Spiritual Intelligence: Personal Branding

"If you don't have a personal brand, you're invisible."

"Your biggest asset is your personal brand."

"If you want to grow your company or career, you must have a personal brand."

But what is a personal brand?

Generally speaking, a personal brand is how you show up online: the topics you write about, your images, your logo, your aesthetic. At least that's what we are told.

Unfortunately, posting quotes with a consistent aesthetic won't make you rich... or happy.

I would know. Many of my clients are Muslims who spent tremendous amounts of money and effort building online personal brands, but the authority and revenue didn't follow.

In this issue, I am going to give you the spiritually intelligent way to build a personal brand.

A Muslim personal brand case-study

Over the past two decades, I have built multiple personal brands:

• As an AI professor who taught at Stanford, Columbia, MIT, and USC
• As an AI entrepreneur and the owner of one of the world's first AI product consultancies
• And now as a Muslim spiritual success coach and content creator

I can tell you one thing for sure: your personal brand has very little to do with your online presence.

Take Malcolm X, for example (may Allah have mercy on him).

He had one of the strongest personal brands ever, so much so they killed him for it.

Yet he never posted a selfie or a "thought leadership" post.

So what was Malcolm's "personal brand"?

Was it those rim glasses? Or the tailored suits? Or the famous quotes?

Of course not.

His personal brand was perfectly encapsulated in M.S. Handler's introduction to his autobiography:

"No man in our time aroused fear and hatred in the white man as did Malcolm, because in him the white man sensed an implacable foe who could not be had for any price — a man unreservedly committed to the cause of liberating the black man in American society rather than integrating the black man into that society."

... an implacable foe who could not be had for any price

Allahu akbar.

That was his personal brand.

His personal brand was what he wore or how he spoke

His personal brand was that he spoke the truth to the white man.

His personal brand was that he changed when he was confronted with the truth.

His personal brand was that he never feared facing the consequences of what he said.

If you approach your personal brand as solely the way you communicate online, you are signing up for being out of alignment which breeds burnout and disappointment

Here's the spiritually intelligent reframe:

Personal branding isn't about how you show up online. It's about how you live your life when no one is looking and letting that guide your online presence.

A personal brand is so much more than mere pixels on a screen. It's about how we live our life in integrity (to the best of our ability).

The danger of "Online-Only" Personal Brands

Most people let their online brand affect their offline lives:

• The way they speak
• The causes they support (or don't support)
• Who they associate with

This is why you see so many gurus with "strong" online brands not saying anything about the Palestinian genocide and other atrocities.

But that's not personal branding, that's hypocrisy. And that's why many Muslims resist personal branding: because they don't want to feel like hypocrites.

People are craving authenticity online. Too much AI-generated content. Too many picture-perfect posts. Too much "fake it till you make it" energy.

So an authentic personal brand that starts from the inside-out is definitely a strategic advantage.

But there is a thin line between a personal brand that works for us and one that traps us.

A believer's personal brand

Your personal brand isn't a logo and selfies.

Your spiritually intelligent personal brand is called: Islam.

• It's how you show up to work
• It's how consistent you are
• It's how you speak to those who can't benefit you
• It's how you decide what you will do or not do, no matter the price

If you want to stand out in a sea of copycats: apply Islam and you will be 1 in a million.

A personal brand based on Islamic values, not vanity, can change your life and the world.

Here's how I help my clients define their God-centered personal brand

The 4-Step Process to a Spiritually Intelligent Personal Brand

Here is my Why-What-Who-Essence (WWWE) framework (I loved wrestling when I was 6 😂) that I use to help Muslims align their personal brand with their identity:

Step 1: Why?

The first and most important question to ask is: why do I want a "personal brand"?

If the answer is to make money, you're starting off on the wrong foot. A personal brand is a compass to guide the way you show up both online and offline. It is not something to "monetize," however money follows a strong God-centered personal brand. More on this later.

Having a personal brand that centers our relationship with Allah will ensure we are always being mindful of the Creator, and thus ensures a life of peace.

Here are some questions to help you identify your "why":

• Why do I want to be seen and heard?
• What are my non-monetary measures of success?
• How am I uniquely positioned to serve my God-given purpose?
• Why me? Why now?
• What is the cost of me not showing up? To myself, my family, my community, the ummah, the world?

Identifying your "why" is going to help when self-doubts creep in. When people start questioning or criticizing you or "giving advice," you can always look at your "why" and renew your intention.

For example, when we started Practical Muslim, we wanted Muslims to feel that Islam was their superpower. We wanted to inspire the Muslim Steve Jobs or Serena Williams by helping them be excellent at what they do while becoming deeply connected to Allah.

Any time someone tells me I am not a "shaykh" or that I am using Islam for personal gain, I look back at my why to keep me centered.

Step 2: What?

The next step is to identify your non-negotiables: What are the things that you are unwilling to compromise on, no matter the price?

This part is easier said than done, but I have found that we often don't even articulate our non-negotiables, so how can we enforce them? How can we stand up for our values if we haven't outlined them?

This list doesn't have to be long. It could be just 2-3 things, and you can always add to it over time. The power of your non-negotatibles is that the give you immense clarity and help with swift decisive decision making. If something doesn't meet your non-negotiables, it's an automatic "no".

If you don't know where to start, here are some amazing suggestions, from The Most High:

Successful indeed are the believers: those who humble themselves in prayer; and those who avoid idle talk; and those who pay zakat; and those who guard their chastity; except with their spouses or those in their possession, for then they are free from blame, but whoever seeks beyond that are the transgressors; and those who are true to their trusts and covenants; and those who strictly guard their prayers; These are indeed the inheritors Who shall inherit the Firdaus (Paradise). They shall dwell therein forever. [23:1-11]

For example, in my case, one of my non-negotiables during my AI career was that I wasn't going to hype AI. My stance was that AI was just a tool, like a hammer or a camera - nothing more.

So I started speaking out against AI from Big Tech as early as 2013, so much so that some of my colleagues asked to no longer be co-authors on a paper where I was blunt about AI from Big Tech.

It might've cost me a couple of partnerships, but it allowed me to be clear. And clarity brings confidence, and confidence breeds bold action. This differentiated me from everyone else who was fawning over big tech. By the time I was on the job market in 2014, I got 6-7 job offers on the strength of my personal brand and clear confident conviction.

Step 3: Who

The next step is to identify who you are serving with your personal brand. What are you trying to bring awareness to? For example, you might want to help job seekers land jobs, or maybe you want to speak about UX for the visually impaired. It is very important that you zero-in on one person, one problem, one solution.

Too many Muslims talk about way too many topics or are too broad within a single topic that they cannot establish clear authority.

Malcolm X, for example, spoke for the need of separation for Black Americans to not integrate with their white oppressors (this was similar to our beloved Prophet's approach to migrating away from Mecca).

Malcolm X had a strong brand because he remained on message. He spoke for the poor, destitute Black Americans. He articulated their plight and proposed a single solution.

Here are some questions to gain clarity on your "who":

• Who am I serving?
• What are their pains?
• What do they wish they had?
• What are they thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing?

In my case, I help ambitious Muslims who have lost their faith. They feel like no matter what they accomplish, they are not good enough. They want to connect with Allah but are jaded by the traditional "Islamic school" approach. They want to succeed but feel isolated as the "only" Muslim in their position.

Note: If you are interested in doing user research, check out Tahir's services. And if you are specifically looking to capture the voice of your customer in email then check out Eman's work.

Step 4: Essence

The final step combines your why, non-negotiables, and your "who" to answer this important question:

What do I believe about my customer and their problem that no one else does?

This is what I call your essence. Based on your lived experiences, divine inspiration, culture, etc., what do you believe about the problem you want to solve that nobody else does (or very few people do)?

You probably already know the answer to this question, but didn't have the clarity or confidence to say it out loud. Now is your chance to claim your essence.

For example, I believe that for Muslims to become leaders in tech, science, and art, they need to deepen their trust in Allah. The bigger the goal, the deeper the trust. That's what I write about. That's what I talk about during speeches and podcasts. This is the essence of me leaving AI to coach Muslims to achieve their goals.

Once you have done this exercise, you can take your answers and turn them into the traditional personal branding assets such as your messaging, visual identity, logo, content calendar, etc.

Note: When you're ready to professionally craft your visual identity checkout Maylene's work at Studio Noor Anisa

Most people start from these collaterals and wonder why they don't feel good and don't get results. If you do the exercises above, you will be in the top 1% of personal brands that transcend social media or a business.

I hope you found this helpful. Reply to this email and let me know what was most helpful, and feel free to suggest other topics I should cover.

For those who stayed till the end, I have a surprise! Here is a little exercise I recorded to help dial in your personal brand. Watch it and let me know what you think!

Peace and blessings,

James