You don’t build a personal brand by explaining what you do and who you are. You build it by challenging how people think, and the rest is discovered naturally.
Most professionals approach content like a job description, meaning they explain what they offer, what they’ve done, or what they’re good at.
However, information doesn’t create momentum, PERSPECTIVE and TRANSFORMATION do.
The people who stand out are the ones who see things differently from the norm, by taking something familiar and reframing it. That reframe then helps someone in their audience see or do something in a better way.
→ A consultant might challenge how we think about defining the true problem.
→ A human resources professional might reengineer the concept of traditional professional development.
→ A chef might challenge how we think about a specific part of the food experience (dessert first and breakfast for dinner sounded different at first, which is why they stuck).
People pause, lean in, and remember you, not because you explained more, but because you provided a different lens.
We’ll explore this concept further through the first case study in my book, Lisa Hornick, OD, MBA, FAAO: an optometrist, mother of two, speaker, and author.
She built her brand in large part by questioning standard treatments for dry eye disease and creating better outcomes for patients with the most complex cases. She now touches millions of lives through her network effect. She started by doing something I've told you to do before: she questioned the question. Was the most common standard of care (eyedrops) really treating the real problem?
Here's our full interview, where she shares more about her personal brand journey.
