Your Unique Value Proposition is the foundation of your search strategy — the clear, confident answer to the question every Chair, Board or hiring executive is really asking: why you, and not the other candidates in the room?
This guide helps you build that answer from the inside out, so you can present it with total clarity — whether you are pitching for a Board seat, a C-suite role, or your next executive appointment.
This is an interactive worksheet. Type your answers straight into the fields below — everything saves automatically in your browser as you go. When you're done, use Save / Print PDF to keep a copy to bring to your coaching session.
Why this matters
A well-formed UVP does more than restate your CV. It connects who you are, what you bring and the value you create into one confident, memorable story — and positions you in the top 10% of the candidate pool.
01Set Your Target
Get specific about where you're aiming
Before you can articulate your value, decide where you're pointing it.
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What type of role are you targeting?
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What sectors, company types or business stages best suit your experience?
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What does success look like in this next appointment?
Coach's promptName two or three real organisations — companies or boards — you would be proud to join. Your UVP should ring true for every one of them.
02Identify Your Strengths
Where do you add value?
These are the areas most commonly sought at executive and Board level. Tick the ones where you can offer genuine depth — you'll draw on them throughout the rest of the guide.
The Three Pillars
Who. What. Why.
Every strong Value Proposition is built on three questions. Answer them honestly, and the story starts to tell itself.
Who
you are
Values, attributes and professional positioning.
What
you bring
Skills, experience and capabilities — evidenced by your achievements.
Why
you're valuable
The value you have delivered elsewhere in your career and life.
WhoValues · Attributes · Positioning
What is important to you? Where do your core strengths lie? Consider your top values and the purpose or mission that drives what you do.
Coach's prompt — how would people describe you?Consider your personality, leadership style, work ethic and personal presentation. Draw on real feedback from previous managers, colleagues, team members and professional contacts — not just your own view of yourself.
Tip · The Values in Action (VIA) survey — viacharacter.org — is a useful tool for identifying your innate values and strengths.
WhatSkills · Experience · Achievements
WhyThe Value You Create
How have you added value to people and organisations in the past?
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What is your unique point of difference?
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What is the unique combination of your Who, What and Why that makes you stand out?
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What value can you add, and what benefits can you bring to the role?
Reframe
Consider the benefits from your career achievements — then reconsider each one from the company's perspective, not just your own.
Your Top Three Values
Draft them in your own words
Example — one client's top three
Bringing honesty and integrity to every engagement.
Creative solutions and feedback on complex problems, paired with strong, positive leadership that drives momentum toward the desired outcome.
Giving teams confidence that goals are achievable, drawing on past case studies — delivered with a sense of humour and fun.
Be specific — write them the way you'd say them out loud.
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Bringing It Together
A frame for your UVP
Work through each line in order — each one builds on the line before it. Your statement assembles live below as you type.
I am a — professional identity / expertise, including broad experience
who is known for — personal attributes / style
and whose core strengths and values lie in — underpins the proposition
My key skills and capabilities include
and my career achievements and contribution lie in
The value I can therefore add is
Your Value Proposition — assembling live
Example — a worked sample"I am a Director, Chair and CEO with three decades of experience as a CEO, COO and business advisor on over 30 business projects across multiple industry sectors, who is known for bringing honesty and integrity, creative solutions to complex problems, and strong, positive leadership that drives momentum toward the desired outcome — and whose core strengths lie in my own Review–Reset–Reinvent process, a data-led approach with team input that builds ownership of a plan to guide the business to improved performance for the benefit of shareholders. My key skills include leadership coaching and mentoring for executives, business strategy formation and implementation, team building and business transformation. My career achievements lie in improving business performance as a CEO and executive in global companies, and as a consultant advisor on 30 business projects. The value I can therefore add is using both corporate and advisory experience to help Executives and Boards improve business performance."
Your Headline Statement
Five key points
Distil everything above into five sharp, memorable points for each type of role you're pursuing. These become the backbone of your CV summary, LinkedIn headline and interview opening.
Coach's promptLead with scale and outcomes — the size of the business, budget or team, and the result you delivered.
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Example
Executive and Advisor experience across multiple industry sectors
A proven methodology for business improvement — Review, Reset, Reinvent
Strategy development
Executive support and mentoring
Transformation and turnaround experience
Now write your own — in your own words.
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Coach's promptThink about the breadth of contexts you can flex across — industries, stages of growth, or types of problem — and the specific value you bring as an outsider with insider credibility.
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When you're ready
Send your worksheet to Kylie
Fill in your name and email, and we'll send your responses through to the coaching team so they're ready to work on together. You can keep filling this in and send again any time.
Your answers also save automatically on this device — nothing is lost if you send later.
Next Step
Bring this to your coaching session
We'll pressure-test each statement together and refine it until it's sharp enough to open any conversation — CV, LinkedIn, or interview.
