In today’s high-stakes environment—characterised by tighter regulation, intense competition and greater reputational risk—organisations are increasingly focusing on the visibility and clarity of their leadership.

A growing number of national companies are now deliberately developing the personal brands of their top leaders as part of broader business and cultural strategy.

Why this is on the agenda now

Leaders’ personal brands are being treated as a strategic asset in response to four key business needs:

1. Trust in an age of risk: When leaders show up consistently and credibly—online and in person—it strengthens stakeholder trust and market visibility, while mitigating reputational risk. A clear, aligned leadership presence can amplify organisational messaging and reassure stakeholders – especially in the Age of AI!

2. Engagement through uncertainty: During change, leaders need to communicate with confidence, clarity and impact. A strong personal brand helps leaders engage their teams and stakeholders more effectively, providing stability and focus.

3. Leadership readiness: Organisations need their leaders to step into greater visibility with confidence. A structured approach to leadership brand development can fast-track personal growth and improve executive presence.

4. Strategic differentiation for commercial outcomes: In saturated or challenged markets, leadership branding helps organisations stand out. It provides a platform to communicate what makes the business—and its people—different, future-focused and valuable to customers.

What leading companies are doing now

Rather than short-term training or isolated LinkedIn sessions, organisations are integrating leadership branding into broader leadership development frameworks. This often includes:

• A tailored program that aligns personal brand development with organisational strategy, culture, and stakeholder communication.
• A cross-functional approach that connects People & Culture, Communications, and Business Development teams.
• A deeper understanding of personal branding — not as self-promotion, but as a tool for clarity, influence and strategic visibility.

Programs are being applied in different ways, depending on strategy, scope and budget: with executive teams, in high-impact departments, or scaled across the business to build leadership capability early.

Results they’re seeing

Companies proactively developing their leaders demonstrate marked improvements in organisational performance and staff retention – this is not new and is easy to find data on. Developing leaders’ identities and how they communicate that (a.k.a. their ‘leadership brands’) is now being recognised as a tool in the organisation’s toolkit that bridges culture, HR, business development, brand and reputation management.

Organisations are reporting stronger engagement, clearer positioning of their leadership bench, and improved confidence among emerging and senior leaders. From early days in a leadership branding program, organisations start to see results through their people.

Here are some of our real client examples:

“I’ve gone from standard ‘employee’ speak to talking about impact, targeting senior audiences.”

“Very helpful in gaining clarity on positioning; was able to get past self-promotional idea to clarify what I want to say.”

“Taking the time to consider my brand in more depth allowed me to clarify my key points of difference and where I can add value to (Company X).”

“Helped me get mentally ready for the next phase in my career.”

It is a true privilege to work in a space that supports talented people to create meaningful impact in their organisations, through developing their leadership positioning and communication.

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Why defining your PROFESSIONAL APPROACH builds value and trust – and what to do about it.

One of the core tools I use with teams and organisations is NWC’s Team Brand Confidence Scale, which measures how clear and confident a team is on who they are, what they do and why that matters. I use this rating scale to find out how team members feel about the level of confidence in their team or department, when it comes to communicating their identity.

Low scores all round…

One thing on that rating scale that usually scores quite poorly is how well the team articulates their APPROACH to the work they do. Have they defined, as a team, HOW they do things, and why this makes a difference for clients, stakeholders, or the rest of the organisation?

I also observe that many senior leaders and business owners I work with haven’t taken time out to really define their own professional or leadership approach, so they can’t readily put it into words or call on it when they need to – such as in performance reviews, job interviews, in business development conversations with new clients… or when leading their team.

What do I mean by defining your ‘PROFESSIONAL APPROACH’ to the work you do?

An individual professional might have developed a personal approach to their work, whether overtly or naturally over time. This can include things like how they tackle a new project, what steps they take, how they measure progress, how they communicate with others and how they lead.

Similarly, a cohesive team can have a collective, agreed ‘approach’ to their work, and this could include:

• Team Purpose and Goals – what we care about making a difference in, what we focus on achieving together, what we measure
• Team values – what matters to us in how we do things, what we prioritise and celebrate, what are our non-negotiables in delivery
• Method – the frameworks, important steps, principles and approaches we take
• Systems and processes – how we structure our work
• Style – such as our communication style, relationship style, sales style etc.

As an example – here’s a high-level model of New Work Consulting’s differentiated approach, along with a core analysis tool to start a client’s exploration of opportunities, gaps and risks:

What does a defined approach get you?

Many of my individual clients are senior executives moving to portfolio careers or starting their own consultancy in their area of expertise. When these clients are formulating their offering, I encourage them to illustrate their approach in a model or graphic that simply and clearly defines how they do things – their method for getting results.

A visual model not only helps people to quickly understand HOW you achieve what you do, but it helps them remember you for that clear approach, which in turn:

1. Builds trust in you as someone who has developed a time-tested method that achieves results.
2. Creates ‘share-ability’ – your audience can easily articulate, demonstrate or point to your approach to others they wish to refer.

My team needs a PROFESSIONAL APPROACH. Where do we start?

As a team, how can you communicate your professional approach with more clarity and confidence?

Some first steps might include:

• Gather as a team to reflect on our ‘best practice’ – how do we do things, at our best, that works for us?
• Look for the differentiator and put language to it – how do we do things differently, that makes a meaningful difference to our stakeholders?
• Review company values and examine how they apply to our team in practical ways.
• Revise and recommit to what we are trying to achieve together and for others.
• Co-create a visual framework or model to illustrate your professional approach, and decide how you will use it to communicate with your audiences.

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My recent Leaders Roundtable discussion in Sydney was an opportunity to share some of the trends I’m seeing in how large organisations are changing their approach reputation management, brand visibility and value-building, and to hear from senior leaders across professional services about where they are seeing a need to focus.

From banking, finance and investment to HR, legal, risk and regulatory fields, we had a window into some fascinating worlds as we discussed this important topic.

FINSIA CEO Yasser El-Ansary presented opening remarks on why trust is a central theme in any organisation now, but it will mean different things in different contexts. For financial services, ‘trust and confidence’ are essential to survival.

The key trends I highlighted are summarised here:

…but most interesting were the insights the participants brought to the table, including:

• Leaders of industry are now COLLABORATING to lift the bar for the sector’s reputation, setting higher standards in transparency and conduct, engaging with regulators and learning from each other in how to build trust.
• The importance of supporting the INDIVIDUAL’s ‘personal brand’ and reputation, connecting their expertise and professional values with the organisation’s brand – because trust is formed through people.
• The challenge of translating a CHANGE in positioning to employees, or in having NEW STAFF appreciate and understand our reputation in the community.
• The need to work on the ‘internal brand’ (especially during restructures or team movement), including creating differentiated TEAM IDENTITIES and positioning ‘SPECIALISTS’ in the business.
• STAKEHOLDER INFLUENCE on story and finding the key points in story-building (for example, prioritising relationships and agendas in joint ventures).
• Getting employee representatives of the business onboard to communicate the ‘SO WHAT?’ for customers, and creating awareness of the outcomes of customer experience on reputation.
• Getting past the ‘PERSONAL BRAND CRISIS’ for technical experts who don’t like to talk about themselves… to help them position and communicate their value-add.
• CULTURAL DIFFERENCES within a GLOBAL organisation in how information is communicated are important to understand, e.g. language and benchmarking/goal-setting differences in diversity and inclusion.
• An understanding of the fragmented use of SOCIAL MEDIA by target audiences and employees.
• The consideration of the use of AI and technology in brand and reputation, including the speed of response to EMPLOYEE LEAKAGES of sensitive information.
• As professional advisors, ‘Just trust us’ is no longer enough… it has to be ‘TRUST US BECAUSE…’

“Just trust us” is no longer enough… it has to be “TRUST US BECAUSE…”

What was MOST EXCITING to me was that the roundtable discussion reflected views I am seeing in a range of enquiries and projects around Australia and beyond – the need to think about brand and reputation-building through meaningful engagement and empowerment of our people, and the need for brand and culture to align in order to build trust with stakeholders.

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I recently posed the question: Is your mission-critical team being seen?

In 2024, our clients in professional services, resources and infrastructure took a much more strategic approach to team and leadership branding for the people who engage with stakeholders to drive outcomes for the business – and enquiries for 2025 indicate this focus will increase.  

WHY THIS FOCUS on team and leadership brand strategy for professional organisations in the current market?

 Accelerating competition through challenging market conditions and increased AI productivity and communication tools, combined with an increasingly risk-filled, litigious environment where businesses are held accountable to much more, mean that organisations are seeking:

1. A more pro-active approach to reputation value-building and risk mitigation – before a crisis hits.
2. Beyond relying on your track record: The need to stand out, not just for expertise but for the way leaders present themselves and build their ‘voice’.
3. The need to align siloed teams and empower different groups of people to talk about the organisation with confidence.
4. The need to provide cutting-edge, high-engagement and high-impact learning and development experiences to grow leaders and retain the best people.

Find out more about this approach here.

In 2025, I will be facilitating a series of complimentary leader roundtables around the country, to unpack what we’re seeing companies focus in on for brand growth, reputation risk management and culture strategy. In these sessions we will invite key leaders to bring their own insights and share their ideas and challenges with peers.

If you’re interested in co-hosting one of our leaders’ roundtables, either in your city or virtually, get in touch.

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When people ask me what sets one organisation apart from another, I often respond with a question of my own: What’s your special sauce?

You know, that unique combination of ingredients that makes your organisation great—the flavour no one else can quite replicate. But here’s the thing: Can you bottle it? Could you clearly define and communicate what makes your organisation exceptional—both to your employees and the outside world?

If you’re pausing for a moment to think about that, you’re not alone.

Clear on Your Point of Difference

In a world where innovations in technology or pricing strategies are quickly copied, your true point of difference isn’t likely to lie there—at least, not for long. Your organisation’s real magic is far more likely to be about your people.

What do they stand for as a collective? What unique strengths and values do they bring as individuals? How do they connect with clients, build trust, and deliver value?

These questions get to the heart of your brand and culture. But here’s the challenge: how well are you communicating that difference? Because even the most genuine and powerful point of difference needs to be visible to have an impact.

“…even the most genuine and powerful point of difference needs to be visible to have an impact.”

For example, is it easy for your existing clients and referral sources to quickly express your value to their contacts? Are you showcasing your strengths in ways that resonate with new audiences online? Clarity is key – both internally and externally. If you can’t articulate your uniqueness, how will anyone else know it exists?

People as the Living Brand

I’ve seen time and again that brand growth stems from two fundamental principles: trust and visibility. For trust to exist, your brand needs to be aligned, cohesive, and consistently demonstrated through your people.

Think about it: In today’s increasingly virtual and connected world, every word your team members speak, every email they send, and every post they share online is amplified. Gaps in alignment stand out. That’s why clarity on your defining brand values is so important – not just at the leadership level, but throughout your entire organisation.

When your people are included in the process of developing those values, they naturally begin to embody them. This alignment doesn’t just elevate your brand; it builds confidence in your team. Employees who feel connected to a clear and meaningful brand and culture are empowered to communicate with stakeholders in a way that inspires trust.

From collaborating internally, to delivering client service, to building thought leadership online… every touchpoint becomes an opportunity for your team to reflect the essence of your organisation’s ‘special sauce’ – when they are clear and confident on what it is and why it matters.

A Recipe for Growth

So, here’s my challenge to you as a leader:

1. What’s your organisation’s special sauce?
2. Who in your organisation would describe it the same way you do?

If the answer to the second question isn’t everyone, then it’s time to dig deeper. It starts with clarity—getting everyone on the same page about what makes your organisation unique and valuable.

When your team truly understands and embraces your brand and culture, they become a cohesive force, united by a shared understanding of why their work matters. And that, more than anything, is what will drive sustainable growth and set you apart.

Your special sauce isn’t just about being different; it’s about being clear about why that difference matters. So, what’s in your bottle?

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Which team in your business is mission-critical?

You could rightly argue that every team is essential to the organisation’s success… but there is probably a narrower cohort that are critical to your current objectives and strategy.

• Your sales/BD team.
• Your team of advisors in a strategic growth focus area.
• The team targeting a new market share.
• The team leading a pivot or positioning change in the business.

It’s likely that for your mission-critical team to succeed, they need to be SEEN.

REALLY seen.

Industry example: Energy & Resources

Mining is the classic example of an industry faced with changes in strategic focus, in products and services, and even in how they are seen!

Energy and resources are in the spotlight during a time when every business needs to demonstrate greater accountability for ESG and sustainability; they are tasked with leading the ‘green energy transition’ and ambitious climate goals.

For many energy and resources organisations, the people developing new, greener business make up the mission-critical teams. The challenge for these newly-formed teams, undertaking and selling new work, is essentially to make a name for themselves – not only to be known among competitors and by important external stakeholders for what they can offer, but to prove their value internally with shareholders, board, executive and others within the organisation.

Whatever your industry – here are some starting points to assess whether your mission-critical team is being seen (and in the right way!).

Being seen EXTERNALLY = Making a name for yourselves among stakeholders and audiences

• Engaging, listening & responding: Is your critical team actively building relationships with new stakeholders and audiences, or with current stakeholders and audiences in new ways? Do you have an organised approach to this, a plan, accountability?
• Demonstrating transparency: Is your critical team sticking to authentic messaging about who we are, what we are currently doing and what we hope to achieve? Are they empowered to answer questions posed to them by media and social media communities?
• Reinforcing a strong brand: Is your critical team crystal-clear on how to articulate the brand and culture – who we are in business – and do they understand how everything they do and say either builds or breaks down that perception?

 Being seen INTERNALLY = Proving yourselves with shareholders, leaders and staff

• Why this: Demonstrating to the ultimate decision makers that a new strategic arm of the business is going to work is a foundational first step, mostly hashed out at board and executive level. Your critical team then has the job of proving the point – are they armed with the strategic thinking skills to reach goals in unchartered territory? And what support might you need to ensure everyone is clear on the most important thing to communicate about ‘why this’?
• Why us: Particularly with a new team or a team with a new focus, proving yourselves as a team is no small task. Ask yourselves as a team, ‘Why us?’ Why this particular group of experts, advisors or BDMs to do this job? Give your team the opportunity to reflect on the value they each bring to the collective, and how they can lead with that. (Guiding this exploration is one of the best parts of my job, because everyone is rewarded!)
• Who needs to know? Find structures to share your team’s expertise, plans, projects and wins with the wider organisation. How can they educate, inspire, or collaborate more widely? Bring everyone along for the journey to increase visibility and support for your team.

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In recent work with clients, I have heard senior management express their belief that culture underpins how things are done and the level of success possible for an organisation – achieved in the right way. I’ve witnessed mid-managers say they want strong leadership of culture from the top and alignment of culture to help them integrate it meaningfully with their teams.

I have heard staff identify problems with scaling culture such as:

• Over 80% of staff feeling ‘less than clear’ on the organisation’s values and what they mean for the individual or team, including vastly different experiences of values inductions for new employees, and experiences of ‘dropping’ values conversations beyond early employment.
• A lack of confidence in articulating ‘who we are’, ‘where we are going’ and ‘what we stand for’ – despite a general feeling of pride in the company they work for.
• A need for better and more frequent communication of culture and vision from the top, and more opportunities for a 2-way exchange, and for sharing across teams and functions.
• A desire from leadership to work with everyone in the organisation and community on building a strong culture, but a lack of clarity on how to go about this.

Given the agreement on the importance of getting culture right, how do you clarify the culture you need for the future of your business (including the parts of your culture that can already be celebrated and leveraged) and how do you ensure everyone is oriented from that perspective as you grow?

How do you make a culture scalable?

A BUSINESS EXAMPLE

The mining and resources industry is currently faced with the challenge of articulating a shift in purpose: how is it genuinely contributing to solving the environmental and social challenges of the world; how are companies demonstrating that they are operating to high ESG standards, while continuing to sustain business growth?

One client needed to attract high volumes of quality staff to accelerate operations, in order to quickly capitalise on their green energy opportunity, while working in harmony with varied stakeholder groups. It was time to reinvent their messaging about ‘Who we are’, ‘Where we are going’ and ‘Why that matters’, balancing its proud community roots with its focus on a bigger future.

Most importantly, the process of brand and culture reinvention needed to be structured in a way that would ensure it was led strongly from the top, that it would be meaningful to all stakeholders, and that it would be sustainably integrated – ‘not an event, but a path’.

That meant collectively saying NO to:

• A one-and-done “Purpose & Values Day” offsite;
• A siloed approach to brand development or to recruitment promotions, without considering what is happening inside the organisation;
• Decision-making in a boardroom about culture, without first deeply listening to the people involved in living out that culture;
• ‘Launching the new culture’ in a day, then simply returning to business as usual.

To do this right, we needed some time – and everyone’s participation. Not easy in a large (and quickly growing) organisation, working across various sites in a multitude of roles, and always, always busy!

We needed many ways to reach stakeholders, to be able to achieve meaningful consultation and communication across board and leadership, managers and team members, government and community stakeholders.

We started where they were at, undertaking a guided process of uncovering key messages with detailed, collaborative iteration to get to final versions of Purpose, Vision, Values and Brand messaging. We guided the formulation of leadership and organisation-wide communication strategy to cascade these messages and their importance, throughout the organisation and community – and reinforce them over time.

Most meaningfully, we didn’t forget that a culture isn’t built by overlaying shiny new messaging over BAU. We advised on accessible, practical ways people at various levels within the organisation can review and align governance, strategy, structures, systems, operations, standards and rituals to reflect the brand and culture, with attention to leadership capabilities, employee life cycles, team and individual KPIs and measurement.

YOUR TAKE-AWAY HERE

• Intentional, well-planned language allows us to define and share a culture. Our statements around Purpose, Vision, Values and Culture Characteristics help us make Brand & Culture more visible, more definable, more measurable… and therefore more leadable and scalable.
• Remember that for culture to be scalable, it takes real work, not throwing a parade. It requires a close look at how culture impacts and is impacted by the organisation’s big assumptions and structures, and its daily practices and rituals. It means connection to all stakeholders, to all parts of the business, and to the outward-facing brand. This takes time and an organised, all-in approach.
• The team manager has the biggest influence because they have the day-to-day touchpoints and are the visible role models. How are you empowering, supporting and aligning team leaders to engage their teams in regular conversations and practices that support the culture?

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“Build it and they will come.”  Seriously?

I’ve always disapproved of this saying, not only because it’s the worst business advice ever (a close second being ‘It doesn’t matter if no-one gets it, as long as YOU love it!’)…

…but also because it gives new entrepreneurs false hope, and career professionals the excuse to wait around and hope to be noticed, instead of clearly communicating what they want and why they should get it.

When it comes to your personal brand, the plan works if you work it.

And the trick people miss is that there IS a plan, beyond the initial work to clarify your brand, and it takes consistent and continual effort to grow your brand by following that plan.

It’s like building a new website but not telling anyone it’s there (through social media, listings, word of mouth etc.). People get so excited about the ‘launch’ of their shiny new website but forget to direct traffic to it, then wonder why they hear crickets. Remember just how BIG the internet is?? No-one knows your little website is there.

To some extent, it’s the same with your LinkedIn profile. A client asked recently whether we needed to change the content of his profile because since we set up his personal brand positioning and optimised his LinkedIn page a year ago, interest had waned. What he forgot in the busyness of his demanding role and everyday life, is that we also set up an ongoing communication plan to keep his target audience finding him on LinkedIn. Now, actioning this plan has become his priority.

Like this client, I work with a lot of senior professionals and businesspeople who don’t need a whole lot of new opportunities, they just want to direct more specific ones. Some of them are also very good at going out and finding those opportunities, making the ask. But all of them say they would like some of the best opportunities to simply find them.

The best plan is a combination of both these approaches. And in order to achieve the bit where they find you, they need to know you are there in the first place – and they need to be reminded.

Your personal brand – in other words, standing out for a specific reason to the right people and then staying on their radar – is not a one-and-done. First set it up with a clear message about who you are and what you bring, and then follow a simple but consistent plan to keep that message front and centre.

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Using a Value Proposition Chart to FOCUS on WHO you are talking to.

Having just completed a sprint of team branding workshops and leadership brand strategy sessions to clarify positioning and value messaging, front-of-mind at the moment is the importance of narrowing your message to a specific audience.

Talking to everyone? No, you’re not.

In presentations on brand communication, I always tell the audience: ‘If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to NO-ONE.’

People’s first impulse when asked to identify their stakeholders or client segments is to give me a long list of examples, or simply to say, ‘Well, everyone, really!’ This is most prevalent among entrepreneurs starting new businesses who want to grow their market as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, many of us (myself included, in the early days of starting a business) learn the hard way: When you try to appeal to everyone, or many, your message ends up unclear, untargeted and ultimately… unheard.

When you try to appeal to everyone, your message ends up unclear, untargeted and ultimately… unheard.

If you want to gain traction quickly, keep it focused… just like a laser (many beams targeting one spot). It may seem counterintuitive, but a narrow approach will actually attract wider audiences – even ones you don’t expect. This is because you are ACTUALLY SAYING SOMETHING – and that will appeal strongly to your target audience, and others besides.

A business example

In a recent workshop with an energy client, I asked the group to identify their main ‘buckets’ of stakeholders. This experienced team straight away agreed on the 5 key audiences that they build a presence with, through their work every day. They knew them well – who they are, where they play, what they need from the team.

As we considered each stakeholder group and what the team helps them achieve, it was quickly evident how vastly different the messaging (both in content and language) needed to be to appeal to different groups.

For example, a community stakeholder may be largely concerned with the sustainability of their region: the provision of jobs and the welfare of its people. While this might also be a consideration for an internal stakeholder such as the executive team that our team answer to, the most important point to highlight with internal decision-makers might be how the team’s plan contributes to the company’s strategy to reach commercial, financial and ESG goals.

While the team knew this, taking the time to put the value proposition for each stakeholder into CLEAR WORDS was seen as an important step in empowering them to be more confident communicators when they step in front of these audiences (including online).

Your take-away here

Work with your team to put together simple value proposition chart like the one below, to help clarify some laser-focused messaging – then use the chart as a ‘roadmap’ when planning your communications to these audiences.

Deceptively simple… but difficult to do well. It will require some workshopping, reviewing and improving – and the all-important step of ensuring everyone is on the same page!

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