Why More Research Won't Fix Your Personal Brand

LET'S MAKE WAVES with Rana AlBasri Mouawad · Sep 15, 2026 · 14m · transcript

This week, I'm talking about something most personal brand advice skips entirely, the difference between guessing at what's wrong with your brand and actually knowing.

I share two lessons that shaped how I think about clarity, one from years ago watching a creative team at an agency avoid their desks before a big brief, and one from this year, when I finally sought an honest assessment of what was and wasn't working in my own business.

I also get into why turning 50 this year felt different, why I put myself back in the student seat, and why real clarity rarely comes from more research, more…