Why you have to be intentional about your personal brand as a health professional
MAR 2025 / by Dr Dena van den Bergh / Personal Branding and Thought Leadership
"We *always* have a personal brand and it’s up to us to make sure it reflects our best selves in a way that makes us and our organisation look great." - Dr Dena van den Bergh
“You can either be deliberate about having a personal brand as a health professional, or others will give you one.”
This is what I told my cohort of healthcare change leaders this Sunday in our workshop with Guest Expert Anthea van den Bergh on Personal Branding, LinkedIn, and the Power of Being Your Own Best Advocate.
Personal Branding as a Health Professional
Because we can either be intentional and craft an authentic, powerful personal brand using offline and online means.
OR we can allow others to assume things about us that don’t reflect the truth and our highest potential!
It’s the difference between:
🤷♀️ Others knowing you are a hard worker, but not being aware of your specific qualities and achievements.
🔇 You just being shy or humble and others thinking you don’t have any new ideas or you are not a dynamic and powerful leader.
Versus when we take hold of our OWN destinies and self-advocacy:
🏆 They know you are a hard worker AND they can see your enthusiasm, insights and achievements because you post about your work on LinkedIn or you created an opportunity to speak about your project to senior leaders and peers.
🙌 You reframe what humble is and why it matters to have a voice in healthcare change, so you start speaking up in meetings and share your ideas in different forums and platforms.
What a difference!
We *always* have a personal brand and it’s up to us to make sure it reflects our best selves in a way that makes us and our organisation look great.
Do you have questions about personal branding as a health professional?
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Hi, I'm Dr Dena
van den Bergh.
I'm an award-winning healthcare change leader, global researcher and large scale change maker.
With a career spanning over 30 years as an executive in healthcare, I am an authority in change leadership and health systems innovation with experience on the hospital front lines to the boardroom, international conference stage, and beyond.
I have worked with South Africa's largest healthcare groups and funders in the public and private sector and collaborated with global change leaders in large scale health systems improvement.
My Doctorate in Engineering from Warwick University gave me a love for systems thinking which I integrated with my clinical expertise to create a unique approach to healthcare change leadership.
I now work independently with leaders, teams and organisations to successfully implement health systems improvement co-designed with stakeholders.
My goal is to empower accomplished and emerging leaders to thrive in their lives and their careers and inspire them to make a powerful impact in shaping the future of health systems globally.
I am an industry leader in change leadership and implementation of health systems improvement as well as a passionate advocate for value-based care and addressing the gap of vital employee and public input into designing better health systems for all.
In 2015 I was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership in Quality Improvement in South Africa by Discovery Health for my change leadership work across the public and private sector.
A world citizen at heart, I frequently collaborate internationally and present and publish my work at the global level in order to expand my contribution and exchange knowledge to better my own work.
I am an honorary research associate at UCT Dept. of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV and a senior editor for the peer reviewed international journal JAC-AMR.
I am also an internationally certified leadership coach, an IHI trained Healthcare Improvement Advisor, an advanced Presencing and Theory U facilitator for social change and certified in Leadership Mastery with the Institute of Woman-Centered Coaching, Training and Leadership.
I am a committed yoga, meditation and wellness practitioner and love spending time in nature with my friends and family.
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