And you are...? It's a good question, isn't it? When you're crossing boundaries in your organization, you need a sensible answer to this question. In your own function, your own domain, your technical competence is assumed and proven. But how much do you know about the rest of the organization? What's important to them? And crucially, how are you viewed in those parts of the organization? Most large, or medium to large organizations these days have some sort of matrix structure in place. As the CEO of the pharmaceutical company, Novartis, said a few years ago, it's not whether you want to have a matrix structure or not, how do you make it work, is the key question. So, as you journey around your organization, start to cross boundaries, it's almost as though you are entering into a foreign land. And sooner or later, somebody is going to ask you the question: "And you are...?" How are you going to answer that? So as you travel around the organization, it'll become pretty clear, pretty soon that it's being a brilliant production engineer is really useful in the production engineering environment, maybe even in the broader engineering environment, but it carries little weight in accounting, or advertising, or sales, or maybe even in the design functions. So it's worth just reflecting on how do you answer the question: "And you are...?" So having said that your technical skills don't necessarily translate, the one thing that will go before you, part of your reputation, will be your reputation and what people think of you as a leader, and a manager, in the organization. So as you start to reach out and start crossing boundaries within the organization, you need to have a clear story as to why you're moving into, look at, and maybe do work or make connections with other parts of the organization. And this is not something to be treated lightly. You need to make sure you've got, what we call, "air cover" from your own function. So if you're going out to speak to different functions, people have a good reason for understanding why you're there, and more importantly, you've got backing to go and do so. Also, and it probably goes without, saying don't assume everybody's going to welcome you with open arms. There will be a degree of suspicion possibly, or questioning: "What's that person from production, finance, advertising, sales, wherever it is, doing in our patch?" Expect these things. But a strong reputation as a leader and manager from one part of the business, coupled with a good rationale provided by the leaders you work with, will go a long way to helping smooth the path for you. So I started out by asking you: "And you are...?" We wanted to just reinforce the point that it's really important to understand that you carry a personal brand with you as you move around the organization. And so to reflect on what your personal brand is, as an individual, and how to build it and strengthen it as a leader in the organization, becomes an increasingly important piece of work for you. That personal brand, is at two levels. One of them is you as an individual. Who are you? What do you stand for? Then there's the you, that is the organization member, the executive in the organization, even if you haven't got that title. So the question I leave you with is: "And you are...?" And the answer to that is summed up in a statement about your personal brand.