How to Create a Personal Brand, Sound Confident and Persuasive: Learning from Trump and Harris

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump presidential debate teach us all unexpected lessons in the field of personal branding. The founder of one of the leading personal branding agencies, Marina Bezhanova, shares with the publication Enterprneur with their findings on what lessons entrepreneurs and business owners looking to hone their leadership skills can take from the Harris-Trump debate.

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“As a Ukrainian-Canadian, I have no personal bias in American politics,” writes Marina Bezhanova. “Nevertheless, I watched the recent presidential debates with interest through the lens of the challenge of building a personal brand. American debates take place on, arguably, the biggest stage in the world with the highest stakes. We may all be far removed from the world of politics, but as leaders who are working to build their own leadership brands, we can learn important lessons from watching the presidential candidates.”

Clarity is one of the fundamental elements of brand building. Before we put ourselves out there, we need to be clear about our unique strengths, the audience we want to reach, and the messages we want to convey to that audience. We also need to be prepared for the criticism that public speaking may bring.

On the subject: Truth and Lies of the Presidential Debates: Fact-Checking Trump and Harris' Claims

Let's look at this in more detail.

Be clear about your goals

Why are you on stage (virtual or physical)? Why are you writing an article? Why are you agreeing to be interviewed on a podcast?

Harris’s goals were clear. She was there to dispel the image of a woman who is taciturn, awkward in public, and laughs inappropriately. She appeared to have prepared meticulously. Harris had clearly rehearsed not only her talking points but her body language (from her physical posture during Trump’s remarks to her smile and “not at all like that” facial expression). How do we know it was rehearsed in advance? Because of the sheer amount of repetition we all witnessed.

Lesson for you: Don't just "go with the flow." When you build your personal brand as a leader, do so with awareness and verbalization of your intentions, and set clear goals.

Clearly identify your strengths and use them

Trump's undeniable strength is his improvised jokes. Very few viral debate moments have proven that. Harris, on the other hand, stumbles and falters when things don't go according to script, as we saw a couple of times when she fell for Trump's bait.

Lesson for you: Don't watch someone else's style and try to imitate it. Instead, clearly identify your strengths and build on them, even if someone criticizes your style.

Draw the opponent's character

We live in an era where, for better or worse, words matter more than actions. Many have asked on X why candidates' statements are not verified. The truth is that words are often taken at face value. In fact, Journalists from leading publications conducted a thorough fact-checking of the candidates' statements.

Harris seemed to come to the debate to portray Trump as unpredictable, out of control, and dangerous. She focused much of her speech on this. She encouraged Trump to make risky statements. The debate ended up being a verbal ping-pong of her claims against his and vice versa. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is a separate question, but there is something to learn from it.

Lesson for you: If you want to build a personal brand, you need to become a strong storyteller. Stories are memorable, they create emotions and connections.

Define your audience

Your audience will be closely tied to your goals. If your goal as a leader is to attract higher caliber talent to your organization, that is a very different audience than a leader who wants to build broad mass support.

Here again, we can learn from Harris. She repeatedly referred to the middle class as “all Americans.” Trump failed to clearly position his audience. It was unclear whether he wanted to focus on his core audience of loyal fans or appeal to a broader audience in the hopes of swaying swing voters.

Lesson for you: Understanding your audience leads to clarity of key messages. Identify your audience before you start creating any content, whether it’s a LinkedIn post or a big stage speech.

Learn to deal with criticism

The more public you become, the more negativity can be directed at you.

Trump made a huge mistake in the debates. He fell for Harris’s tricks over and over again. Instead of trying to build his own narrative, he started responding to her comments about the people at his rallies, the mockery of world leaders, and other jabs at him. Instead of staying cool, calm, and collected, he became heated and confused. It’s understandable: Many of us have fallen for criticism on social media. But getting too heated to defend yourself can quickly lead to “losing face.”

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Ultimately, the biggest lesson for all of us is that intent matters. Many leaders have drifted along without consciously trying to shape their leadership brand. And then they were disappointed when they didn’t get the results they were hoping for. So get clear on your goals first, and then take action.

Lesson for you: Be prepared for criticism. Find your own way to respond to critics and stick to it, no matter how hard someone tries to knock you off track.

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