Sovereignty. This word keeps creeping into my life lately, either in podcasts or in news clips, so why not have a discussion on it. First, what does sovereignty mean? – at its pure basic essence – a person or group who has supreme power or authority.

Everyone and every brand are sovereign, whether you choose to live that way or not. We have supreme power or authority over ourselves, our decisions and actions. We can choose whether our life and businesses are negative or full of joy. Yes, we can have challenges in life, but we choose how they affect us. Do we grow stronger, or do we let it crush us? On the flip side, we can live where everyone else makes decisions for us, but is that truly living your life or just letting things run you?

Why do I believe that we are all sovereign? We all make decisions for ourselves every day. We choose how we react to situations, the boundaries and goals we set and our actions thereof. We also all get to choose who we surround ourselves with, others we interact with (or don’t) and how others impact us. Every decision, large or small, we make is our own choice!

Sometimes there can be other influences or factors that need to be considered in our decisions; legal rules and even membership rules, etc, but ultimately we choose for ourselves what we do. Period.

A brand is also sovereign, whether large or small. Aspects of a brand are (or should be) intentionally chosen. These are often laid out in Purpose, Mission, and Value Statements, but generally these are choices about who is involved with it, who represents it, what it stands for and what it doesn’t, among many other things. These items help give guidance to the brand and can affect who or what otherwise interacts with the brand.

Think of a couple of brands that you like and a few you don’t. What would be a few keywords you would choose to describe the brand based on each of the following:

• the industry it’s in?
• other businesses they’re connected to?
• The people they’re connected with (influencers or those who represent it)? What are they like?

All of these areas can influence how people may see and interpret the brand.

Are you aware of how these may be impacting your brand with people?

Be intentional with your brand and utilize your sovereignty to actively choose how you make decisions, are represented and the story that you and your brand share. I am personally choosing to look at my life and business this way, because it gives me better stability, accountability and stronger values to lean on instead of getting lost in the uncertainty happening everywhere else in the world.

Be sovereign and find your own stability by consciously making your decisions.