Connection

A personal brand is not built in public. It is built in relationships, and amplified in public. The question is not how many followers you have but whether the right people know your name and what you stand for.

I ask leaders to think in three circles: the people who could hire, appoint or invite you; the people who refer you; and the people who amplify your thinking. Name fifteen of them privately, five in each circle. Then pay attention to their work before you ask anything of them.

Connection compounds. Three relevant conversations a week becomes more than a hundred and fifty a year. That is how reputations move from 'I have heard of them' to 'I know exactly who you should speak to'.

• Your network is mostly people from your current employer.
• You only reach out when you need something.
• You cannot name five people who regularly refer you.
• You rarely comment on, or share, other people's thinking.