Beyond the Surface: How Personal Branding Can Feel Like Business Therapy

By Marina Byezhanova

 In an era where "personal branding" has become a buzzword, most leaders begin their work with a personal branding agency expecting it to be akin to a marketing exercise of sorts. They come to the first meeting expecting conversations about social media strategies, content calendars, and elevator pitches. What they don't expect is what nearly every client tells us after a few sessions with our agency: "This feels like business therapy."

This reaction isn't surprising. In fact, it's central to how we approach personal branding at Brand of a Leader. And it’s what differentiates us from our competitors. With AI-generated content and automated conversation funnels, authentic human connection has suddenly become more valuable than ever. And that is why the most effective personal brands cannot be built through careful curation of social media posts or crafting the perfect bio – they emerge from deep self-understanding and intentional expression of who we truly are.

The Truth About Personal Branding

The biggest misconception about personal branding is that it's primarily an external exercise – a way to polish your presence or enhance your visibility. While these are important outcomes, they're secondary to the real work of personal branding: understanding and authentically expressing who you are.

This misconception leads many CEOs to resist personal branding entirely. They see it as self-promotion or, worse, as inauthentic marketing. After every speaking engagement I give, at least one person approaches me to confess how much they dreaded the session before it started. They feared I was going to tell them to become someone they're not, to engage in endless self-promotion, or to create a carefully curated “PR” image of themselves.

The Journey Inward

Instead, the path to developing a powerful personal brand starts in an unexpected direction: backward. Before we even consider platforms or content strategies, we need to explore your life's journey. At Brand of a Leader, this process includes:

• Life Mapping: Examining your entire life story, from childhood onwards. Every significant moment, both triumphs and challenges, contains patterns that reveal your authentic self.
• Core Values Exploration: Moving beyond the core values of your business to uncover the deep, sometimes uncomfortable truths that guide all of your decisions.
• Pattern Recognition: Identifying the common threads that have woven through your personal and professional life, often revealing surprising connections.

The power of this approach became clear recently when working with a Founder who struggled to reconcile his business identity with his spiritual side. Like many leaders, he felt pressure to compartmentalize these aspects of himself, believing they couldn't coexist in his professional brand. Through our process of deep exploration, we discovered that these seemingly contradictory elements actually formed the very foundation of his unique leadership perspective.

Why Most People Get It Wrong

And yet, most leaders begin their personal brand building journey in the exact opposite direction than inside-out. Typically the process goes like that:

• Start by choosing a platform ("I need to be on LinkedIn")
• Worry about what content to create
• Stress about their audience's perception
• Try to discover their brand through content creation

This approach is like trying to build a house without a foundation – it might look good initially, but it won't stand the test of time. More importantly, it often ends up feeling inauthentic because it is inauthentic.

The Two Pillars of Effective Personal Branding

At Brand of a Leader, we've developed our unique methodology based on two fundamental pillars:

1. Internal Understanding

This first pillar focuses on self-discovery and clarity:

• Getting clear on who you are beyond your job title
• Understanding how you want to be perceived
• Identifying your non-negotiable values
• Recognizing your unique patterns and strengths

2. External Expression

Only after establishing internal clarity do we move to expression:

• Choosing platforms that align with your authentic self
• Creating content that reflects both your expertise and humanity
• Building consistency in your message
• Developing a sustainable approach to visibility

These pillars work together to create a brand that's both authentic and sustainable. The key is that the external expression flows from internal understanding, rather than being artificially constructed.

Getting Started: DIY 

If you are looking to build your personal brand without external help, here are some of the first steps to take:

1. Start with Introspection
• Map out your life's significant moments
• Look for patterns and themes
• Identify what truly matters to you
• Consider how you're currently perceived
2. Build Your Foundation
• Define your core values
• Identify your unique perspective
• Clarify your message
• Determine your ideal impact
3. Choose Your Platforms Wisely
• Begin with your immediate circle of influence
• Master one platform before adding others
• Ensure consistency in your presence
• Focus on sustainability over rapid expansion

The Human Side of Branding

Remember that your personal brand isn't about what you do – it's about who you are. And let’s be honest: we are all so much more than the businesses we build and scale. What we do will change throughout our professional journeys, but who we are remains relatively constant. This is what gives a personal brand portability and authenticity.

When developing your brand, consider:

• What patterns keep showing up in your life?
• What values do you hold so strongly that they sometimes create challenges?
• How do you want people to feel after interacting with you?
• What impact do you want to have beyond your current role?

Moving Forward

Building a personal brand isn't about becoming a persona of some kind – it's about becoming more intentionally yourself. The process might feel uncomfortable initially. You might have to face some truths about yourself or confront long-held beliefs about self-promotion. You might even hesitate to put yourself out there. Yet, a well-crafted strategy rooted in a unique point of view – clarity of what you are bringing to the conversation – helps you gain confidence in facing the visibility. 

After all, no matter whether we like it or not, when we build our CEO brand it is simply good for our businesses. And it has become the expectation of the modern-day leader. 

This article was inspired by my interview on The Feminine Founder with Caroline Pennington. 

Ready to develop your leadership brand? Let’s book a call and discuss how we can help.