Branding Your Leadership: Why it Matters for Leaders
What if the greatest obstacle to your next career breakthrough isn’t your resume, your skill set, or even your network—but how visible your leadership really is?
At the Leadership Branding Institute, we don’t just teach leaders to show up—we help them be seen. One of the most powerful ways to understand your leadership visibility is through the Johari Window—a deceptively simple model that reveals the hidden layers of your leadership identity.
Before diving deeper, check out our foundational post: What Is Leadership Branding? It introduces the CLAIM Framework, which is key to understanding how leaders elevate their brand.
You Are Leading. But Who Really Sees It?
The Johari Window divides self-knowledge into four parts:
Open Area: Known to self and others
Blind Spot: Unknown to self, known to others
Hidden Area: Known to self, unknown to others
Unknown Area: Unknown to both
Here’s the truth: Most leaders operate with a leadership brand that's partially hidden, partially misunderstood, and partially undeveloped. That’s not a strategy—it’s a liability.
Leadership branding is your tool to change that. By intentionally expanding your Open Area, you make your leadership impossible to ignore—clear, coherent, and credible. You also build credibility and trust with your leadership audiences.
Before Branding: Muted. After Branding: Magnetic.
Before branding, your strengths might be tucked away in the Hidden pane. Your Blind Spot might contain career-limiting behaviors you’re unaware of. And your most game-changing leadership story? Buried in the Unknown.
After branding, your leadership doesn’t just look different. It lands differently. It moves people. It gets you noticed—and remembered.
The CLAIM Framework:
Your Blueprint for Leadership Visibility
Our CLAIM Framework—Craft, Link, Articulate, Integrate, Maximize—does more than tell your story. It transforms your presence. Here’s how it aligns with your Johari Window:
Craft: Illuminate Your Inner Leadership Identity
You define your strengths, values, and impact as a leader. You don’t wait for others to say who you are as a leader—you declare who you are. This shrinks your Unknown and Hidden areas and puts your brand on record as being authentic to who you are as a leader.
Link: Connect the Dots of Your Leadership Story
You excavate the turning points, redemption arcs, and moments of truth that define your leadership. These aren’t fluff—they’re your proof. They help you—and others—see the leadership thread that’s always been there.
Articulate: Say It So It Sticks
You learn to say what you stand for—in bios, interviews, meetings, and online. This isn't bragging. It’s branding your leadership so others know you as a leader. Goodbye, Hidden Area.
Integrate: Walk the Talk
You bring your leadership brand to life by aligning your behaviors with your brand. Not someday—today. Colleagues feel the shift. Feedback sharpens. Perceptions align. The Blind Spot starts to fade.
Maximize: Amplify and Evolve
You measure your leadership brand’s impact and iterate on your strategy. Seeking feedback and tracking how others engage with your leadership brand allows you to identify strengths and growth areas—again, minimizing Blind Spots and reinforcing credibility.
Why It Works
Research backs this up:
Leaders who are open and consistent build trust and outperform peers (De Vries et al., 2010)
Those who engage in active reflection and feedback gain career mobility (Ashford & DeRue, 2012)
Brand-aligned leaders drive results because their teams know what they stand for (Goleman, 2004)
This Isn’t Personal Branding. This Is Leadership Alignment.
Leadership branding isn’t vanity—it’s clarity. It’s visibility with depth. It’s being known for who you are, and trusted for how you lead.
If you're tired of being overlooked, misunderstood, or misaligned—maybe it’s time to open the window.
References
Goleman, D. (2004). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 82(1), 82–91.
Luft, J., & Ingham, H. (1955). The Johari window: A graphic model for interpersonal relations. Proceedings of the Western Training Laboratory in Group Development. UCLA.
