“What if organizations of all sizes built a culture of advocacy where leadership is accurately recognized and promoted by investing in leadership branding, not just product branding?”
Dr. Eric Boyd
-Founder, Leadership Branding Institute -Creator of CLAIMS, an Advocacy-based Leadership Development System
-ICF Certified Leadership Coach
“Dr. Eric Boyd helped me through a plethora of career roadblocks including finding and identifying my superpowers.”
——Leora Kahn , Sr. Marketing Manager
“Having Dr. Boyd help distill my leadership style and define the path forward has been helpful in determining what I want the next phase of my career to look like.”
——- KC Libman, Sr. Product Manager
Meet Dr. Eric Boyd:
Founder of the Leadership Branding Institute
Dr. Eric Boyd, PhD, is a leadership scholar, executive coach, and founder of the Leadership Branding Institute (LBI). LBI helps leaders solve a common but misunderstood challenge: many capable leaders are performing at a high level, yet their leadership is not consistently recognized, trusted, or advocated for in the moments that shape advancement and opportunity.
Throughout his career, Dr. Boyd noticed a consistent pattern. Leaders were not stalling because they lacked talent, effort, or results. They were stalling because their leadership was not clearly experienced by decision-makers in key moments, or verified through evidence that traveled beyond the room. Traditional leadership and executive presence models often assumed that visibility alone was enough. Dr. Boyd’s research and experience suggested otherwise: leaders advance when their leadership is supported by advocacy grounded in Presence and Proof.
As a first-generation college graduate who gained early access to leadership rooms through golf, Dr. Boyd saw firsthand how opportunity is shaped by access, sponsorship, and advocacy, not just capability. His work with FairWays to Leadership®, helping students from diverse backgrounds gain access to leadership pathways, further reinforced this insight: when leaders are supported by advocacy and evidence, doors open that might otherwise remain closed.
Why Choose Dr. Boyd and LBI?
Expertise in Leadership Advocacy
With a PhD in Marketing and decades of research on branding, identity, and leadership evaluation, Dr. Boyd brings a rare combination of scholarship and real-world insight. His work focuses on a common but misunderstood challenge: capable leaders who perform at a high level, yet are not consistently recognized, trusted, or advocated for in career advancement decisions. LBI helps leaders understand why strong performance alone does not always translate into opportunity, and equips them with an advocacy-based leadership development system to strengthen both Presence in the room and Proof beyond it. The result is leadership that is easier to evaluate, easier to verify, and more likely to be valued by decision-makers, while also enabling leaders to create Presence and Proof opportunities that help others advance too
A Proven Approach to Creating Access
Leaders across industries use Dr. Boyd’s advocacy-based leadership development system to ensure their leadership is recognized, trusted, and supported in advancement decisions. LBI’s Presence + Proof model helps leaders show up effectively in the room and build evidence of impact that travels beyond it. Rather than relying on visibility alone, this approach equips leaders to advocate for their own leadership brand with clarity and credibility, while also creating opportunities for others to build Presence, accumulate Proof, and earn advocacy that expands access to leadership at higher levels of responsibility..
A Personal Story That Drives the Mission
Dr. Boyd’s commitment to leadership branding is rooted in lived experience. As a first-generation college graduate who gained early access to leadership rooms through golf, he saw firsthand how opportunity is shaped not only by talent, but by whether leadership is recognized, trusted, and advocated for. His work with FairWays to Leadership®, helping students from diverse backgrounds access leadership pathways, further reinforced this insight: capability alone is not always enough, but advocacy creates access. That experience drives LBI’s mission today: to help capable leaders strengthen Presence in the room and build Proof beyond it, so they can advocate for their own leadership brand with clarity and credibility, and become the kind of leaders who create those same opportunities for others.
What Drives Dr. Boyd?
Dr. Boyd is driven by a simple but powerful belief: strong leaders do not always advance because they are the most capable. They advance because their leadership is understood, valued, and influential in the moments that matter.
Throughout his career, Dr. Boyd observed a consistent pattern. Highly capable leaders often stalled not due to a lack of talent or effort, but because their leadership lacked advocacy. For leaders without automatic access to the right rooms, networks, or advocates, opportunity depended too heavily on timing rather than merit.
As a first-generation college graduate who gained access to leadership spaces through unexpected pathways such as golf, Dr. Boyd experienced this gap firsthand. He knows what it feels like to be capable, committed, and contributing, yet not fully seen in ways that shape what comes next.
This lived experience fuels his work at the Leadership Branding Institute. Through research-backed leadership branding, Dr. Boyd helps leaders ensure their leadership is appreciated, trusted, and valued across their organization and beyond. His mission is to help leaders and organizations move past reliance on proximity and chance, and toward advancement decisions grounded in clarity, confidence, and influence
What Are Clients Saying About the Claim Your Leadership Coaching Series?
Craft Your Leadership Brand Statement
Tamara Welch – “During our coaching session, Dr. Eric Boyd demonstrated exceptional skill in helping me develop my leadership brand statement. Through thoughtful and probing questions, he guided me to explore my values and principles from new perspectives. His approach enabled me to uncover and articulate my authentic leadership abilities in ways I hadn't previously considered. His coaching proved invaluable in crafting a leadership brand that truly reflects who I am as a leader.”
Leverage Your Leadership Brand Stories
Jacqueline Cheff – “Eric's coaching approach centers on insightful, thoughtful questions that guide you in discovering the next steps for achieving career growth and fulfillment. He helps you identify your core goals and then works with you to shape a clear path toward accomplishing them. Thankful for the opportunity to be working with him!”
Articulate Your Leadership Brand Purpose
Alysia Jones – “Dr. Boyd challenged me to own the values that make up my leadership brand. I highly appreciated his calming-supportive approach to putting a commitment on paper. I have more role clarity and able to verbalize who I am as a leader more clearly.”
Implement Your Leadership Brand Strategy
Natalie Stewart – “Eric provided clarity for me as I've been dealing with a very confusing, chaotic career situation of balancing three jobs. He helped me simplify my thinking and identify my "North Star" goals that I can track tangible progress toward vs. feeling completely overwhelmed and lost.”
Maximize Your Leadership Brand
Enea Rrapokushi – “Thanks to Dr. Boyd’s coaching, I have a better understanding of what traits to emphasize in my leadership style, and what areas to sharpen. I highly recommend Dr. Boyd as a leadership coach.”
Two Essential Steps in Developing Your Leadership Through Leadership Branding
Step 1: Advocate for Your Leadership Brand (Self Advocacy)
Leadership branding begins with clarity about your leadership identity: the strengths you bring, the values you lead from, and the outcomes you deliver. Self-advocacy is not self-promotion. It is the ability to help decision-makers and stakeholders clearly understand and trust your leadership through Presence in the room and Proof beyond it. When your leadership identity is clear and your Presence and Proof are aligned, your leadership becomes easier to recognize, evaluate, and support in moments that shape opportunity and advancement.
Step 2: Advocate for the Leadership Brands of Others (Other-Advocacy)
Leadership branding is also how leaders create access for others. Other-advocacy is the ability to develop and elevate leadership talent by creating opportunities for people to build Proof through meaningful ownership and measurable outcomes, demonstrate Presence in key moments, and gain advocacy that travels beyond the room. Leaders who do this do more than advance personally. They build trust, strengthen bench depth, and multiply leadership capacity across the organization..
How LBI Develops Leader Advocacy Through Presence + Proof
AAt the Leadership Branding Institute, we help leaders ensure their leadership is not only visible, but trusted, verified, and advocated for when advancement decisions are made.
Using the CLAIM framework, our advocacy-based leadership development system, we guide leaders through a clear process to clarify leadership identity, strengthen Presence in the room, and build Proof beyond it so their leadership is:
recognized with confidence in decision-making moments
verified through credible evidence over time
advocated for by the people who influence what comes next
Just as importantly, LBI helps leaders become the kind of leaders who advocate for others by creating opportunities for team members to build Proof, demonstrate Presence, and earn sponsorship that helps their leadership travel beyond the room.
Our work helps leaders advocate for their own leadership brand and advocate for the leadership brands of others with clarity, credibility, and impact.
Dr. Eric Boyd
Founder, Leadership Branding Institute
Offerings
Individual Coaching
Personalized coaching for high-performing leaders whose next opportunity is being limited not by capability, but by whether their leadership is clearly recognized, trusted, and advocated for.
Through one-on-one sessions, you clarify your leadership identity, strengthen Presence in the room, and build Proof beyond it so decision-makers can evaluate your leadership with confidence. Just as importantly, you learn how to advocate for other’s leadership by creating Proof opportunities through meaningful ownership, Presence opportunities in key moments, and advocacy that helps emerging leaders earn trust and visibility. The result is a leadership branding that advances your career and multiplies leadership capacity in the people you lead.
Group Workshops
Interactive, research-backed workshops designed to develop leader advocacy through the CLAIM framework. Leaders learn how to advocate for their own leadership brand with clarity and credibility by strengthening Presence in the room and building Proof beyond it.
Participants also learn how to advocate for others by creating Proof opportunities through meaningful ownership, maximizing Presence opportunities in key moments, and building advocacy systems that help leadership talent travel beyond the room. Workshops support emerging leaders, newly promoted leaders, and experienced leaders who want to strengthen advancement readiness and multiply leadership capacity across teams and levels.
Corporate Coaching & Workshops
Customized programs that help organizations strengthen how leadership potential is identified, developed, and advanced by building leader advocacy through the CLAIM framework.
Through an advocacy-based leadership development system grounded in Presence in the room and Proof beyond it, companies reduce subjectivity in promotion and succession decisions, improve internal mobility, and increase confidence in leadership readiness. Leaders learn to advocate for their own leadership brands with clarity and evidence, while also learning to advocate for others by creating Proof opportunities, maximizing Presence opportunities, and building sponsorship systems that help leadership talent travel beyond the room. The result is a stronger bench, better succession outcomes, and a culture where leadership is consistently recognized, trusted, and developed at every level.
Clients Benefits
Individual Benefits
Leadership Advocacy That Gets You Recognized
Ensure your leadership is not only visible, but trusted, verified, and advocated for across teams and levels, especially by the people who influence advancement decisions.
Stronger Presence in the Room
Show up with clarity, confidence, and credibility in the moments that shape how your leadership is experienced and evaluated.
Proof Beyond the Room
Build evidence of leadership impact that travels into rooms where decisions are made, even when you are not present to speak for yourself.
Credible Self-Advocacy and Sponsor-Ready Signals
Clarify and communicate your leadership identity so others can advocate for your contribution, readiness, and next opportunity with confidence.
Team Benefits
Shared Language for Presence + Proof
Give teams a common framework for understanding and discussing leadership identity, Presence in the room, and Proof beyond it, reducing ambiguity and misinterpretation.
Stronger Recognition Across Functions and Levels
Ensure leadership contributions are understood and valued not only within the team, but across functions, levels, and decision-making forums where opportunity is shaped.
Aligned Leadership Narratives
Reduce mixed signals by helping team members articulate their leadership contributions in clear, consistent ways that reinforce collective value
Clearer Leadership Advocacy for Team Members
Reduce mixed signals by helping team members communicate their leadership identity and impact in consistent, credible ways that make it easier for others to advocate for them.
Organizational Benefits
A Clearer Leadership Pipeline
Identify, develop, and advance capable leaders whose impact may be overlooked without clear Presence and credible Proof. Leader advocacy makes leadership potential easier to recognize, evaluate, and support.
Reduced Subjectivity in Leadership Decisions
Move beyond impressions and proximity by grounding promotion and succession decisions in clear, evidence-based signals of leadership identity, readiness, and impact. This improves consistency, fairness, and confidence in advancement outcomes.
Leadership That Scales Across the Enterprise
Enable leaders to influence outcomes beyond their immediate teams by building Presence and Proof that travels across functions, levels, and business units rather than remaining siloed.
A Stronger Culture of Access and Opportunity
Create an environment where leadership recognition is intentional and advocacy-driven, not accidental or dependent on proximity. This strengthens access, opportunity, and trust across the organization.