Building your personal brand
Building a business is hard enough. Building a personal brand on top of it? Even harder. Yet today’s founders, executives, and creators know that credibility isn’t built behind closed doors. It’s built every time you show up — with clarity, with consistency, and with authenticity.
Unlike corporate branding, personal branding doesn’t allow you to hide behind polished logos or marketing decks. People aren’t just buying products anymore — they’re buying trust. And that trust begins with how you show up in person, online, and everywhere in between.
Here’s how top leaders today are rethinking personal branding to drive business success and stand out in increasingly crowded markets.
Why personal branding is now a leadership skill
Gone are the days when executives could quietly lead behind the scenes. In 2025, buyers, partners, and investors want to know the humans behind the brands they support. According to FTI Consulting’s research, 92% of professionals say they are more likely to trust a company whose senior executives are active on social media. Companies with at least four active executive leaders experience a 38% higher digital impact than those with fewer — and when business leaders post, their content generates three times more comments and double the engagement compared to company pages.
Personal branding isn’t about self-promotion — it’s about establishing trust before the first handshake, keynote, or pitch. And trust today is built not through logos or marketing decks, but through authentic, consistent human connection. Building a brand isn’t just about posting more on LinkedIn. It’s about aligning your public presence with your values, your strengths, and your leadership style in a way that feels real — not rehearsed. Done well, it creates opportunities that no cold pitch ever could.
Here’s how four experts have mastered the art of authentic personal branding — and the lessons leaders at every level can learn from them.
1. Start with self-awareness before strategy
For Amanda Quick, founder of Small Business Cultivator, personal branding didn’t start with a marketing plan — it started with self-reflection. “I didn’t initially set out to build a personal brand, but as it presented itself, I started showing up and seeing what resonated with people — and what felt authentic to me,” she says.
Through years of client work, inner mindset shifts, and eventually partnering with a brand strategist to codify her strengths, Quick built a brand grounded in truth, not trends. “It’s not about the fluff stuff — it’s the truth of who I am and how I show up for clients,” she explains.
Her advice is clear: skip the performative branding checklist. Start by asking the hard questions about what you actually enjoy, what you believe in, and what you naturally bring to the table.
2. Build a brand you can live, not just post
When Brandi Spurling founded Sage Culture Co., she knew she wasn’t interested in curating a version of herself just for the internet. “I never wanted someone to see me on stage and then get whammied when we met off of it,” she says.
Instead, she built a brand she could embody across every keynote, handshake, and client interaction — right down to consistently wearing the same green or blue jumpsuit at events. “Online, we can edit, pause, and polish,” she explains. “But in person, we’re asked to be honest in real time.”
That commitment to alignment paid off. In the past year, Spurling has booked over 85 speaking engagements — all from direct referrals, not paid ads. Her strategy? Let people not just hear her message but feel it — and trust that the right audiences will resonate.
3. Stay consistent — and embrace imperfection
Sasha Clark, founding partner at Clutch Creative Marketing, knows firsthand that the fastest way to build a personal brand is through consistent, imperfect action. She batch-films 30 TikTok videos in one sitting each month, posts daily, and shows up authentically rather than chasing trends.
“Posted is better than perfect,” Clark says. “Waiting for the perfect post or message leads to no action at all.”
Her consistency has paid dividends, shortening sales cycles by 50–75% when clients find her through social media. Her advice for entrepreneurs dragging their feet? Hire a student if needed. Get scrappy. And stop worrying about polish — because momentum matters more than perfection.
4. Differentiate by thinking differently
For Brett Calhoun, general partner at Redbud VC, building a personal brand wasn’t about following the script — it was about rewriting it. Rather than stick to safe industry narratives, he built a fund outside traditional hubs and wasn’t afraid to share bold, even unpopular, opinions.
“Thinking about the world differently gets noticed,” Calhoun says. His willingness to speak honestly and amplify new voices didn’t just win him recognition like Forbes 30 Under 30 — it accelerated founder referrals, investor interest, and national press mentions.
The lesson? Safe content blends in. Bold ideas stand out. In an era of saturation, executives who dare to think — and speak — differently are the ones people remember.
Your personal brand is your leadership signature
Personal branding isn’t just marketing — it’s leadership. It’s the handshake before the handshake, the keynote before the keynote, the first impression that outpaces even the sharpest sales pitch.
Done right, a personal brand becomes your greatest multiplier. It opens doors you didn’t know existed. It attracts the right audiences — and gently repels the wrong ones. It accelerates your business and career not by changing who you are, but by giving the world a clear window into it.
In a world craving more realness, the future belongs to the leaders brave enough to show up fully — and to show up often.
