The fifth article in the series: From Professional to Authority

A powerful personal brand must be rooted in strategic relevance.
And that relevance begins when you clearly communicate the problem you solve.

In the corporate world, leaders aren’t just looking for talent—they’re looking for useful talent. And that usefulness starts with someone who understands the real business priorities and builds clear, realistic, and effective solutions.

Many brilliant executives stay at the same level for years. Why?
Because their personal brand still focuses on what they do instead of what it’s for.

What are the core pain points every organisation tries to solve?

Regardless of sector, industry, or context, every company wants to improve in at least one of these four areas:

1. Increase sales

2. Increase profitability

3. Reduce costs

4. Reduce risks

Everything else—processes, technology, culture, leadership, innovation—is a means to achieve one or more of these ends.

Your challenge is to connect your professional value clearly and directly with one of these strategic pillars.

Examples of connecting personal value with business pain points:

• If you facilitate cross-functional conversations to align objectives → you’re helping reduce execution risks.

• If you redesign processes to eliminate inefficiencies → you’re contributing to cost reduction.

• If you improve the internal or external customer experience → you may be boosting profitability.

• If you develop leaders to enhance their decision-making → you’re impacting sales, costs, and risks, depending on context.

Here’s the point: you’re already creating value. You just may not know how to translate it into the language of decision-makers.

Three steps to align your personal brand with what really matters

1. Identify your real impact

Make a list of projects or situations where your involvement made a difference. Then ask:

• What exact problem was I solving?

• What improved after my intervention?

• What indicators or results were affected?

• Did it impact clients, processes, outcomes, or culture?
  Look for patterns. That repetition reveals your high-value zone.

2. Translate what you do into business language

It’s not enough to say “I led a team” or “I implemented a solution.”
Go further:

• What did that leadership enable?

• What did that solution solve?

• What was gained, avoided, or improved thanks to your work?

Example:
“I led a regional sales team” → “I coordinated a regional team that exceeded the quarterly target by 18% through a focus on key accounts and optimized sales cycles.”

3. Integrate that narrative into your professional presentation

Whether in a networking pitch, an interview, on LinkedIn, or a casual conversation—speak from the problem you solve and the impact you generate.

People don’t connect with your function. They connect with what helps them achieve their goals.

A few days ago, I had a meaningful session with a brilliant personal branding consultant. We discussed a common mistake in sales and positioning: assuming the first step is to open communication channels with prospects and then introduce our services.

The truth, as he put it, is that most of those attempts fail because people “don’t want to talk”—they want to see or hear something that challenges their current thinking and shows why they need a new or better approach to a specific problem.

What changes when you communicate from the problem you solve?

When your personal brand aligns with strategic business pain points:

• You become more relevant to decision-makers.

• You position yourself as a solution, not a resource.

• You attract opportunities that require more than execution—they require vision.

• You build a professional narrative that inspires trust and action.

How does executive coaching help with this process?

A coaching process helps you:

• Clarify your true business impact

• Translate your experience into a strategic and powerful narrative

• Uncover hidden value patterns in your career

• Strengthen your confidence to present yourself by impact, not just role

• Design communication strategies with focus, purpose, and authenticity

Because often, the problem you solve—you’re already solving it. You just haven’t learned to tell the story yet.

Reflect:

• Are you communicating functions… or impact?

• Does your environment know where you make a difference?

• Can you link your value proposition to at least one of the four core pain points?

• Does your professional presentation inspire action… or inform?

Would you be ready to talk about your value through the problem you know how to solve?