Your Brand Is Losing Business

Right now, somewhere in this city, a highly accomplished professional is losing a room — and has no idea it is happening. Not because he lacks knowledge. Not because he lacks credibility. But because nobody has ever told him the truth: that the way he communicates is quietly costing him business, trust, and opportunity — one conversation at a time. I know this because I sat across from exactly such a person not long ago. Decades of experience. Multiple leadership roles. A genuine desire to...

min read

Right now, somewhere in this city, a highly accomplished professional is losing a room — and has no idea it is happening. Not because he lacks knowledge. Not because he lacks credibility. But because nobody has ever told him the truth: that the way he communicates is quietly costing him business, trust, and opportunity — one conversation at a time. I know this because I sat across from exactly such a person not long ago. Decades of experience. Multiple leadership roles. A genuine desire to give back, to guide, to create impact in a new chapter of his career. When he spoke, you could feel the depth. And yet, within minutes of any conversation, something would shift. The other person would grow quiet. Questions would stop. Follow-up calls would not come. He could not understand it. I could see it immediately. "His problem was not what he knew. It was that he could not stop sharing all of it at once." This is what I call the knowledge trap — and it catches the best people. High-achievers, founders, senior professionals who have spent decades accumulating expertise. In conversation, they give everything. Every insight, every example, every caveat. The intention is generosity. The impact is overwhelm. The listener does not leave inspired — they leave exhausted. And they do not come back. Think about the last high-stakes conversation you had — a pitch, a partnership discussion, a client meeting. Did you walk away certain it went well, only to hear nothing for days? Did you find yourself wondering what went wrong when everything felt right to you in the room? That silence is not coincidence. More often than not, it is a personal brand problem wearing the disguise of a business problem. When we began working together, I did not start with his online presence — even though it badly needed attention. I did not start with his positioning or his profile. I started where every personal brand must start: the inside. Specifically, his communication — the gap between what he intended to convey and what the other person was actually able to receive. He resisted at first. Like most accomplished people, he found it difficult to accept that the very habits that had built his career were now working against him. But when I showed him the framework — and more importantly, when he tested it in a real conversation and felt the room respond differently — something clicked. He called me shortly after and said: "For the first time, I felt in control of the room — instead of just being in it." "The goal is never to empty yourself into a room. The goal is to make the room want to come back for more." That is the exact moment a personal brand begins to work for you. Not when you know more than everyone else. But when people feel understood by you — and sense there is more where that came from. Once that foundation was solid, everything else followed. His online presence — scattered, confusing, unconvincing — was rebuilt around a clear and authentic narrative. Inbound enquiries, which had been absent, began arriving. He stopped chasing conversations and started attracting them. Here is the question I want to leave you with — answer it honestly: when you walk out of a room, do people feel energised by the exchange, or quietly relieved it is over? If you hesitated even for a second, that hesitation is your answer. And it is costing you more than you realise — in deals not closed, partnerships not formed, and opportunities that quietly chose someone else. Your personal brand is not your logo or your LinkedIn headline. It is the impression you leave in every room, online and offline, before you have said a word and long after you have left. Building it right — from the inside out — is the highest-return investment a founder or business owner can make today. The founders who invest in their personal brand stop chasing business — and start attracting it. I offer a free 30-minute Founder Brand Audit — a focused, no-fluff conversation where we identify exactly where your personal brand is working against you and what one shift can change. I take on a maximum of four of these calls each week. If this article made you stop and think, that is reason enough to book yours before this week's slots close. Book your free session here: calendly.com/divyaaadvaani/founder-brand-audit (The writer is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Credibility Crisis

Correspondent
5 hours ago
2 min read

For years, Faizal Khan, known across the country by his affectionate moniker of ‘Khan Sir,’ has cultivated the image of an educator fighting a noble battle against an exploitative coaching industry. To millions of students, he is not merely a teacher but a folk hero, someone who is an outsider challenging entrenched interests while offering affordable education to the masses.

But the recent episode surrounding the attack on Khan Global Studies in Patna raise uncomfortable questions and casts a shadow on the educator’s reputation. According to reports, a group of men allegedly vandalised the coaching institute, pelted stones and assaulted a security guard.

But the controversy did not end there. Soon after the incident, Khan claimed that seven to ten rounds of firing had taken place outside his institute. The allegation dramatically escalated the seriousness of the episode. His claim generated headlines, social media outrage and a wave of sympathy.

Yet police investigations reportedly found no evidence of firing by the attackers. CCTV footage and local inquiries also failed to substantiate the claim. Then came a more troubling development. A video surfaced allegedly showing two security guards associated with Khan Global Studies had fired shots into the air. The guards have since been arrested.

While the investigation is still underway, the sequence of events is, at the very least, fishy. If police are ultimately correct that there was no firing by the attackers, then how did such a dramatic narrative emerge? Why were claims of multiple rounds being fired presented with such certainty? Why did the alleged gunfire become the centrepiece of public messaging immediately after the attack?

Khan’s rivals have claiming that it was the educator himself who orchestrated the attack to gain sympathy as his fortunes were flagging.

While the truth of these allegations have yet to be proved, it is worth noting that the modern coaching industry is not merely an educational enterprise but also a business of branding whose teachers are celebrities. Coaching centres compete for market share, social media attention and student enrolments. Success stories turn into marketing campaigns. And victimhood can sometimes become a marketing campaign too.

Indeed, the most striking feature of the episode is not the vandalism itself but the rush to construct a story of persecution before the facts were known. The suggestion that shadowy rivals sought to silence a successful educator fit neatly into an existing public image. It generated precisely the sort of public sympathy that influential personalities often enjoy.

Students deserve better. They look to educators not merely for knowledge but for intellectual honesty. A teacher’s first duty is respect for facts. The Patna incident should therefore serve as a reminder that celebrity status cannot become a substitute for credibility. The damage will extend beyond one coaching institute or Khan’s reputation. It will damage trust itself. And for a teacher, there is no greater loss.