How to create your own personal brand

Karen Blackett CBE knows a thing or two about being successful in business. She is the former UK President of marketing giant WPP and now holds non-executive director roles with Diageo, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the British Fashion Council.

So, when she gives advice on personal branding, it pays to listen. In the opening keynote at APM’s 2025 Women in Project Management Conference in London, she urged the 1,000 delegates to create a personal brand.

“A personal brand is just a shorthand for all of your qualities that make you good at what you do, so that people who have had no contact with you know what you are capable of. If you think about decision-making rooms where promotions may be happening or hiring decisions may be happening, your brand has to exist in that room that you do not have access to. That is why you need a personal brand,” said Blackett.

So, how do you do it?

What is your brand?

First, think about what your brand promise is.

“When people work with you or put you into a role, what are they going to get, and what's the feeling you're going to leave people with?” Blackett said. “You would hope the feeling that people get is that it’s going to get done, it’s going to get sorted and nothing’s going to go wrong.”

Think about the values that are relevant to you, “not a bunch of vanilla words that could apply to anyone."

Blackett added: “The best way to find out the values that you hold dear is to think about what you won’t do, because the opposite to that is the value that is important to you.”

Once you’ve established your brand values, it’s time to consider what your brand personality and behaviour are.

“When you do those important things, and you think about the people who are making decisions about who to hire and promote, you have created a brand expectation and a perception. Because when you’ve created a brand, you exist in the heads of other people who may not even have met you.”

Don’t you want that to be a high-end brand that can command a premium?

Create a personal statement

Think about what you like doing at work and what you’re good at delivering. Write down what you are good at, what your personal values are and the contributions you plan to make.

If you’re thinking of becoming a project leader, then think about how to go about becoming the trusted, inclusive leader project teams want – and make this part of your personal brand.

Understand the trust equation

Take time to understand what it means to be trustworthy. Blackett recommended reading The Trusted Advisor by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford. She summarised the essence of the book by explaining that:

Self-orientation, she explained, means thinking more about the other person, rather than yourself. “Less about you, more about others,” Blackett spelled out.

She said you build trust across a team (and yourself) through inclusive leadership. Her tips for achieving this include:

listen attentively
always thank people
use positive body language
humbly ask questions
share the spotlight.

This extends to how you think of yourself. “Celebrate your uniqueness,” she urged the audience, and don’t forget where you have come from, although remember you’re not limited by that.

“You don’t have to be defined by who you are now; you can grow and change. It’s important to really understand this and learn it throughout life. That growth mindset is what will help you advance.”

Check your circle

Being an inclusive leader means making sure that your own network of trusted advisers is diverse. One way to do this, said Blackett, is by asking yourself: “Who are the last four people you called to ask for advice or celebrate with?” Being an inclusive leader means hearing from those who don’t have the same educational or social background as you. Making sure your network is filled with different voices also helps prevent the danger of groupthink.

Better out than in (or BOTI)

Diversity of opinion inevitably brings potential conflicts of opinion. As a leader, Blackett advised creating a space for these clashes to happen in the open, to avoid them happening outside the room. This means developing a team culture of psychological safety.

A technique Blackett uses is to rotate who chairs the regular meetings and giving them the chance to set the agenda, but to also include an item called ‘better out than in’ (or BOTI), where disagreements can be aired in public and discussed and resolved.
Now, who wouldn’t like that?