The Myth of "Personal Branding"
Many leaders shy away from "personal branding," seeing it as vain or fake. This is a misunderstanding.
The phrase “personal branding” often creates a bad feeling for serious professionals. When a leader hears it, they might think of social media stars, endless selfies, or people selling a perfect, fake life. They imagine loud, empty claims and a chase for attention.
This image is a strong reason why many smart, competent leaders choose to stay quiet. They think: “I am an expert. I am a leader. I am not an influencer. My work is too important for such vanity.”
This feeling is valid. The online world is indeed full of noise and superficiality. But this fear comes from a big misunderstanding of what a public presence actually is for a leader.
“Personal branding” is a bad phrase for a necessary activity. It sounds like something fake you put on, like a label. It suggests showing off.
But for you, a leader with deep knowledge, public presence is not about acting. It is about owning your narrative. It is about ensuring your true competence is seen and understood by the right people, not just a few people inside your company.
Visibility is not vanity. It is strategy.
The Problem With Ignoring Your Narrative
When you choose to be absent from the public conversation (when you avoid showing who you are and what you think), you do not actually disappear. You simply lose control of the story.
The internet does not leave a blank space where you should be. That space gets filled by other things. It might be:
Old, outdated information (an old job description, a forgotten company profile).
A generic profile that says nothing unique about your skills.
The loudest voices in your industry (who might have less real expertise than you).
The stories others tell about you (often incomplete or wrong).
This is dangerous. Every time a recruiter, a future client, or a potential partner searches for you, they are looking for a story. If you do not provide your own story, they will either find a bad one or make one up based on very little information.
Ignoring your public narrative is like handing your career storybook to a stranger and letting them write the most important chapters.
Influencer vs. Authority: A Crucial Difference
Let us be clear. Being a leader with a public presence is not the same as being an influencer.
An influencer’s goal is often reach. They want many eyes on them. Their income might depend on how many people they can get to see their posts, to click, or to buy a product. Their primary content is often about their lifestyle, entertainment, or trends. They aim for broad attention.
A leader’s goal is authority. You want the right eyes on your insights. Your value comes from your deep expertise, your unique frameworks, and your proven ability to solve real problems. Your content focuses on lessons, strategies, and reflections from your work. You aim for specific trust.
The influencer seeks to entertain and grow numbers. The leader seeks to inform and build reputation.
You do not need to entertain. You need to educate, clarify, and guide.
You do not need to grow numbers for the sake of it. You need to grow trust with the people who matter for your professional impact.
This distinction is crucial. It frees you from the pressure to be someone you are not. It allows you to focus on sharing your intelligence, not performing a role.
Owning Your Narrative: The Strategic Pillars
So, if public presence is not vanity, what is it? It is a strategic system built on these pillars:
1. Clarify Your Domain. What specific area of expertise do you truly own? What problems are you uniquely skilled at solving? Before you share anything, you must be crystal clear about your professional ground. This clarity makes your presence feel focused, not scattered. It tells the world: “This is my area of deep contribution.”
2. Translate Your Expertise. Your private knowledge is complex. Your public insights must be simple. This means taking your real-world experience (the project failures, the unexpected wins, the tough decisions) and translating them into digestible lessons, frameworks, or principles. This is the skill of teaching, not just telling. It shows how you think, not just what you know.
3. Build Your Digital Home. Do not rely only on social media platforms. They are rented land. You need a place you own (a simple website, a professional blog) where your best thinking and your full story can live. This digital home becomes the central hub for your narrative, a reliable place for people to find the real you.
4. Engage with Purpose. Your public presence is not a one-way broadcast. It is a conversation. Engage with the ideas of others in your field. Offer thoughtful comments. Ask smart questions. This builds genuine relationships and shows you are part of a larger community of thinkers. This engagement is about connecting, not just posting.
5. Cultivate Consistency. You do not need to be everywhere all the time. But you need to show up regularly. A small, consistent stream of valuable insights is far more powerful than a few big posts followed by long silence. Consistency signals reliability. It tells the world: “This leader is here to stay.”
The Power of Public Competence
When you put these pillars in place, you are not building a “personal brand” in the old, shallow sense. You are building something far more important: a public legacy of competence.
You are ensuring that your leadership, your insights, and your impact are recognized beyond the company walls. You are attracting opportunities that match your true value. You are shaping the conversation in your industry.
This is not about chasing fame. It is about claiming your rightful place as a visible authority. It is about ensuring that the leader you are in private is the trusted expert the world sees in public.
Your value is too great to remain hidden. It is time to replace the myth of personal branding with the strategy of public leadership.