Your company has a brand. So do you, and the two should grow together. A founder's personal brand opens doors the company cannot open alone.
A business is given its brand when it launches. A person never is: their brand has existed since birth. The Manifesto treats the founder and the company as two separate entities that should be built correlatively, and it argues that business owners benefit from a personal brand more than any other profession it describes.
The practical reason is reach. Founders often have larger audiences than their companies, and people trust a person faster than a logo. The risk is the reverse: a founder whose reputation lives only inside the company has nothing that travels with them when the company changes.
Business owners benefit the most from their personal brands more than any other example that I’ve given thus far.
Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, 8.5
Most founders begin known to customers and peers in one market. The State Representative, recognized across a region or an industry, is usually the tier that changes deal flow, hiring, and press.
Where most stand: Tier 3, The Local HeroBuild toward: Tier 4, The State Representative
The tier measures how large a position is. How good it is, is measured by The Five Personal Brand Pillars. Read more about the six tiers.
The moves MCG starts with for business owners and founders, grouped by pillar, in order. Each one cites the subchapter of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence it comes from.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews that applies to business owners and founders, from the same library MCG consultants work from. Each one keeps the words he said it in, and links to the transcript where there is one.
When your company hosts an event, invite people personally under your own name first. Track how many attend because of you rather than the company.
“i know that it is worth my time”
Unrivaled Results with Mashman Ventures, “UNRIVALED: Personal Branding Training”, April 13, 2022
If every post is about your offer, rebalance until people can describe you without mentioning your product.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“you're not going to have longevity”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “People, Personality and Personal Branding”, September 26, 2020
Do the things you ask your team to do, visibly, and show that you care about each person who looks to you.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“the leader sets the example and actually cares about the person”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “It's Time to Step Up As Leaders”, April 20, 2020
Never criticize competitors in public. Put the energy into making what you build stand out on its own.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“just build the biggest building”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Competitive Edge”, June 8, 2020
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | The three numbers you check every Monday, and why. | The routine that gets you to work in the right frame of mind. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | The strangest customer request you ever said yes to. | Your worst first-job story. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | The week the business almost did not make it, and what saved it. | The person who believed in you before anyone else. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Introduce one team member and what they taught you. | Ask your audience what they would build if they started today. |
Draw a Week
Two posts about your work, one about your life, drawn from the ideas above.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
The Manifesto is direct about it: do not use your business pages and platforms for personal purposes. Give yourself a presence that is clearly yours.
If every post is the company's announcement, you have built the company's brand and not your own.
Documenting the journey from founder to owner of a growing business is itself the content. It cannot be recreated later.
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Business Owner / Founder on the intake and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
Both, as two separate assets that grow together. The company brand is decided at launch; your personal brand is you, and it travels with you whatever happens to any one company.
Not if it is pointed at the same goals. Founders often have larger audiences than their companies, and a trusted founder makes the company easier to buy from, invest in, and work for.
With the 4 Pillar Questions, then a presence that is clearly yours: a page, a byline, and a consistent profile, separate from the company's channels.
More executives are becoming the public face of their companies. The ones who do it well build a presence before a crisis or a stock price asks them to.
Capital is plentiful; trust and access are not. An investor's personal brand decides which rooms they are invited into and which deals find them first.
Clients buy a consultant before they buy the service. A personal brand with evidence behind it is what lets you charge for your judgment.
Four questions MCG asks every client before any strategy, in this order, because each answer depends on the one before it.
A 2:1 ratio from Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding. For every two steps that grow the brand side, take one that grows the personal side.
Be transparent about what you want and why. Letting your intent be known creates advocates out of the people around you.
Engagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
Consultations are virtual or in person. See what each includes, and what is asked of you: Virtual or In Person.
