From Now to Next: Engineering Your Personal Brand in 2025 – Part 2.
When I speak about personal branding, most people automatically think of crafting a great social media profile or getting on the speaking circuit.
While this isn’t incorrect, it really is not the core of your personal brand. Read part 1 to find out how the core of your brand begins with how you show up in your own mind so you are congruent in thoughts, actions and intentions.
The second part of personal branding is how you show up in other people's minds. You know you’ve created a powerful personal brand when…
People are excited when they know that they need to work with you.
They associate positive words with you, like being reliable, trustworthy, indispensable or dynamic.
They recommend you for important projects when you’re not in the room.
They can trust you with important projects or value your advice and guidance.
They don’t cancel your meetings.
The essence of a powerful brand transcends the carefully curated public persona that many chase. Instead, it's built on the foundation of genuine human connection and the tangible impact you create in others' lives.
In today's interconnected world, your brand becomes powerful when you master the art of creating memorable experiences that leave others better than you found them. Let's explore how to build this kind of lasting impact.
Make others feel seen and heard.
True listening has become an art form. It means being fully present without immediately jumping to solutions or checking notifications. It's about creating moments where someone can explore their thoughts freely, knowing they have your undivided attention.
When you invite others to share their perspectives, you're not just collecting opinions – you're acknowledging their expertise and lived experience. While unanimous agreement isn't the goal, remember that meaningful involvement creates invested stakeholders.
The impact of genuine recognition ripples far beyond the moment it's given. When you take time to acknowledge someone's efforts specifically and sincerely – whether it's a detailed comment on their strategic thinking or appreciation for their project management skills – you validate not just their work but their unique value to the organisation.
When people feel their work is noticed and valued, their commitment to excellence naturally increases, as does their internal energy and motivation.
Deliver on time.
In 2025's fast-paced business environment, reliability is currency. When someone consistently runs late to meetings, their brand quickly becomes associated with terms like "unreliable," "disorganised," or "unprofessional."
Small delays compound into significant trust issues. Missing a 9:00 AM meeting by five minutes might seem minor. Still, it raises questions: If you can't manage your calendar, how will you handle complex project deadlines or critical client deliverables?
Excellence in delivery requires three core practices:
1. Honour your commitments without exception
2. Build buffer time into your estimates
3. Communicate proactively when obstacles arise
When challenges threaten a deadline, address them immediately. A message saying something like, "The client feedback created additional scope. I know we agreed I would share feedback today, but I need until tomorrow at 2 PM to complete the additional work. Would this work for you?" demonstrates professionalism and respect for others' time.
Every met deadline and proactive update strengthens your brand as someone who can be trusted with increasingly important responsibilities. In contrast, each missed commitment or last-minute delay erodes that trust, requiring significantly more effort to rebuild.
In other words, to establish yourself as a powerful brand, you must keep your promises and manage others' expectations when things don't go according to plan.
Take accountability.
What distinguishes a powerful brand is how you handle those moments of failure. While perfection is impossible, your response to errors shapes how others perceive your professionalism and integrity.
Think about the last time someone offered excuses instead of owning a mistake: "The email system was glitching" or "I wasn't given clear instructions." These deflections erode trust far more than the original error. In contrast, clear accountability builds respect: "I missed this deadline. Here's how I'm fixing it, and here's what I'm changing to prevent it from happening again."
Strong accountability has three components: owning the mistake directly, implementing an immediate solution, and establishing prevention measures. Sometimes, this means seeking input from others—asking for guidance shows maturity, not weakness. The most respected professionals know when to say, "I need help figuring out the best way to solve this."
When you consistently demonstrate this level of accountability, you transform mistakes from brand liabilities into opportunities to showcase your professionalism and commitment to excellence.
Know your triggers.
In today's high-pressure business environment, how you handle stress and conflict can make or break your professional brand. Even the strongest personal brands face moments when emotions threaten to override judgment.
Self-awareness is critical. Identify your specific stress triggers: Are they tight deadlines, back-to-back meetings, or unclear expectations? Your response under pressure—whether it's becoming dismissive in meetings, sending terse emails, or withdrawing from collaboration—can damage relationships and reputations faster than any technical mistake.
Practice stress detection and management:
1. Monitor physical signs: rapid breathing, jaw clenching, tension headaches, scattered focus
2. Note emotional reactions: defensiveness, irritability, withdrawal
3. Identify situational patterns: time of day, specific projects, particular interactions
When you feel your composure slipping, take preemptive action. A simple "I need to step back and review this with fresh eyes tomorrow" maintains professionalism and prevents regrettable reactions. In high-stakes situations, create a buffer – even five minutes between meetings can help reset your emotional state.
The key isn't to eliminate stress but to manage your response to it. Strong brands aren't built on constant perfection but on consistent emotional intelligence and professional judgment, especially under pressure.
Final thoughts.
A powerful personal brand is built on the foundation of consistency – both internal and external. Internally, it's the alignment between how you see yourself and the professional you aspire to be. Externally, it's the reliability of your actions, the consistency of your delivery, and the predictability of your impact on others.
Think of your brand as a bridge between these two dimensions. Your internal consistency – the clarity of your professional identity and values – shapes how you make decisions, respond to challenges, and evaluate opportunities. Your external consistency – how you show up daily, deliver work, and interact with others – determines how people experience your brand.
The magic happens when these elements align. When your self-perception matches your actions, and your actions match others' experiences of you, you create a brand that's both authentic and powerful. This alignment doesn't happen by accident – it requires intentional choices and consistent execution.
The more reliably you demonstrate your core values through your work, communication, and relationships, the stronger your brand becomes. Excellence isn't about occasional moments of brilliance—it's about creating the best version of yourself and showing up as the best version of yourself every day.
Here's to brand you,
Warm wishes
Lori