Be more of who you are, not less.
The Book
Be Your Own Brand, co-authored with David McNally and first published in 2002, arrived at a pivotal moment in the conversation about personal brand. Now in its second edition and translated into 12 languages with over 100,000 copies sold, it has been recognized as a foundational text in the personal brand movement.
But it stood apart from everything else in that space from the very beginning — and it still does.
A Different Kind of Personal Brand Book
At the time Be Your Own Brand was published, most thinking about personal brand treated it as a personal marketing tool — a way to package and promote yourself to the world. We took a fundamentally different position.
Our premise was simple but radical: a strong personal brand isn’t about self-promotion. It’s about authenticity in service of others. By embracing a proven set of principles grounded in your authentic character, you can be more of who you are — not less. And by applying that authenticity in ways that make a genuine difference for the people in your life, your standing with others grows naturally and sustainably.
Be Your Own Brand was the first book to give individuals a pragmatic, principled framework for building a strong personal brand from the inside out — rooted in character, not image management. The promise was straightforward: the more authentically you show up for others, the stronger your personal brand becomes. Not by projecting more, but by being more.
The Corporate Alignment Discovery
What happened next was, in my view, the most innovative and consequential work of my career.
While my co-author and others in the personal brand space had their roots in personal development, my background was in corporate brand strategy and internal brand building. That different vantage point led to a breakthrough discovery that changed my understanding of brand management entirely.
The holy grail of brand management has always been sustainable brand equity — the ability to build genuine, lasting value in a brand year over year. The question is: where does that sustainability come from? My answer, arrived at through years of consulting work, was this: the primary source of sustainably strong brand equity is a thriving, passionate, aligned corporate culture.
The organization that consistently delivers on its brand promise does so because its people are genuinely committed to those values — not because they’ve been told to be, but because those values resonate with who they are as individuals.
That insight led directly to what I call the Power of Brand Alignment — the alignment of employees’ authentic personal brand values with the values of the corporate brand. When that alignment exists, something remarkable happens. Employees are recognized and encouraged to be more of who they are, resulting in greater workplace satisfaction and higher performance. And the organization naturally, consistently delivers on its brand promise to customers — not as a mandate, but as an expression of its culture.
This was a genuine breakthrough. It validated internal brand building as a powerful, measurable brand building tool and fundamentally expanded the principles of brand management.
From Idea to Practice
The Power of Brand Alignment didn’t stay theoretical. I translated it into a comprehensive suite of training and organizational development tools that have since been used by organizations around the world — from global corporations to nonprofits and governments — proving the concept as a viable, innovative approach to building brand equity from the inside out.
The popular Broadview Personal Brand Discovery Tool, a digital app used by business professionals worldwide, is one expression of this work. The alignment workshops and curriculum developed through my firm, Brand Tool Box, are another.
Read an Excerpt
Want a taste of the book before you buy? This excerpt gives you a firsthand look at the core principles behind Be Your Own Brand — including the foundational framework for building a personal brand grounded in authentic character rather than self-promotion.
Find the Book
Be Your Own Brand is available on Amazon. Whether you’re an individual looking to lead with more authenticity or a leader exploring how personal brand principles can strengthen your organization’s culture, it remains as relevant today as when it was first published.
Find it on Amazon