The Compound #29: Your personal brand is just your personality.

Writing this after another week of posting things about business, fitness and whatever else happens to be going through my head across multiple social channels.

Some of it performs well. Some of it doesn't. Some people probably think I share too much. Others might wonder what my gym sessions or family life have to do with running an agency.

And that's actually what I want to write about this week.

Because I think we've made personal branding far more complicated than it needs to be.

And in the process, we've made it considerably less personal.

I run Toucan. I'm incredibly proud of what we've built over the last eight years, and naturally, a lot of what I share online relates to the business.

But Toucan isn't my personal brand.

And my personal brand isn't Toucan.

They're connected, obviously. My reputation influences how people perceive the business. The work we do at Toucan influences how people perceive me. There is huge value in that relationship.

But they're not the same thing.

I'm also a husband, a dad, a fitness fanatic, I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Starbucks and quite a few tattoos. Some of which I couldn't hide in a boardroom even if I wanted to.

I'm not going to pretend those parts of my life don't exist because they might not fit somebody's idea of what a CEO should look like.

I find it strange that people talk about building an authentic personal brand and then immediately start removing everything that makes them interesting.

They decide which opinions are safe to share. Which hobbies are professionally acceptable. How they should dress, speak and behave to appeal to the right audience.

Eventually, they've created a version of themselves that looks impressive on LinkedIn but bears remarkably little resemblance to the person you'd meet for a coffee.

That's not a personal brand. That's a character you've invented.

"If you have to remove half your personality to make your personal brand work, you've probably misunderstood the assignment."

And I think this is where a lot of founders get it wrong.

They assume that because they run a business, everything they publish needs to relate to that business.

Nobody wants to follow an agency brochure disguised as a human being.

People want to follow people.

Here's something else I find interesting.

People talk about personal branding as though it's something you create when you decide to start posting on LinkedIn.

I don't believe that at all.

You've had a personal brand your entire adult life. You just probably called it your reputation.

It's how you treat the barista when you order coffee. Whether you remember someone's name. How you behave when a conversation isn't going your way. Whether you do what you said you'd do.

It's how you speak to someone over coffee when there's absolutely nothing for you to gain from the relationship.

It's whether the person who meets you at an industry event recognises the person they've been watching online.

Because you can publish all the polished content you want about leadership, integrity and treating people well.

But if you're an arrogant prick in person, that's your personal brand too.

And arguably, it's the more important part.

I've written before about how I believe traditional CVs are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

A CV tells someone where you've worked and what you've achieved. Your personal brand gives them a much better understanding of how you think, communicate and behave.

You can see somebody's opinions, their interests, the way they respond to criticism and how they interact with other people.

I think that's incredibly valuable.

But none of it means much if the online version and the offline version are completely different people.

"Your personal brand isn't what you tell people you are. It's what they tell other people you are."

Social media just gives you the opportunity to show more people who that person is.

Which brings me to the bit I think people massively overcomplicate.

I love Amelia Sordell's approach to personal branding.

Just fucking post it.

Simple. And I think more people need to hear it.

I've spoken to so many people who want to start creating content but are worried about what everyone else will think.

What if their colleagues see it? What if an old school friend takes the piss? What if a client thinks it's unprofessional? What if nobody likes it?

Here's the reality…

You're not the main character in anybody else's life.

They are.

You might spend three hours worrying about a video you've posted. Somebody else watches it for six seconds while sitting on the toilet, scrolls past and never thinks about it again.

And even if they do have an opinion, so what?

I've posted hundreds of videos across TikTok and Instagram. Some have reached millions of people. Others have barely reached anyone.

I talk about running a business, training for Hyrox, being a dad, my opinions on work and occasionally things that have absolutely no commercial relevance whatsoever.

I'm sure some people don't like it.

That's fine. They don't have to.

What I've found interesting is how often the most unexpected content creates the best conversations.

I've made genuine friendships, valuable business relationships and created opportunities through sharing things that would never have made it into a carefully constructed content strategy.

Not every post needs a commercial objective.

And not every person who follows you needs to become a customer.

Sometimes it's enough that somebody gets to know you a little better.

I do think there's a difference between being authentic and having absolutely no filter. You can be thoughtful about what you share without pretending to be somebody else.

But if you're constantly worrying about how you'll be perceived, you'll end up producing the safest, most forgettable version of yourself.

And tbh, the internet has enough of those already.

"People are far too worried about being judged by people who barely think about them."

There's an interesting contradiction in where we're heading.

AI has made it easier than ever to create professional looking content. Anyone can produce a polished LinkedIn post, an impressive biography or a convincing thought-leadership article in seconds.

Which means looking and sounding professional is becoming less valuable.

Everyone can do it.

What they can't easily replicate is eight years of actual experience building a business. Your sense of humour. Your relationships. The mistakes you've made. Your interests, your opinions and the slightly unusual combination of things that make you who you are.

That's what’s worth sharing.

I don't want someone who has followed me for two years to meet me and be surprised by my personality.

I want them to feel like they already know me.

Of course, not everybody will like that person. That's life.

But I'd rather attract opportunities, friendships and clients through being myself than spend the next decade maintaining a version of James Northcott that I invented to impress strangers.

And the funny thing is, I think that approach is considerably better for business anyway.

When people feel like they already know you, there's a level of familiarity and trust that a website or sales deck can't recreate.

It doesn't replace being good at what you do. You still need the expertise, results and credibility to back everything up.

But it makes it a hell of a lot easier for the right people to find you.

And perhaps just as importantly, for the wrong people to realise you're probably not for them.

I'm absolutely fine with that.

"Personal brand is just a corporate term for personality. Stop trying to manufacture one and start letting people see yours."

That's issue 29.

Now go and post the thing you've been overthinking for three weeks. Nobody cares as much as you think they do.

James

Founder, Toucan Agency · Co-owner, Twenty One Beauty · UK