you here today.

Hi, so great to be here. Greg, thank you so much for having me.

Absolute pleasure. So Danielle, we got to chat a little bit before we jumped on this episode. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and what brought you into the marketing and the copywriting space

who are so I'll try to do the the TLDR version, because I can be very, very verbose. But um, I actually went to college to go way back for advertising design and graphic communications, I thought I was gonna be an art director, and go into agencies and you know, essentially be Don Draper. And at some point, I realized I was a better

really small agency. For several years, I went from the business to business side to the business to consumer side. And what I realized was that I always had this more sort of warm, relatable tone to my writing, even when I was working in b2b. And this was a long time ago, when sales was very salesy. I always kind of recognized that somebody on the

because freelance or as a copywriter for several years. And then at some point, my pipeline for freelance started to dry up like so many people that kind of go in on their own, I didn't really set myself up for success, I had no point of view, I was not doing any marketing, I was not doing any networking, I took everything that came my way. And

website messaging. And coming out of companies for decades, I was super resistant and super reluctant. And what I realized was that the more I did it, the more only the right clients started to come my way. And from there, everything changed.

Amazing. So I want to come back to something you just said, because I think it's worth unpacking. And so for our listeners, you know, if you're in the management, if you're an executive, if you are inside a small, medium, or even a large organization, you've probably thought about personality, personal branding, at some

on internally, and help connect us to that that moment in time?

Yes, so. I'm not sure like at the moment, I would have had the words to articulate that or that I even knew that that's what that was. But I know that I got hired for a role that I probably had no business being hired for. And you know, I like to say didn't understand the assignment, but I don't think they understood the assignment II

like, that's never happened anywhere, right? Like, nobody's ever been hired for a job that the people hiring them hadn't hadn't really figured out,

correct? Well, you know, and it's the understanding of the words, right? They were basically like, We want someone to come in and shake things up. I heard we want somebody to come and shake things up. What they really meant is we didn't want someone to come in and think,

oh,

you know, and I think I was blinded by the title and the money. And, you know, like, so many people, I went in with the wrong perspective, I didn't ask the right questions, what is the culture like, I was getting hired for a role that didn't have a boss, and I was gonna get a boss after the fact. So already, there's the potential for

that is something that I now teach to my clients, is how do you figure out what you bring to the table? How do you foster that connection by amplifying the parts of your personality, that are going to create those connections with a potential employer, or even potential or even clients? Right? Because we want to work with people we like? And

Yes, we do. We want to work with people we like. Sometimes, though, when we can work with people that we don't always get along with, we can do some very special things.

Okay, fair, fair enough. Do you have an example? I'm gonna put you on the hot seat?

Oh, yeah. So I didn't prepare that one. But I think I've been in several situations where there's other people on the side and around the table, that are doing really important things. Okay, I'll go back to one of my previous roles. I was in charge of standing up an entire new congregation, new site, and you knew it was my site, if

get rubbed the wrong way. And if you're immature, you don't know how to handle that you're gonna break down, if you know who you are, can stay true to yourself, stay true to the position that you're in. And they do the same. Yeah, you'll butt heads, but you're going to make something really cool. I love

that. And I do think, you know, liking someone doesn't mean you have to like the same things. That is a really important distinction. And I think what you said, like you can find mutual respect, and like for another person who maybe you don't traditionally connect with, because there's something else that is fostering that connection.

I love it. So here's a question for you and take some time to shape this if you like, but how important are words?

I mean, words matter a lot. Depending on the person, you know, I think it's very interesting, because I was listening to a podcast yesterday and one of the guests on the podcast said, Oh, David Byrne. So the from the talking heads, and he was saying like, he may be on the spectrum. It's never been 100% diagnosed. He's like I think I am.

think words are so powerful and also how we get to own and frame our own story. And I help people rewrite their bios. And you know, some people really is important to them. They want to control their narrative. Other people don't necessarily understand the value until they do it. And then the words on the page, change how they feel about

random job titles and descriptions that they've had over their career, which were never even written for them in the first place.

It's like going into gtgt chat and send write me a bio. And then okay, that's all true. But it doesn't, I don't feel it.

Correct. Exactly. Like it's a bunch of facts and stats, it's not a story. It's not a narrative. It's, it's not personal.

Right? It we are such creatures of narrative. I mean, like, I kind of worked on this little idiom, if you will, like, we will accept any reasonable story doesn't have to be true, like, any plausible story, and we will follow it. And that is just this history of, of people. We are suckers for a narrative and story. And so But when we're

ourselves inside, in the marketplace, in our own team. I think sometimes maybe you can speak to this a little bit, do you see people feel like they're trapped in the idea of I have to look and be like everybody else? Or are you feeling like, No, I'm the unicorn, and I want to show up like the unicorn. What are you seeing?

I don't think it's trapped. I think a lot of people, especially if you are, as I like to say, north of 40, if you will, Gen Xers were we at you were raised. And you know, and if you're a boomer, or you were raised in a certain mindset for fitting in, and being a certain way, and what is quote unquote, professional. And so it's not, I

fascinating. And the more people I talk to, the more people are like, Oh, I can help someone else with their message and their bio, and I'm so good at recognizing what's good about them. I cannot do it for myself. So I think a lot of it is a combination of being stuck, being afraid. The fear is a huge one, right? Fear of rejection, fear of being

Fantastic question. And I'm curious, working with the folks you've worked with, and you said, you talked about senior managers, executives, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, people inside of companies that are growing, when you've worked with somebody coming in coming into your program and saying, hey, I want to sort this out. And

I mean, what's changed is how they show up, you know, inside their organization, and externally, a lot of them have been resisting being thought leaders for their companies, especially on LinkedIn, because they will say, I don't want anyone to go to my page, I don't want anyone reading my bio. So therefore, I am not posting articles for

really start sharing more of their personality with their co workers if they haven't before, and bringing and then if you're a manager, hopefully bringing that out in your team as well. Right? If you have a bio that now talks about how you run marathons, or you know, you want to I will say I want to visit every wine region in the world, right?

Yes. And we live in an age where connection is really what people are looking for. Because we can you can you can spend 20 years, most people don't spend 20 years in a job less than two or three, you can spend two or three years at a job with people, and really never get to know them beyond what they do in that job. Yes,

grade and so in, you know, my background, that's a huge part of who we are, I mean, part of our longevity is tied to our ability to connect with other human beings, and not connect in just like, hi, I see you. But connect in this is something important to me. And it's important to you. And until we're able to kind of let the guard down and say,

know, is that part of what you do?

I don't know, sometimes they'll come to me. And they'll have, they'll tell me oh, I've taken these profiles. And I have some information. So one of my previous clients recently had done a ton with her former company and she had pages of things that people said about her and all of her like skills and things and not skills, her you

she was transitioning and starting her own kind of company. So a lot of that was relevant. But a lot of it wasn't because it was under a different lens. So it was helpful for us to have a conversation in a way that she was like, but this is kind of not really who I am or who our how I see myself. So it ended up helping us kind of really give her

revolutionary, it's you know, brand positioning. So figuring out, you know, who you are, who you serve what you do differently, and like the benefit that someone's gonna get when they work with you. And I have a process where we work through that and we figure it out. And then I created something called about me mad libs, which uses the Mad Libs

of some straightforward prompts and some more whimsical prompts. And it's really fascinating to see what people end up sharing about themselves, or what they think is interesting about them. And to me, that's a much better tool, but profiles can be helpful as well. It's just not part of my normal, everyday

process. Understood, we use profiles all the time, we talked before, we are huge fans of the Everything DiSC tools, five behaviors, and I can keep going but personality is a relevant discussion inside the workforce inside the home. It with parents, kids family, because your personality style is how you operate. And I cannot tell

the question what what do you want, what do you need what will get you out of my way? And and they hire somebody that want they need help, right? And so they hire say an S, you know, the steady, you do the steady person that's going to say, hey, I want peace, like how will this impact everybody? How is this going to impact me? You know, they're

her a task and, and I was just like, hey, you know what's going on with x? I forgot what it was. But I said this to her. And as a D, you know, young guy, good volume. You look, it looked like I just shoot, she physically threw her head back. Like I punched her in the face. I quickly said, hey, you know you do. We'll talk later. I surprised you.

exes could be indecisive, too quiet, will judge them, as you know, you're not quite up to par. Right? Okay, and having insight into your personality style, and the others around, you can help you release a lot of that we recently done this where we've got people won't get in the same room with each other, do the DISC profile, we start

100%, I think you hit the nail on the head. And to me, the profiles never show you anything about yourself that you probably don't know, what they tell you is how other people perceive you. And that is the missing piece. And I know we talked right offline that I took a DISC profile assessment at one of my previous jobs and basically

open. And it was like, Oh, it was like, Oh, my God, you I am thinking I am just getting stuff done. And I'm just gonna turn it out. And I'm this and she's thinking I'm cold and standoffish, and rude and terse, and all of these things. And similarly, I don't know if she was an ask, but like, we had a very, she was very disturbed Muir and beat

part of personality is not just, this is who I am, take it or leave it. And that is not what we are saying it's, this is who I am. How do I use that? To connect with other people who are like me? Or who aren't like me? And how do I show the value in that?

Absolutely. And we will call that abusive personality to just excuse your behavior. It's never, you're never going to use, you know, a personality instrument to say, Oh, well, I'm just a D, you're going to have to deal with me being a jerk. Right? No, that's not the point of the, of this process is to create some awareness because the

second. You call yourself the chief personality officer. Give us some thinking behind that. Why that title?

Um, I you know, so when I started my company, and I didn't really get into this earlier, I wrote a blog post or a newsletter very early on because my coach was like, You're a writer, you have to have a newsletter. And I resisted because I didn't want to do just another marketing newsletter, because who needs that? Who needs five more ways

right? Words matter. Why are we sharing everything personal about ourselves, with strangers on the internet, co workers, etc. But our personality is who we are, it is always on display. Every interaction we have with another human being, they are getting a taste of our personality. And we are usually dialing it up or dialing it down depending on

that are more introverted, saying, Oh, my God, like, as an introvert, like, I just never understood personal brand, I don't really want people to know a lot about me. But I also feel like if I don't include something, I'm generic. And so to me, the difference between being generic and sounding like everyone else, and needing to stand out for who

I was just gonna go there. So after you've worked with folks, what do they say about the people that are coming around them?

That they're much more aligned? Correct? Yes, almost. And that's the beauty. To me, there's nothing better than somebody who says you're exactly what I expected. That is the holy grail, because that means that who you are here is who you are on the page. You are comfortable in both places and spaces, and that you're not constantly thinking

Yeah. And then I think we're also seeing, I think this is not just anecdotal. But this is kind of established, we're seeing people making buying decisions based on an alignment of values, alignment of, of a lot of different things, you know, where are you aligned with an organization with an individual. And if they don't know you, if

100 I mean, you want to be comfortable, right with the person that you are working with, whether they're in sales, whether they're not, if you don't create a comfort level with them, they're not going to trust you, and therefore they're not going to give you their money, or anything. You know, the second most visited page on any company's

Absolutely. This has been a fantastic conversation. And I think we could continue on for hours. But that's what I want to offer is, is there something you can something actionable, that our listeners can maybe take on their own take a sheet of paper and and do something that can help unlock a little bit of this? That's question one.

Sure. So, first one, I'll give you sort of two easy ways to kind of get started with thinking about this and what you could do this action of all. The first one is, what if you were stuck in an elevator with someone that you didn't know? What is the one thing you could talk about for an hour? With no barriers unencumbered? That would give

should be different types of people from different walks of life. But I guarantee you that multiple people will come back with either the same word or similar words. And those are traits in you that they value, that the right employer or the right customers or clients will value and that you probably take for granted because it just comes naturally

Above that, one thing you can talk about, do I have to keep it the one thing there's probably four or five I can talk about? I can talk though, I can talk for an hour about a few things. And then ask five people to give you three words that describe you

that come to mind when they think of you know, what's a trait or characteristic and you don't have don't get too specific. The key is to be more vague. Today, like what are three words that come to mind when you think of me? God? Love it? And, you know, some people are like, well, you know, everyone says, Oh, you're so thoughtful. What

translated in ways that are a value and benefit outside of just yourself thoughtful. So you know, think about that.

Love it. Yeah. And then,

and then how they can connect with me. Yes, I'm on LinkedIn, Daniel Hughes. My website is more than words. copy.com you can definitely find me there. I have a newsletter. Like I said, that goes out every other Friday. And said, like I said, it will never be three ways or five things but I promise you will rethink messaging and

All right, and then the last question, we're gonna get you. We're gonna wrap up here. What's your favorite book on leadership? Your favorite book on leadership?

Oh, um, I don't read a lot of books on leadership. Um, but I really loved brag better by Meredith Feynman. It's awesome. And I think, especially for women, we tend to downplay how amazing we are. And this book tells you not only why you should, but how. So and for everyone, we should all be because you're bragging in service of how you can

Fantastic Danielle Hughes chief personality officer, more than words marketing. Thank you so much for joining us today.