Leaders from Softcat, Computacenter and Natilik last night laid out their top tips – and no-go zones – for building a personal brand in the digital age.
The panel took place during the first 2025 physical event of The Channel Community, a non-profit that provides free mentoring and networking for the industry.
View the best photos from the evening here.
Chaired by Nebula Global Services CMO Richard Eglon, the panel featured Natilik CMO Kimberly Moss, Computacenter Group Security Manager Bharti Lim and Softcat Recruitment Manager Elisha Kirkham.
“If we don’t do it, no one will”
All have built successful ‘personal brands’ in the digital age, including on LinkedIn.
But what key attribute does anyone following in their footsteps need to possess, Eglon asked?
Softcat’s Kirkham argued that “courage” is required for anyone – but especially women – to talk proactively about their achievements on digital platforms.
“One of the biggest challenges we face in this digital age is that it can trigger the hell out of the age-old conditioning we’ve had as women and human beings that we shouldn’t talk about ourselves too much,” Kirkham said.
“It’s really about fighting back against that age-old conditioning, and getting to a place where it feels uncomfortable but doing it anyway. Because if we don’t, no one will.”
Being “authentic” is the key, Computacenter’s Lim argued, meanwhile.
“Don’t put on a persona, or else you’ll have to keep it up for the next 20 years of your life,” she counselled.
“If people can see the real you and relate to you, it makes it much easier for them to work with you and trust you.”
Budding personal-brand builders should “be prepared to be a little bit vulnerable”, Natilik’s Moss argued.
“We all have things in our lives that perhaps haven’t gone perfectly, and we should own it and feel proud we’ve come through it and got to the other side,” she said.
“Be prepared to show an element of that because that will shine and that makes you real and likeable and human.”
‘Would you be proud if your kids heard it?’
The panellists were also pressed to reveal their personal branding no-nos.
Softcat’s Kirkham nominated swearing.
“I’m all for authenticity, but I think that’s verging on too much,” she ventured.
Lim said she shies away from controversy.
“I don’t like it in real life, so I don’t want to do it just because it’s social media,” she said.
Moss had the last word in revealing her personal branding red line.
“Don’t say anything, anywhere – ever – that if your kids hear it in the future you wouldn’t be proud of what you’ve said,” she concluded.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
