I TURN IDEAS INTO BRANDS, EXITS & LEGACIES. 🚀 Slayer of the Mundane 🚀 Author of the #1 Amazon bestseller “BRAND INTERVENTION” responsible for $7B in sales

Most ads burn money. My brands print it.

I'm David Brier. the guy CEOs call when they've burned so much cash on marketing, their spouses think they have a coke habit. I'm like rehab for your brand, except instead of getting you clean, I get you profitable. 

Think of me as the Betty Ford Clinic of branding, but with better ROI and no group hugs.

After 300+ brand transformations, I've learned this: While your competitors fight for attention, the smart money commands it. That's the difference between brands that beg and brands that bank.

You know you need me when:
• Everyone in your category looks identical (including you)
• Bigger competitors with deeper pockets keep winning
• That "digital transformation" everyone promised isn't transforming anything
• Your message bounces off customers like bullets off Superman
• You're one pivot away from irrelevance

Here's what I do differently:

I don't refresh brands. I resurrect them. Strategy, story, design, architecture—rebuilt from the ground up. No committees. No 6-month discovery phases. No death by PowerPoint.

Just breakthrough thinking that turns trapped businesses into category killers.

The proof?
• Zero-to-billion: Built a brand from first sale to billion-dollar exit
• Nonprofit magic: Generated $250K in 30 minutes
• Tourism transformation: 500% increase in 12 months for a city rebrand
• Pandemic profit: Expedition company to multi-millions in 24 months

From dog food to cybersecurity, beauty brands to Harley bikes—I've proven that radical differentiation works in any category.

Why I walked away from Revlon and Estée Lauder:

Big agencies love long meetings and longer timelines. I love CEOs who make decisions and make millions. That's why I wrote two Amazon bestsellers—Brand Intervention (Daymond John called it "Genius") and Rich Brand Poor Brand.

The bottom line:

I used to tell stories. Now I craft legacies. Because in a world of copycats, the only strategy is to be the original everyone else copies.

Your competition has you cornered? Perfect. Corner escapes are my specialty.

Ready to rise above the noise?

Subscribe: risingabovethenoise.com/modern-brand-secrets
Book your breakthrough: DavidBrierCalendar.as.me/IntroductorySession

Because being forgettable is the only unforgivable sin in business.

David Brier

A $2 billion mistake.

They refused to fix it.

43% of Pringles customers got their hand stuck in the can.

Most brands would panic. Redesign. Apologize.

Pringles celebrated it.

They turned their biggest complaint into a campaign: #PringlesCanHands.

The results?

→ 2 billion+ impressions
→ 96.5% positive sentiment
→ $2B in annual sales (first time ever)
→ Fastest growth in brand history

The formula was simple:

1. Find your "flaw"
2. Make it famous
3. Let fans own the moment

#PringlesCanHands wasn't just a hashtag.
It became a cultural movement.
People WANTED to get stuck.

The lesson most brands miss:

Your biggest weakness isn't a problem.
It's an opportunity.

Perfect brands are forgettable.
Authentic brands? Unforgettable.

What's the "flaw" you've been hiding that could become your signature?

$9bn+ in sales. Make your brand a magnet, not a money pit. I build brands that customers crave. If you're done wasting ad dollars, let's talk.

A flight attendant told him to put out the cigarette.

He convinced her to light it.

In "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard," Don Ready doesn't argue the rule.
He doesn't debate FAA regulations.
He doesn't ask for an exception.

He reframes the entire conversation.

"In 1969, when smoking was allowed on all flights, we put a man on the moon."

Suddenly, it's not about nicotine.
It's about freedom.
It's about a "better time."
It's about taking a stand against everything that's been stripped away.

By the end?
She's not enforcing the rule.
She's joining his rebellion.

Extreme? Absolutely.
But there's a lesson in this madness.

He made it bigger than a cigarette.
Bigger than a rule on a plane.
He made it about something worth fighting for.

Can such madness and conviction work in the real world?

Ask Liquid Death.

They sell water. 
In a tallboy can. 
With a name that sounds like a metal band.

Every "expert" said it was insane.
→ You can't name water after death.
→ You can't put it in a beer can.
→ You can't market hydration like a mosh pit.

They didn't argue.
They reframed.

It's not water. It's "Murder your thirst."
It's not hydration. 
It's a middle finger to boring.

2024 valuation: $1.4 billion.

For water.

Other rebels that refused to play by the "reasonable" rules:

→ Salesforce didn't sell software. They declared "No Software." They framed the whole category as broken and positioned the cloud as a movement, not a product upgrade.

→ Nike didn't sell shoes. They sold defiance in three words: "Just Do It." They turned a commodity sneaker into a global badge of identity.

→ Tesla didn't sell electric cars. They sold the idea that saving the planet could beat a Ferrari off the line. People joined multi-year waitlists for cars from a company that barely spent on traditional advertising.

The lesson most brands miss:

The person who defines the frame wins the game.

Don didn't convince her smoking was okay.
He convinced her they were Freedom Fighters.

Same cigarette.
Completely different sale.

What's the best reframe you've ever seen? Let me know in the comments.

Matthew McConaughey turned down $14.5 million.

To kill his own brand.

Hollywood had him locked in a box.
Shirtless. Charming. Predictable.

One final rom-com script arrived.
They offered $8 million.

He said no.

$10 million → No.
$12 million → No.
$14.5 million → Still no.

His agents panicked.
His phone stopped ringing.
20 months of silence.

Then came Dallas Buyers Club.
Then True Detective.
Then Interstellar.
Then an Oscar.

He didn't pivot.
He unbranded.

He killed what was generating cash
but limiting his potential.

The lesson most brands miss:

Your biggest revenue stream might be your biggest ceiling.

Blockbuster wouldn't unbrand from stores. Dead.
Kodak wouldn't unbrand from film. Dead.
McConaughey unbranded from easy. Oscar.

That reliable product?
That safe positioning?
That comfortable niche?

Might be your rom-com.

Sometimes you have to kill what you're known for
to become what you're capable of.

What's the "easy money" your brand needs to walk away from?

A CEO argued for 10 minutes.

Don Draper ended it with 8 words.

"I'm not asking you to change your religion."

Belle Jolie Lipstick. 1960.
CEO: "We sell choice! Hundreds of shades!"
Draper: "You already tried your plan and you're #4."

The room goes silent.

Client's tantrum:
→ "You're asking us to change our entire business!"
→ "Our variety IS our advantage!"
→ "Women WANT options!"

Draper's death blow:
"I'm not asking you to change your religion.
I'm asking you to sell lipstick."

Mic. Dropped.

What really happened:

The CEO was protecting inventory.
Draper was protecting profits.

One saw SKUs.
One saw souls.

The "Mark Your Man" strategy:

Instead of 100 shades for everyone?
One shade that says "This is ME."

Not "pick a color."
But "mark your territory."

The genius wasn't fewer choices.
It was better reasons.

The modern translation:

→ Netflix: 10,000 shows → "Top 10 for You"
→ Amazon: Million products → "Recommended"
→ Spotify: 100M songs → "Your Daily Mix"

Curation beats collection.

The lesson most brands miss:

Every failing brand worships options.
Every winning brand worships outcomes.

Your client thinks they're selling choice.
They're selling confusion.

And confusion doesn't convert.
Connection does.

Still think variety is value?
Name one lipstick shade from 1960.
Now name "Mark Your Man."

That's the difference between products and power.

Let me know in the comments below:
The "religion" my brand needs to stop worshipping is _________.

They lost the energy drink war. 

Then won a different one.

For 15 years, Celsius was a nobody.
Red Bull owned extreme sports.
Monster owned gaming.
5-Hour Energy owned convenience stores.

Celsius tried to compete. And failed.

Then they stopped trying.

They didn't chase 18-year-old gamers.
They chased 35-year-old women at the gym.

→ No skull graphics.
→ No extreme sports sponsorships.
→ No "UNLEASH THE BEAST" messaging.

Just: "Essential energy. No sugar. No aspartame."

They found a customer everyone else ignored.

2020: $130 million in revenue.
2023: $1.3 billion.
Stock up 4,000% in 5 years.

The lesson most brands miss:

You don't win by fighting for the same customer.
You win by finding the customer nobody's fighting for.

Celsius didn't beat Red Bull.
They made Red Bull irrelevant to their audience.

Who's the overlooked customer your competitors are ignoring?

Celsius energy drink can in Raspberry Peach flavor with headline: They stopped chasing Red Bull. (Stock rose 4,000%)

Yesterday was International Women's Day.

I spent it at a memorial.

My wife and I said goodbye to our dear friend of 40 years.

Christina Kumi Kimball was a goddess.

Grace. Precision. Focus. Beauty.

She was the daughter of a small Japanese mother and a tall African American military father.

She became a dancer.

Not just any dancer.

She performed with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
She danced on Broadway in Cats.
She lit up The Wiz.
She played Tiger Lily in the national tour of Peter Pan.
She graced the screen in The Cotton Club.

For 40 years, she was part of our lives.

And yesterday, we said goodbye.

Here's what I keep thinking:

Life isn't measured by how long you live.
It's measured by how many lives you touch.

Kumi touched generations.

Through every leap. Every performance. Every moment of presence.

She didn't just move across stages.
She moved people.

That's the legacy that lasts.

Rest in grace, Kumi. Your light shines on.

Photo of David Brier with inset photo of Christina Kumi Kimball, Broadway dancer and Alvin Ailey performer. Headline reads: The Final Stage. A Lifetime of Grace.

Warren Buffett hires for three traits.

Miss the third and the first two become dangerous.

Enthusiasm. Intelligence. Integrity.

Most people obsess over the first two.
They hire for energy. They promote for smarts.

Buffett says that's exactly how you build a disaster.

"If you hire somebody without integrity, you really want them to be dumb and lazy."

Because enthusiasm without integrity is manipulation.
Intelligence without integrity is a con artist in a suit.

I've seen it in branding for 4 decades.

The charismatic founder who burns every partner.
The brilliant strategist who overpromises and underdelivers.
The "visionary" CEO whose vision is always someone else's money.

They're talented. They're driven.
And they leave scorched earth everywhere they go.

Integrity isn't a soft skill.
It's the operating system everything else runs on.

Without it:
→ Your enthusiasm becomes noise
→ Your intelligence becomes manipulation
→ Your brand becomes a lie people eventually see through

Rich brands are built on trust.
Poor brands are built on tactics.

And trust compounds.
Tactics expire.

The question isn't "How smart are you?"
It's "Would I trust you with my business when no one's watching?"

That's the test.
That's the only test.

They didn't build a better taxi.

They eliminated the worst part of getting one.

Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp weren't transportation experts.
They were two guys who couldn't get a cab in Paris.

The taxi industry had 100 years to fix itself.
→ Standing in the rain.
→ Cash only. No receipt.
→ "Sorry, my card machine is broken."
→ No idea when — or if — one would show up.

Uber didn't add features.
They subtracted frustrations.

→ No hailing. Tap a button.
→ No cash. Auto-charged.
→ No uncertainty. Watch the car approach.
→ No mystery pricing. See the fare upfront.

2010: Launched in San Francisco.
2011: $11 million in revenue.
2023: $37 billion.

The taxi industry spent decades improving cars.
Uber improved the experience of getting one.

The lesson most brands miss:

The fastest path to more money isn't adding features.
It's removing the friction that your competitors have normalized.

Your customers aren't asking for more.
They're silently tolerating pain everyone else ignores.

This coming Saturday, I break down exactly how to find these hidden opportunities in this week's article (including a 10-minute Simplicity Audit you can steal.)

Not subscribed? Join 7,000+ business leaders who refuse to compete on price: https://lnkd.in/g2zqk58P

Uber keychain next to car key with headline: They didn't build a better taxi. (Now worth $150B)

Something interesting happened after I posted this.

Over 3,400+ reactions. And seriously deep comments.

And one pattern showed up fast.

Most brands already know they're drowning customers in options.

They just don't know where to start fixing it.

That's why I wrote something new for Saturday.

It's called The Simplicity Audit.

A short framework that helps you find the exact place your brand is:

• adding complexity
• confusing customers
• and quietly losing money

Three questions. Ten minutes.

The answers will change how people see your business.

Because the real lesson behind Don Draper's line wasn't about lipstick.

It was about clarity.

The brands that win don't sell more choices.

They remove the ones customers never wanted.

I'll be sending the article to 7,000+ subscribers first this Saturday.

If you want it when it drops, subscribe here (it's free):
https://lnkd.in/g2zqk58P

And if this post hit a nerve, answer this:

What's the one thing your industry has made unnecessarily complicated?

The conference organizer ran over before my talk.

"Please don't start a rebellion."

I looked at the presentation.

Black background. 
White text. 
Seven beige bullet points.

Enough beige to tranquilize a herd of rhinoceros.

I asked her: "Do you know when beige branding started?"

She didn't.

"Right around the time companies got scared of being remembered."

She laughed nervously.

So I pointed at the conference floor.
1,200 companies. Same three phrases:

• Trusted partner
• Innovative solutions
• Customer-centric

I said: "Do you know what that is?"

"That's not branding. That's witness protection."

Because somewhere along the way, branding stopped being dangerous.

Brands used to start fights.

Now most look like they were approved by the Department of Beige Affairs.

So I told her:

"Relax. I'm not here to disrupt the conference."

"I'm here to restore freedom."

Freedom for brands to be:
Loud. Clear. Unignorable.

And if anyone complains about the slides…

Tell them, “Anything resembling a rebellion is fictitious and purely coincidental. Thinking freely is done at your own risk.”

Great brands were never meant to whisper.

David Brier standing on stage in front of a packed auditorium of hundreds of attendees. Text overlay reads: "That's not branding. That's witness protection."

Transforming executive expertise into synchronized, searchable presence | Brand & AI Visibility Strategy Leader | GTM Advisor | Speaker | Author, Theatre of the Mind | Founder @ The Borden Group

Visibility isn’t luck — it’s strategy.
I build visible leaders and trusted brands that drive credibility, opportunity, and growth.

Hi, I’m Melanie. Not too long ago, everyone around me was losing their job, and I didn’t know where I’d turn if I lost mine.  So, I turned online. 

I've been recognized on Favikon’s Top 200 LinkedIn Creator List and Sales Intel’s Top 300 Women Making an Impact in B2B SaaS. Seen in places like Entrepreneur, LA Weekly, New York City Biz List, New York Weekly, and The Wall Street Journal. 

I’d spent years in sales and marketing building for tech companies, retail brands, and high-growth startups, so I leveraged those same frameworks to build my own. It worked. 

I grew my visibility, reach, and revenue — and discovered that building an executive brand isn’t about vanity. 

I help founders and executives turn real expertise into searchable, trusted authority by structuring their thinking so it’s understood by both people and AI.

I partner with executives, founders, nonprofits, and leadership teams across industries — from emerging tech to investor-backed enterprises — to build executive visibility systems that generate measurable business outcomes. 

What we do at The Borden Group goes beyond ghostwriting or positioning. It’s a full-scale visibility and go-to-market strategy — grounded in lived experience — that combines strategy, creative, and execution.

Today, visibility is decided by both people and machines. I integrate an AI-first layer into every engagement so your expertise is findable wherever decisions start. We partner best with teams ready to move fast, stay consistent, and translate brand presence into pipeline results. 

Our work helps leaders and organizations:

-Generate new pipelines & accelerate go-to-market traction
-Amplify executive visibility across tech & business media
-Create credibility that supports board seats & advisory roles
-Launch books that open doors to authority & revenue
-Scale internal marketing & content systems
-Unlock new revenue streams tied to business growth

If you’re a founder, operator, or investor ready to grow your company and your credibility, let's connect. 

My book, Theatre of the Mind, is a playbook for leaders navigating mindset, visibility, and influence.→  Link to order in featured section. 

Connect with me here or at www.humantobrand.com
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter: humantobrand.com/newsletter

Gain actionable insights to elevate your personal brand, amplify influence, and future-proof your leadership impact.

Melanie Borden

Who is a woman who’s made an impact on your career?

Me.

I want to thank me. And if you are like me, you should thank yourself too. 

I took the jump to restart my career on my own in 2021.

I posted when I didn't know if anyone would hire me.

I learned things I had no business learning at the time, just because I could see where the future was heading.

I stayed in the room when it would have been easier to not.

I chose visibility over comfort.

Reinvention or starting over sounds glamorous from the outside. Most of the time, it just looks like backing and trusting yourself, even when there’s no guarantee it will work.  

Sometimes the woman who changes your career the most is the one in the mirror. 

What’s one decision you made that changed the trajectory of your career?

Thank you for all the women’s day messages 🖤
Athena is now a 50 lb big girl

Black-and-white portrait of Melanie Borden, founder of The Borden Group, executive visibility strategist, and author of Theatre of the Mind. She is holding a small black-and-white puppy in her arms and looking directly at the camera with a calm, confident expression. Melanie has dark shoulder-length hair with bangs and is wearing a fitted long-sleeve top and textured skirt. The image has a soft studio background and a polished editorial style portrait. The photo accompanies a reflection for International Women’s Day focused on leadership visibility, entrepreneurship, and women investing in themselves. The post thanks Melanie for making the decision to restart her career independently in 2021, putting both time and personal capital on the line, showing up consistently on LinkedIn before knowing if opportunities would come, learning emerging technologies and strategies early, choosing visibility over comfort, and finishing writing her book while building a company and supporting clients.

I analyzed 100 executive level LinkedIn profiles recently.

Only 7 sent clear authority signals to the market.

Authority signals are the visible indicators that show someone what you’re known for, what results you’ve produced, and why your perspective matters.

Most had incredible careers, ran large teams, built companies, and delivered real results.

But their expertise was almost invisible online.

When someone searches your name today — whether it’s a potential client, investor, board member, or an AI system summarizing experts in your field, the signals it sees determine how you’re perceived.

Here’s what the 7 visible leaders had in common:

1. Clear positioning
Within seconds, you knew what they were known for. Not just a title. A specific lane.

2. Proof of impact
Their profile showed evidence of results — media, speaking, articles, case studies, or leadership perspective. Authority isn’t claimed. It’s demonstrated.

3. Perspective, not just history
Most profiles read like resumes.
The strongest profiles showed how the leader thinks. That’s what differentiates and builds trust.

4. Structure that works for both people and AI
Their expertise was organized in a way that made it easy to understand, reference, and discover. 

Those generating inbound opportunities today aren’t always the most experienced.

They have structured expertise that is visible, and easy for the market to read and understand.

So if someone audited your profile today… would it send authority signals or does it just list your career history?

Professional portrait of Melanie Borden, founder of The Borden Group and author of Theatre of the Mind. The image accompanies a LinkedIn post about analyzing 100 executive LinkedIn profiles and identifying the authority signals that make leaders visible and credible online. The post discusses how positioning, proof of impact, leadership perspective, and profile structure influence how executives are perceived by clients, investors, board members, and AI systems researching experts.

I will be your yes woman.


Yes, you should talk about that meeting on LinkedIn, especially if it changed how you think. 

Yes, you should go on that podcast even if your voice shakes a little.

Yes, you should accept the panel invite even if you think someone else is “more qualified.”

Yes, you should update your LinkedIn headline to reflect who you’re becoming, not who you were.

Yes, you should ask for the introduction.

Yes, you should post the opinion you’ve been editing down for three days. 

Yes, you should tell the real story.

Yes, you should pitch yourself.

Yes, you should start before you feel ready.

Yes, you should build the thing that keeps tugging at you and keeps you up at night.

Yes, you should say what you actually want.

If you’ve been waiting for someone to tell you it’s okay and give you permission… you are not late. 

I’m telling you. Yes!! Go!

If you’re building something bigger this year,  I want to work with you:
https://lnkd.in/gfHaKiAB

Melanie Borden, executive personal branding strategist, Founder of The Borden Group, LinkedIn visibility expert, and author of Theatre of the Mind, photographed in a luxury car during business travel. She holds a smartphone while seated confidently in a cream leather interior with polished wood details and an urban skyline in the background. Wearing a structured beige blazer, white blouse, blue jeans, and neutral heels, the image reflects executive visibility, female leadership authority, founder brand positioning, strategic mobility, and AI-era discoverability. The photograph reinforces themes of Searchable Leadership, executive presence, premium positioning, and modern business influence.

Most people have more potential for impact than they realize. They just have not learned how to turn experience into authority.

If you are organizing a conference, leadership event, podcast, or executive program and are looking for a speaker, I would welcome the opportunity to connect and talk more!

Got back on my board this week after a 20+ year hiatus.

People think reinvention means becoming someone new. Most of the time, it’s returning to who you were just with more wisdom this time.

And within 1 minute, my body was like: “Oh. Hello. There you are.”

So maybe the “new you” is just the old you… with permission🖤

What’s something you used to love that you’ve been thinking about picking back up?

P.S. Thanks to marathon training I am feeling great. 

📍Sugarbush, VT

Melanie Borden snowboarding at Sugarbush Resort in Vermont after returning to the sport following a 20+ year hiatus. Image shows Melanie Borden riding a snowboard on a snowy mountain slope during winter conditions. The moment reflects themes of reinvention, returning to past passions, athletic comeback, marathon training cross-fitness, midlife vitality, and outdoor sports. Snowboarding scene in the Green Mountains of Vermont representing personal growth, resilience, rediscovering identity, and the idea that reinvention often means reconnecting with activities you once loved.

The biggest career mistake executives are making right now:

(And AI is quietly amplifying it)

Assuming their reputation speaks for itself. Instead of documenting their expertise where people — and machines — can actually find it.

Today your credibility isn’t built only in meetings, it’s built in your total digital footprint.

People are not just Googling you. They are searching your name in ChatGPT, Perplexity, LinkedIn, Podcasts and other AI tools to figure out:

What do you believe?
What have you built?
What outcomes have you driven?
Who do you serve?
[And are you relevant right now?]

If the answer is vague, outdated, or nonexistent… it could contribute to you being overlooked. Not because you aren’t qualified. Because the proof isn’t visible yet.

So how do you make sure your expertise actually shows up? By building clear, searchable signals of authority.

Here’s a simple visibility reset anyone can start today:

1/ Clarify your positioning.
Vague titles like “strategic leader driving growth” means nothing to AI or buyers. 
Lets define it with what you do, who you do it for and results you bring. 

2/ Define your 3 expertise themes. 
What are the topics you are strongest on/want to be known for?

3/ Align your LinkedIn profile + LinkedIn Content
Your headline, about section, featured, and experience should reflect those themes. Use my 25% content framework from Theatre of the Mind. 

4/ Document your insights.
Share lessons, stories, and perspectives from your real work. This is the single greatest advantage you have. 

5/ Connect your ecosystem.
Your company website, media, podcasts, and LinkedIn/other socials should reinforce the same expertise.

6/ Stay active.
Consistency signals relevance — to people and algorithms.

Authority today unfortunately is not assumed. It is documented.
If your experience only exists inside your industry, head or company walls, you need this final layer.

Make your expertise visible, and opportunity WILL find you.

More on Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan https://lnkd.in/g_Wxnh8P 

When someone searches your name today… what do they learn about you?

Melanie Borden, founder of The Borden Group and executive visibility strategist, sits in a modern podcast studio speaking during a recorded conversation. She is seated at a table with a professional microphone and pop filter in front of her, wearing a cream blazer over a black top. Across from her is another podcast host, partially visible, also seated with a microphone as they engage in discussion. The setting features a clean white brick wall background with soft natural lighting, creating a polished, professional podcast environment. Melanie appears attentive and engaged as she listens and speaks during the interview, suggesting a thoughtful leadership or business discussion. The scene reflects a professional podcast recording focused on topics such as leadership visibility, personal branding, executive strategy, or entrepreneurship, with high-quality audio equipment and a calm studio aesthetic that highlights expert conversation and thought leadership content.

Last night I worked on my 2026 OKRs. Plot twist: they were personal.

I find myself in a pattern regularly of only focusing my goals around business. OKRs stand for Objectives and Key Results — a simple framework companies use to set goals and measure progress. 

So, I decided to use it for life. If you are like me you might do this too. I’m sharing them here because I thought they might help you think about your life a little differently (and I need some accountability) 

I broke life into a few simple objectives and gave each one a key result to get there (3-4 key results for each in my actual document). 

Objective 1: Create Meaningful Experiences with My Family
KR: Spend dedicated 1:1 time with each daughter every month.

Objective 2: Invest in My Relationship
KR: Have a lunch or dinner date at least once a week.

Objective 3: Strengthen My Physical Health and Daily Habits
KR: Work out/run on weekday mornings before work. 

Objective 4: Adventure and Explore the World
KR: Travel to Israel in 2026.

Objective 5: Learn New Skills and Pursue Fun
KR: Learn to hydrofoil board. 

My biggest priority behind all of this is simple: be more present and spend less time on a device and more time outside.

Have you ever mapped out personal OKRs before?
Share one personal goal for 2026 in the comments to inspire us all! 

Swipe to see all 5 and why I chose them. And btw now that you officially know I’m a nerd, we can talk about the 'life dashboard' I built for all of this another day.

2026 MB OKRs

LinkedIn has become part of the AI search layer in 2026, whether you’re thinking about it that way or not.

The headlines are all pointing in the same direction: AI agents are increasingly filtering what humans see. Platforms are under pressure over moderation. “AI slop” is eroding trust. Bots can mimic humans at scale.

Put simply: your leadership voice is no longer just competing in a feed. It’s competing inside an AI-filtered layer where systems decide what gets summarized, what gets suppressed, and what gets repeated.

That changes executive visibility.

The question isn’t “How do I get more reach?”
It’s: “Would an AI confidently pass my voice through to the people I want to reach?”

This week’s issue of my newsletter breaks down what this structural shift means for leaders who don’t want to become full-time creators, but do want to be findable and credible:

Why LinkedIn is increasingly treated as an authority record
Why attention depth now matters more than surface engagement
Why structured, long-form thinking is becoming evidence—not just content
Why conversation and proof outperform lightweight posts
How to think about being summarizable and citable, not just scroll-stopping

If you lead a business or a category, this isn’t a creator conversation. It’s a reputation conversation.

What’s one thing you could start documenting once a month that would help your next client, candidate, or investor see how you lead without having to take your word for it?

View newsletter: Executive Visibility Brief

Every issue: one headline, one lesson, one tool you can use now to strengthen your visibility. LinkedIn isn’t just a social platform anymore—it’s beco

Open article: Why Your Voice Must Be Strong Enough to Survive The AI Filter Era by Melanie Borden • 6 min read

Why Your Voice Must Be Strong Enough to Survive The AI Filter Era

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The Battle

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