What Isn’t Seen Doesn’t Count: The Right Way to Build Your Personal Brand

How Nanae Obara helps leaders be seen without selling out

In many workplaces, quietly doing good work is viewed as virtuous. But staying silent about your strengths can quickly stall your career, particularly in systems that reward visibility over effort. Nanae Obara, a former marketing executive turned leadership coach and founder of the executive consultancy and coaching firm Grace Rise, knows this firsthand. She helps professionals clearly communicate their strengths without feeling inauthentic or self-promotional.

Her approach starts with a clear premise: if others can’t see your value, they can’t act on it. “Strengths that aren’t communicated are the same as non-existent to others,” she says. This principle drives her coaching, particularly with women and minority leaders who want recognition without compromising authenticity.

If you want to learn how to build this visibility in an authentic and meaningful way, read on for Obara’s simple but effective toolkit for personal branding.

From brand strategist to personal branding

Obara’s method draws from her background in consumer marketing. She treats professional reputation like a product: define the audience, focus the message (your value proposition), and repeat it with consistency and credibility.

“The personal branding I have been working on is strictly aimed at business-related individuals, clearly distinguishing it from the private domain,” she explains. Her target audience includes supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, internal departments, and business partners.

She put this into practice by spotlighting two strengths—branding and digital marketing—that were already visible through her achievements. “Although I have broader experience, I intentionally focused on these areas because they overlap with my achievements and are widely recognized.”

This focus led to speaking engagements at Google, media features, and national advertising awards. These served as what she calls “proof of achievement.” Tangible recognition builds credibility that others can reference or share.

She recommends the same to others. Communicate accomplishments using specific numbers or third-party validation—such as growth metrics or industry features. Frame success as a contribution to the team or mission. Language like “thanks to the team’s cooperation” or “aligned with the company’s strategy” can position your value clearly without sounding self-centered.

Why strong work isn’t enough

Letting your work speak for itself rarely works. Obara often sees capable professionals fail to communicate their value, usually out of fear of sounding boastful.

“In personal branding, one common pitfall is not recognizing one’s strengths despite having sufficient achievements and not actively communicating them,” she says. This is especially common among Japanese professionals, who may hesitate due to cultural expectations around modesty.

She suggests treating communication as a practical responsibility. “Branding is not about making yourself look good, but helping others understand your good points.” Clear, factual messaging helps others make better decisions about your potential and fit.

Presence, not performance

Many of Obara’s clients are women leaders seeking credibility in roles where perceptions matter deeply. She addresses both external biases and internalized beliefs that reinforce modesty or passivity.

For women to gain trust in business settings and be recognized as leaders, it is crucial to consciously project a personality that counters the deeply ingrained negative preconceptions in society, she notes. But it is also important to tackle internalized biases as well.

“Many women unconsciously carry beliefs like ‘being perceived as young is advantageous’ or ‘being weak and modest is more acceptable,’” Obara observes. These beliefs, mistaken for authenticity, can limit their professional potential. To earn trust and credibility as a leader, you need to speak up, take initiative, and own outcomes — because projecting weakness or passivity can lead to being underestimated.

Letting go of internalized bias starts with shifting focus from how you’re perceived to how you want to be, aligning your behaviors with your goals. By projecting professionalism through steady, mature behavior, leaders can build a brand rooted in clarity, trust, and long-term freedom of expression.

Avoiding burnout and preserving composure

Earlier in her career, Obara believed that working harder than everyone else would build trust. Instead, it left her depleted.
“I believed that showing how hard I was working would create a positive impression. But in reality, I was exceeding my capacity… and losing the composure and stability that are essential for leadership.”

Executive coaching helped her rethink what makes a good leader. “Through this experience, I learned that maintaining my own state is also a responsibility of a leader, in addition to achieving results.”

She now teaches others to value stability, not just output. Leaders who maintain their composure create environments where others feel secure and supported.

Learning the ‘language of influence’

Obara treats personal branding as a skill grounded in marketing. “I strongly recommend first learning the basic thinking methods of marketing,” she says. For her, it helped clarify how to position herself and communicate value in professional settings.

She suggests building on that with public relations. Knowing how to speak about your work can shape how others understand your credibility.
For a deeper foundation, she recommends reading Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. The book draws on behavioral psychology to explain how trust is built and why certain messages resonate.

Online platforms like Udemy, she adds, can be useful for filling knowledge gaps or branching beyond your immediate role. “They provide a very efficient means of learning,” especially when used to supplement on-the-job experience.

Want to build your personal brand with expert guidance—and earn a certification along the way? Explore our course on GLOBIS Unlimited.

Executive takeaways

• Say what you’re good at: pick one or two strengths and consistently communicate them.
• Back it up: use numbers, awards, or third-party validation to show your value clearly.
• Communicate as service, not self-promotion: think of your brand as information for others to make decisions with.
• Let go of internalized bias: align your behavior with the leader you want to be, not what culture tells you is acceptable.
• Protect your energy: composure and presence matter more than overwork.
• Use tools that reflect, not inflate: marketing and PR can strengthen your ability to lead and be heard. AI can help uncover blind spots and build self-awareness, if used carefully.