Stop Building Your Personal Brand
Everyone's talking about building a personal brand, but they've got it backward. Your brand isn't something you create—it's something you reveal.
"Personal branding" has become the buzzword of the age. Entrepreneurs, professionals, and aspiring influencers obsess over their online presence, carefully curating their social media feeds and polishing their digital personas to perfection. Yet in our eager rush to build these modern personas, we've forgotten something fundamental: personal branding is simply a new term for an age-old concept: character.
The Essence of Character
Long before LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram feeds, people understood the importance of reputation. They knew that a person's true nature would inevitably reveal itself through their actions, choices, and impact on others. As Proverbs 22:1 tells us, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." This ancient Biblical wisdom captures a truth that modern personal branding often overlooks: reputation isn't built through careful curation but through consistent character.
The Modern Misconception
Many approach personal branding backward. They start with the image they want to project, carefully curating every post and interaction to match that ideal. Worse still, many aspiring influencers simply emulate what they envy in others without ever considering where that path eventually leads. They're so captivated by someone else's highlight reel, chasing after similar attention, that they forget to begin with their own end in mind.
Before you chase someone else's "success," ask yourself: If I achieve exactly what they have, will it align with who I am and what I value? Will it lead me to the life I actually want to live? What will people closest to me remember at my funeral? What stories will they tell? As Jesus asks with piercing clarity in Mark 8:36: "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" There's an eternal opinion that matters far more than your family, friends, or followers.
I suppose I’m not calling you to stop building your personal brand. I’m challenging you to pause to see if it reflects the beliefs and values you hold dear.
The Character-Brand Connection
Here's how authentic personal brands—and genuine character—actually develop:
Beliefs shape our values
Values drive our behaviors
Behaviors produce our results
Results define our reputation
Your reputation—or personal brand, in modern parlance—isn't what you claim it to be. It's the natural outcome of this cascade, starting with your core beliefs and ending with the impact you have on the world. As Matthew 7:16-17 puts it, "You will recognize them by their fruits... every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit." Look first to give your character substance rather than seeking substance for your content.
The Truth About Values-Based Brands
Here's an uncomfortable truth: Your values don't have to be good to gain good results.
Some of the most "successful" personal brands are built on the presence of very specific values—just not the ones you might admire. When someone's core belief is that life revolves around their possessions, beauty, status, and fame, that brand is still values-based. But it's anchored in self-centered values rather than service, growth, or community.
Don't be fooled by the glamour. As 1 Samuel 16:7 warns us, "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." A strong personal brand doesn't automatically mean strong character—it only indicates alignment between beliefs and behaviors. The question isn't whether you have values driving your brand but which values you're choosing to embody.
In a moment of transparency, I wrestle with what values I'm trying to display even as I write this piece. For example, I'm writing something I believe to be true—but my motivations can shift even during the writing process. I often begin with a pure motive of sharing, giving, and inspiring growth. But as the editing continues, it's not uncommon to feel my desires shift toward an unhealthy longing for affirmation.
The deceitfulness of my own desires are ever-present; that's why beliefs must be our anchor so we know when we're drifting.
Building an Authentic Legacy
If your personal brand doesn't authentically showcase your values, you're likely building on a false persona. You might not recognize it yet, but the people around you do. They can sense the disconnect between who you claim to be and how you actually show up in the world.
Consider the significant historical figures whose "personal brands" have endured. Their lasting impact didn't come from careful image management but from the alignment between their beliefs, values, actions, and results. They understood that character isn't built overnight through carefully curated content but through consistent choices made day after day, year after year.
The Path Forward
As you think about your own personal brand, start with these questions:
What do I truly believe about the world and my place in it?
What values naturally flow from these beliefs?
How do these values manifest in my daily choices and actions?
What results am I creating through these behaviors?
Does my online presence reflect these realities, or am I projecting a disconnected ideal?
Remember: Your personal brand isn't something you create—it's something you reveal through consistent, value-driven actions. In a world obsessed with image, choose to focus on substance. Let your character be your brand, and let your brand be a true reflection of your character.
The most powerful legacy you can build isn't a carefully constructed image—it's the natural outcome of living and working in alignment with your deepest beliefs and values. In the end, that's what people will remember about you, long after the likes and shares have faded away.
As always,
Stay humble. Hang tough.
Paul Tucker