- By Caroline Dunne, Leadership and Change Management Coach, and Janice Kay, Director of Higher Futures.
Many university leaders are uneasy about the idea of personal branding. It can feel self-promotional, even uncomfortable – and it’s often a concept that jars with their personal values, the culture of their institution, and indeed their perception of how higher education itself operates.
However, personal branding should not be about ego or marketing. It’s about clarity, authenticity, and trust. In an environment where leadership visibility, credibility, and alignment with institutional values are increasingly scrutinised, shaping how you’re understood by others isn’t merely helpful, it’s essential.
So, while we’re a bit uncomfortable with the term, personal brand, we think it’s extremely important for aspiring university leaders to think about how they go about developing one for themselves.
Personal branding – it’s not just what you say about yourself
It’s perhaps worth reflecting on what Jeff Bezos has said in this context because it’s helpful:
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Your title and role may open doors, but it’s your values, your expertise and your contribution that leave a lasting impression. Personal brand is the space you occupy in other people’s minds: your colleagues, students, and external connections. In today’s digital world, you are visible in search results, social feeds, LinkedIn and other platforms. If you’re not actively shaping your own narrative, others will do it for you – forming opinions and perceptions that may not be accurate or aligned with your values.
Why should personal branding matter for aspirational university leaders?
Thinking about your personal branding allows you to control the narrative. Essentially, if you don’t shape your story, someone else will. It allows you to build trust and credibility authentically. This is vital, we all know that a consistent, values-led brand is consonant with reliability in times of change. Where there is so much information out there, it can be a strong signal among confusion and noise. It also gives you a better handle on future-proofing your career.
Executive search companies, partnerships, board appointments all begin with discovery, and if you can’t be found, you can’t be considered. Distilling your experience and expertise beyond the role you’re in now makes moves to other roles easier. People do their homework on you, they want to know what kind of person you are, not necessarily the nitty gritty detail (although bad social media lingers) but to know that you are real. And it’s not always about a positive career trajectory to the next job. In these times your role might be at risk, and you might need to consider your next position, even beyond your current role, institution and sector.
This is about developing a personal mark, but it’s worth noting that an authentic personal brand also benefits your institution. Visible leaders attract talent and partnerships, and can draw top academics, high-calibre students, and external funders. People will engage because of what you stand for in terms of your values and your impact. And got right, it will help your students, staff, external connections and the public to be more confident about your vision and your decisions.
Equally important, a clear and visible personal brand enables you to communicate more effectively – an essential skill for building strong teams, driving change, and leading through crisis. You are future-proofing yourself, becoming a trusted authority, so that you are known for more than just your job title and credentials.
It starts with how you present yourself in meetings, working groups, committees, stakeholder meetings, even corridor conversations and incidental interactions.
Articulating your expertise beyond your job title
To be able to develop your personal brand, you need to ask yourself several questions and answer them honestly. And bear in mind that ‘showing up’ is not showing off, you can’t make a difference if you’re invisible!
Truly understand what your goals are: who you are trying to help, and what positive difference do you want to make? Understanding your reason for doing what you do makes being visible that much easier.
- Do I want to make a positive difference?
- What do I want to change and how?
- What do I want to be known for?
- Who do I want to help?
Ask yourself these questions in the context of what you want to change or influence, such as Leadership & Change Management; Equity, Diversity & Social Mobility; Research Impact & Knowledge Exchange; Student Experience & Wellbeing; The Future of Work & Skills. These should, of course, be significant topics that reflect what you want to be known for and the people or communities you aim to support.
Before you can become an authority on your topic, you need to have a proven track record of success in that area. Your credibility is built not just on what you say, but on what you’ve delivered; your demonstrable achievements and real impact that others can recognise and rely on. Without this foundation, personal branding risks sounding empty or a promissory note rather than coming from a position of authority and authenticity.
When you are speaking to others about what you are doing, it is helpful to reflect on how you should structure what you say. Make sure, for example, that you’re clear about defining the issue: speak directly to the challenges your audience faces (e.g. navigating grant applications, improving departmental culture); position the challenges. Share frameworks, tips, or toolkits you’ve developed, and humanise your advice – weave in a short anecdote or lesson learned, for example.
Do these things in the context of people you might be able to support by being more visible: students and research students, people more junior, and those wanting to get into HE, particularly those from minoritised backgrounds. Essentially, leadership isn’t just about climbing, your role should be to hold the ladder down for others.
Practical Tips
To help you maximise your impact – here are some ideas:
1. Digital Footprint Audit
- Search Yourself: Google your name in incognito mode. Note the top 10 results.
- Review Social Profiles: Ensure consistency of photo, headline, and bio across LinkedIn, Twitter, ResearchGate, etc.
- Clean Up: Archive or delete outdated posts or profiles that conflict with your current values.
2. Think about Content, Calendar & Cadence
- Plan regular outputs (blog posts, LinkedIn articles, micro-posts) aligned to your expertise, but don’t worry if you can’t maintain a consistent frequency right away.
- It is important that they are insightful, add value and contribute.
- Use simple tools (e.g. Trello or a shared spreadsheet) or agentive AI to track ideas, deadlines, and performance.
3. Collect Metrics & Evaluation
- Engagement: Likes, comments, shares on social platforms.
- Opportunities: Invitations to speak, consult, sit on panels or boards.
- Search Trends: Monitor Google Analytics (if you host a blog) or LinkedIn analytics for profile views and keyword searches.
4. Network Activation
- Identify, say, 10 key contacts (internal & external) each quarter to reconnect with.
- Offer value first. Be gracious and share – share an article, congratulate them on their achievement, propose a brief call.
- Leverage your network to co-author articles, co-host webinars, or nominate others for awards.
And avoid:
- Oversharing: While transparency is good, avoid extraneous personal detail that can detract from your message.
- Inconsistency: Mixed messaging erodes trust. Align every post and presentation with your core values.
- Neglecting Offline Presence: A strong digital brand should be backed up by consistent behaviour in meetings and events.
- Ignoring Feedback: Listen to comments, direct messages, and 360-degree reviews to refine your approach.
What Leaders Say
Professor Shân Wareing, Vice-Chancellor and CEO, Middlesex University
People are always going to draw conclusions from what they see you do, so you always need to be aware of that. I don’t use personal brand with the goal of ‘selling’ me. However, I do want to consistently communicate important and specific aspects of how I work – such as that I care about other people’s growth – and I try to align all my social media and other communications with that message.”
Professor Simon Biggs Vice Chancellor and President, James Cooke University
Senior leaders represent their organisation externally. A strong personal brand helps amplify and align their values with the organisation in public forums, industry discussions, and policy advocacy. Personal branding signals what a leader stands for ethically, strategically, and culturally. It helps align teams and attract talent who resonate with that leadership style.
Professor Theo Farrell, Vice-Chancellor, Latrobe University, Australia
I think aspiring leaders need to think carefully about the kind of leader they want to be – and this will involve reflecting on their own values, the ambitions they have for the organisation or unit they lead, and their aspiring leadership journey. For me, personal brand is simply the outward expression of this leadership ethos and style. It is expressed in communications, including social media, and also in every interaction with people inside and outside the organisation. Being consistent with your personal brand, in everything you do is important for authentic leadership. In terms of social media, the goal is to communicate your values. Being consistent is obviously important. At the same time, my experience is one of posting fewer personal reflections and more corporate content as I have become more senior, and in these senior roles increasingly represent my organisation.
And finally
Leadership and personal branding are inseparable in today’s higher education landscape. Your brand is not a luxury. It’s your strategic asset made up of your values, your story, your impact on others and ultimately your legacy.