What you’ll learn:
The most successful strategists learn how to translate their perspective into a meaningful and recognizable personal brand.
As AI reshapes work, personal value comes less from task execution and more from judgment and creativity.
Treating your personal brand strategically means confronting honest human truths, naming real barriers, and actively shaping how others perceive you.
This article is part of Klick’s series The Strategist’s Dilemma, in which Jason Kaminsky examines the common challenges, opportunities, and pivotal moments strategists face in their careers. Throughout this series, we’ll explore how strategists can proactively shape their own growth paths, redefine their professional narratives, and unlock new levels of impact.
In the first article of this series, The Perfect Illusion, we examined how strategists can become trapped in a “gilded cage”—stagnant in roles that look impressive on paper. In this article, we’ll apply the same rigor we bring to client brands to our own personal brands.
Blending in is bad for brands and strategists
When I taught brand strategy at Temple University, I ran an exercise with my students: write down three words that set you apart. Every time, the whiteboard filled up with the same safe adjectives: “creative,” “organized,” “efficient.”
One day, a student wrote: “Japanese. Rollerblader. DJ.” Eureka!
Those words hit like lightning. They didn’t just sound different—they revealed how this person thought about themselves. In a room of 41 students, only one clearly stood out.
Strategists are in the business of defining and defending brands, but we rarely apply the same rigor to ourselves. We describe our personal brands like the experiences section of a resume.
Why internal brand assessment is so hard, and so necessary today
AI is compressing labor-intensive knowledge work. Estimates suggest today’s generative AI (plus other technologies) could absorb 60-70% of employees’ time1. LinkedIn projects that by 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change2.
Companies aren’t hiring warm bodies. They’re looking for a point of view, sound judgement, and the desire to shape new realities—not just summarize existing information like an LLM. The World Economic Forum ranks analytical thinking as the top core skill for employers (essential for 7 out of 10 companies), with creative thinking also in the top five3.
At our best, strategists find meaning and opportunities others can’t see, and we communicate that meaning in a way that sparks creativity and action. But the moment we turn that lens inward, we often hit a snag.
I work with a lot of early-to-mid-career strategists. When career growth comes up, I like to ask them who they are and what they stand for. I tend to hear some common responses.
They tell me what they are proficient at what they like to work on
They look forlorn and say, “I don’t know…” and audibly sigh
Why is this question so hard?
Getting honest about who we are and what we’re becoming can surface inadequacy, frustration, and shame—feelings that can trigger a freeze-or-flight response. We love using our analytical and creative minds to investigate brands and competitive landscapes, but internal investigation can get scary fast.
How to start thinking like a strategist when creating your personal brand
Define the current situation
Uncover an actionable human truth about yourself
Identify the barrier that stands in your way
Develop a strategy to overcome it
Situation:
Do you have a personal brand at work (whether you chose it or not)?
How do you think others would describe you compared with your colleagues?
Why does defining or rethinking your personal brand matter right now?
What are you trying to achieve through this work—personally and professionally?
Human truth:
What are you most passionate about (work-related or not)?
What creative, practical, or intellectual traits best define you?
What are your natural professional strengths? Areas of weakness?
A year from now, what do you want people to be saying about you?
Barrier:
How does your organization currently see you, and what needs to change?
What is it about how you see yourself that needs to change?
Is the barrier mostly internal or external?
What’s the single biggest barrier you can control?
Strategy:
How can you sharpen and communicate your passions and point of view?
How can you build experience and confidence in your professional weaker areas?
When, where, and with whom do you need to shape your reputation?
Are there trusted people in your network you can bounce ideas off?
Pro-tip: Drop your answers into AI and to begin building a narrative that you can work from and customize:
Background: I’m not yet a pharma insider like some of my colleagues, which is my biggest strength and biggest risk. My outsider lens helps me see what others miss, but I’m worried that I’ll stay the wild card people rely on for sparks—without ever seeing the full picture.
Human truth: Cultural forces are my fuel. I’m obsessed with how people and communities engage with the world, and my best thinking comes from connecting those signals to what brands should do next. But because I’m still building pharma fundamentals, I sometimes doubt whether my recommendations will hold up in the room.
Barrier: People don’t always know how to use me beyond big-picture, low-risk opportunities. I also reinforce that by leading with an “I’m new” card instead of leading with a point of view and backing it with category logic.
Strategy: Become the outside-in cultural strategist who speaks pharma. I’ll build enough category fluency to pressure-test my ideas, translate cultural insights into pharma-ready implications—so my outsider edge consistently lands as impactful, not just “interesting.”
Make sure to create a functional brand for yourself. Don’t try to sell people on a story that you can’t bring to fruition. Consumers (or colleagues) who see a brand as inconsistent and untrustworthy will focus their attention elsewhere. Run it by some trusted advisors and be open to feedback. Don’t forget you are building a brand that is personal, but it’s designed to exist in the real world with real people.
Klick Health is the world’s largest independent commercialization partner for life sciences and a leading full-service pharma marketing partner, serving as agency of record for leading pharma, biotech, and healthcare brands. Klick’s specialized offerings are rooted in deep medical and scientific understanding, including market insights, award-winning creative, and proprietary AI and data models to craft impactful brand narratives and seamless customer journeys. Backed by nearly 250 medical experts and advanced healthcare analytics, Klick delivers integrated marketing strategy and communications, from new product launch strategy to MLR review with real-world evidence, helping brands thrive in today’s complex healthcare landscape. Learn more at Klick.com.
Author
Jason Kaminsky
SVP, Strategy
Jason Kaminsky is a strategic thinker with 15 years of marketing experience and an unconventional journey from fine artist to designer to brand strategist. Known for his storytelling mindset, he blends creativity with sharp business insight to tackle complex challenges across categories. Jason has led work on major health brands—from oncology to MDD to fertility—and previously shaped campaigns for IKEA North America and Comcast B2B. A Temple University grad and proud Philadelphian, he brings clarity, imagination, and impact to every brief.
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