349: Connecting Your Personal Brand and Your Thought Leadership

In the age of more & more content (whether human- or AI-created), your personal brand matters more than ever.

Potential clients and event organizers can easily find lots of experts in what you do.

What you want them to realize is what sets you apart and why they should pick you.

That’s where your personal brand and thought leadership come in.

I know you want to have a positive impact on the world and you may feel like cultivating a personal brand is unnecessary or self-indulgent or you just don’t have time for it.

But, here’s the thing: you have a personal brand, everyone does.

It’s how other people would describe you; not just your qualities like are you smart, kind, professional, but also what matters to you.

Do people know what matters to you, the better world you imagine?

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How your business connects to your thought leadership
• How your personal brand connects to your thought leadership
• Example from my own personal brand and thought leadership
• Pushback I got early on when I started my business about a particular aspect of my personal brand
• Finding the consistency and commonality among all of the threads in your career
• What humans have over AI when it comes to storytelling

We’re doing a NEW workshop series this fall live on Zoom. Join us in October for personal branding and brand voice; in November for storytelling; and in December for using AI tools for speaking. Get all the details and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/workshops/.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/349/

Register for our live online workshop on Zoom on October 26th to build your personal brand plan and define your brand voice = https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/workshops/

Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 343: Why YOU are the Messenger for Your Idea and Audience
• Episode 259: Connecting Your Business and Your Thought Leadership
• Personal Brand podcast series, episodes 332-335

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable