July 1, 2026

I hate to start off with bad news, but I'll give it to you straight. It's 2026. At this point, every industry has a thought leader online. Someone with your expertise is already posting, attracting new opportunities, and generating revenue from their content.

Which is why I hear this so often from leaders who are fence about showing up on LinkedIn: "That space is already taken." "This person's talking about my area better than I ever could." "They have more degrees than me."

The instinct is to go quiet rather than compete with people who seem further along.

I get it. That exact reasoning kept me quiet for years while I lurked and scrolled but never posted. But saturation isn't the real problem. It's that most people are trying to out-credential each other instead of saying something only they can say.

So when Jahmaal Marshall, host of the Listen Then Speak podcast, asked me what actually sets someone apart, here's what I said: It's the moment something cracked.

I call it your Better Way Moment™. It's the point where you looked at how things were "supposed" to be done and thought, no, there's a better way.

Sometimes it's one explosive turning point (like mine). Sometimes it's a string of small moments that quietly add up. Either way, it's the thing that made you pivot toward the work you do now, and it's the one thing no competitor in your space can duplicate, no matter how many degrees they have, because it's based on your own personal experience, values, and decisions.

Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, invented his own gear after he saw the damage traditional gear was doing to the rocks he loved climbing. He killed the product line that funded his company and rebuilt it around gear that left no trace. That decision became the founding logic of Patagonia.

Sara Blakely didn't build Spanx because she'd studied fashion. She cut the feet off her own pantyhose because nothing on the market solved a problem she lived with every day, and she couldn't unsee it.

Neither insight came from a resume. Both came from a moment of friction they refused to look past.

This is what people actually trust when they look at a personal brand: not polish, not a perfectly resolved story. A real transformation, even one you're still in the middle of.

Three questions to find your Better Way Moment™:

1. What situation, system, or norm has consistently frustrated you at work, in your sector, or in leadership more broadly?
2. Was there a specific moment, conversation, or experience that shifted how you saw it?
3. Finish this sentence: "There has to be a better way to ___."

🎧 Listen to my full episode with Jahmaal Marshall to hear my own Better Way Moment and learn how you can begin defining yours.

You don't need the tidy version of yourself to show up online. You just need what you know to be true, and no one can argue with your own experience.

Brynne

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