ATD Blog

5 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand and Achieve More Success in 2026, Part 2

Content

How to use alignment to build your personal brand and achieve more success in 2026.

Mon Feb 23 2026

Content

In the previous installment of “Five Ways to Build Your Personal Brand and Achieve More Success in 2026,” I shared why I’m an advocate of building and leveraging a personal brand to stand out for the expertise, experience, and unique characteristics we bring to our work.

Content

If you are not familiar with the concept of a personal brand, it is essentially your reputation—what people think and say about you, especially when you are not in the room. How would your colleagues introduce you in a meeting or talk about you to others who ask about you? What would be the reaction of a project manager if you applied to join their team?

Content

Most people don’t think about these things. They believe in the myth that if you just put your head down and do great work, you’ll be recognized and rewarded. But the truth is that it’s not just about the quality of your work, but who knows about that work and what they think about it. This is where your personal brand comes in.

Content

With that in mind, I created a series featuring five ways to build your personal brand and achieve more success in 2026 and beyond. Last month, I discussed the importance of reflection . Now we’ll move on to alignment.

Start showing up in alignment with your brand

Content

Once you’ve defined how you want to be perceived, both for yourself and your team, you need to start being more intentional with how you are showing up. This includes how you show up at work (meetings, office, lunches, and on Zoom) as well as how you show up online (mainly on LinkedIn ).

Content

If you go to an office, remember that how you show up, including the way you dress, the expression on your face, and the energy you give off, can all influence your personal brand. I’m not here to tell you how to dress or how to be “professional,” as that can vary from company to company and culture to culture . Some are very casual, while others are more formal. And if you are early in your career or unsure, you might want to just ask someone (ideally a mentor or colleague you trust). And while we live in an age where many companies don’t care how you dress as long as you get your work done, there are still plenty of more conservative company cultures out there that do care about these things, and so you’ll need to be mindful of that.

If you go to an office, remember that how you show up, including the way you dress, the expression on your face, and the energy you give off, can all influence your personal brand. I’m not here to tell you how to dress or how to be “professional,” as that can vary from company to company and culture to culture. Some are very casual, while others are more formal. And if you are early in your career or unsure, you might want to just ask someone (ideally a mentor or colleague you trust). And while we live in an age where many companies don’t care how you dress as long as you get your work done, there are still plenty of more conservative company cultures out there that do care about these things, and so you’ll need to be mindful of that.

Content

As a keynote speaker and trainer working with large companies, I have to be mindful of this as well. If I’m working with a bank or law firm, I’ll probably wear a suit or at least a jacket and won't show up in a t-shirt. On the other hand, if I wear a suit and tie to an event for a tech startup, they might look at me strangely and decide they can’t relate.

Content

The same goes for how and when you show up—your expression, your energy, how helpful you are to others, how hard you work, and the things you say. Again, I’m not here to tell you to change who you are, but you need to be mindful of how you might be perceived for how you show up. Are you someone who seems miserable, excited, or somewhere in between about coming to work? Do you proactively offer help to colleagues when they need it or ignore them to focus on your own work?

Content

And while we all value humility, we have to make sure we are known for our skills , accomplishments, and expertise. Therefore, can you find ways to talk about the work you’ve been doing, things you’ve been learning, skills you’ve been developing, and what you’ve accomplished lately. This is more art than science because you want to make sure the right people know about these things without ever being perceived as bragging. An important aspect here is to make sure you are always giving credit to others when they deserve it. In fact, the more you recognize others for the great work they’re doing, the more likely they are to recognize you for your work as well.

And while we all value humility, we have to make sure we are known for our skills, accomplishments, and expertise. Therefore, can you find ways to talk about the work you’ve been doing, things you’ve been learning, skills you’ve been developing, and what you’ve accomplished lately. This is more art than science because you want to make sure the right people know about these things without ever being perceived as bragging. An important aspect here is to make sure you are always giving credit to others when they deserve it. In fact, the more you recognize others for the great work they’re doing, the more likely they are to recognize you for your work as well.

Content

I’ve seen this play out in my own work. The more I recognize and cheer on my colleagues and friends for their work, the more they are proactive in supporting and recognizing me as well.

Content

The same is true of our online presence, and LinkedIn is the place to be.

Content

LinkedIn is still known by many as a job board and resume repository, but it’s so much more. I log onto LinkedIn almost every day to scroll through the feed and learn from others. What they are working on, what they’ve accomplished, what’s trending, and more. It has truly become a community and a really great place to share your own lessons and experiences to build your personal brand.

Content

This starts with your profile. And much like telling you how to dress, I won’t tell you how to set up your LinkedIn profile, but it’s important to be mindful of how you are showing up, as LinkedIn is the first place people go when they want to learn about someone in the business world. I know that before I meet with anyone I don’t know, I check them out on LinkedIn to see their headline, work experience, and education, so I can get a sense of who they are, what they do, and whether we have anything in common. Don’t you do the same?

Content

So, it makes sense to ensure your LinkedIn profile looks good, is up to date, and conveys who you are and what you do. This includes a professional profile photo, a custom headline, and updating your about section.

Content

I tend to think the headline is the #1 thing people look at (after your photo) and therefore the most important. LinkedIn defaults to putting JOB at COMPANY, but you can change this and get creative to show off your expertise and passion. So instead of Senior L&D program manager at XYZ corp, it could say “L&D Program manager passionate about building and running programs that provide essential skills to help professionals grow and improve in their field.”

Content

After you update your headline, consider connecting with colleagues and people you’ve worked with to build up your network .

After you update your headline, consider connecting with colleagues and people you’ve worked with to build up your network.

Content

And finally, you want to start commenting on and engaging with content from people in your network (especially experts in your space), as well as sharing some of your own content.

Content

Mike Kim and I provided a whole tutorial with templates and content ideas in our book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career (available on Amazon), but in general you can think about sharing posts about things you are reading and learning (like this article), events you’ve been part of, recent lessons learned, frameworks you’ve created or are using, questions you have, mistakes you’ve made (and learned from), recent accomplishments (promotions, certifications ), and so much more.

Mike Kim and I provided a whole tutorial with templates and content ideas in our book, Own Your Brand, Own Your Career (available on Amazon), but in general you can think about sharing posts about things you are reading and learning (like this article), events you’ve been part of, recent lessons learned, frameworks you’ve created or are using, questions you have, mistakes you’ve made (and learned from), recent accomplishments (promotions, certifications), and so much more.

Content

There is no standard for what needs to be shared. And you may not get much engagement when you first start sharing. The most important thing is to just start sharing what you are learning, doing, and thinking about, and then commit to doing it regularly to build that brand and reputation. I can promise you it will pay off over time.

Content