Personal branding for Tech CEOs

There has been a dominant Tech PR trend in the last couple of years — Personal branding and PR of Tech Executives. With this post, I would like to discover what makes personal branding for executives important now and how to do it the right way.

Where does the trend come from?

When I started working in Tech, and especially in the mobile industry in 2005, it was much easier for startups to differentiate. There were not that many products, technology wasn’t that advanced, and only the early adopters really knew the difference between Windows Mobile-First Edition and Second Edition. Then the companies discovered visual design and UX as their core differentiator.

Today though, in the world where we see generations growing up with technology and breathing and living it, we see UX becoming a piece of common knowledge and beautiful visual design - “a must,” it becomes harder and harder to stand out.

Simultaneously, the adoption of social networks and the recent COVID-shift into Online life changed the way we get to know each other. Online-first or even online-only.

Employees, clients, partners, potential, and existing are looking at what you’ve built and who has built it, and how. And if your story is not coherent enough. They will know. Going into the first session with an executive client, I would first watch youtube videos, read articles, and Twitter posts. And your employees, partners, and clients do the same.

Tech, as an industry, grew up and became a real part of the creative industry. It used to be only a prerogative of fashion companies, music labels, visual artists, etc., to build a brand around their founders (see Tory Burch, Alexander McQueen, Jay-Z, etc.). It is not a surprise that the CEO’s persona influences culture the most. So Tech needs to act as a part of the creative industry. Not only in terms of “sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll.”

Natural Resistance

Some of the Tech founders never thought they would end up in a situation where their personality becomes a unique differentiator for their company.

The majority of them started their companies because they wanted freedom, challenge, or were not really employable within standard hierarchies. They wanted to play with the new ideas in their own way. The real makers and geeks rarely understand the “unmeasurable” (in their eyes) nature of a personal brand and are very resistant to self-exposure.

What value branding brings to products and services is clear, PR for fundraising, clear, but how do I measure the value of my personal brand as the CEO and why it makes sense to take the valuable time out of other activities such as product, technology, hiring, finances, etc. Why bother?

Somewhere down the line, they find their answer in hiring and employee retention, and as a result, the speed and quality with which the company can grow and innovate. It becomes important.

And not knowing how to approach the topic, they rely on their communication department and consultants.

Traps

There are two extremes that I see when it comes to the personal branding of the tech CEO:

• thinking they have nothing special about themselves and, as a result, nothing to share;
• oversharing: showing all sides of them, everywhere all the time.

I don’t think that we need to discuss those extremes; they are not where we want to land.

Another trap is to fully trust that their internal communication team and consultants will define their personal brand aka. “tell you who you need to be to present a company in the right way.” Advice helps, and it can inform the decision. You can’t outsource it fully, though. It is like hiring a nanny to fully take care of your kids and wondering why the kids don’t build a trusting relationship with you personally.

In both cases (extremes we find ourselves into and the responsibility that we hand over to our coms people), we are missing a personal, deep inner discovery — aka Getting to Know yourself and understanding that what you have to say in the way you want to say it and is it valuable for the market and community you are in. It is not a workshop. It is a process.

Self-exploration at the core of the brand

Getting to know yourself might be quite a challenge for someone who has never done this work before. Personal branding is a skill; it is a muscle you build over time. It is a mix of self-awareness, empathy, and self-regulation.

A strong personal brand of the founder and the executive holds a balance between personal boundaries and authenticity. It is an art of knowing and showing who you are with a purpose. Understanding how you influence the system (company, market, any relationships really) and the system influences you.

The “HOW” or What to do next?

We spoke about “why” and “what.” Let us talk about “How”.

In order to find that balance, you need to embark on an interesting journey - a personal discovery. This discovery should look into who you are on the surface and the inside and how all parts of your personality intertwine.

Here coaching and especially vertical leadership development comes in place by expanding your meaning-making system, aka “how you see the world and make decisions”. (I won’t go deep into this topic, here is a good article for you). It also informs what you might need to learn to formulate and present a coherent personal brand that also influences your company culture.

As a coach, I work and partner with several companies and Tech communication agencies that want to support executives and started looking into coaching as a valuable competence to help a client discover their own personal brand. It helps to unpack whatever the clients hold with them and select what the clients are ready to present to the world.

So when to start? As soon as Series A hits your bank account. It will take time to define and grow into your personal brand; it will take time to iterate and get comfortable with the “stage” and grow into a new action-logic.

How to start? Find a coach that will enable this self-discovery or find an agency that partners with coaches or trains their own people to guide you through the journey, not drive the journey.

Last words

I want to come back to what I wrote earlier — building a personal brand is a process, not a single decision or a “result,” and needs to be treated like one.

We all have a personal brand; do we want it or not. A week personal brand informs the outside world about your company as much as a strong personal brand. There is no way to hide things anymore.

The strong personal brand of the founder or the CEO influences and feeds the whole company and needs to be looked at as a strategic investment of your time and funds. And with the same rigorousness, you build your product; you need to build your personal brand.