Being Liked Is Not Branding

AI Generated Image Think of someone specific you met in the last six months who seemed genuinely interested in connecting further. The conversation was warm. There was energy in it. They said all the right things — let us stay in touch, I would love to explore this further, I will reach out next week. And then they did not. Not because they were rude or dismissive. Not because something went wrong. But because by the time next week arrived, you had simply faded. This is one of the most...

min read

AI Generated Image Think of someone specific you met in the last six months who seemed genuinely interested in connecting further. The conversation was warm. There was energy in it. They said all the right things — let us stay in touch, I would love to explore this further, I will reach out next week. And then they did not. Not because they were rude or dismissive. Not because something went wrong. But because by the time next week arrived, you had simply faded. This is one of the most quietly expensive things that happens to accomplished founders — and almost none of them know it is happening. Being liked is not the same as being remembered. Being remembered is not the same as being recalled at the right moment. And being recalled at the right moment is the only version of any of this that actually creates business. The gap between a pleasant first impression and a phone call that begins with "I immediately thought of you" is not filled by warmth or competence or even a genuinely great conversation. It is filled by a personal brand strong enough to occupy a specific, distinct place in someone's mind long after the meeting has ended. Here is what most founders are not told. When someone leaves a conversation thinking "what a lovely person" they have given you a compliment. When they leave thinking "she is exactly the person I would call if I ever needed to solve this specific problem for someone I care about" they have given you a business. The difference between those two outcomes is not how much they liked you. It is how clearly they understood what you stand for and who you are for. Most accomplished founders are genuinely likeable. Many are impressive. Very few are specific enough to be recalled at the moment an opportunity arises. They exist in the minds of their network as pleasant, capable, talented — and entirely interchangeable with the other pleasant, capable, talented people those same contacts met last month. That interchangeability is costing you more than you realise. Every time someone in your network encounters an opportunity that should be yours and instead recommends someone else — not because they like that person more, but because that person's name surfaced first and most clearly — your brand has failed at its most fundamental job. The founders who get called first are not always the most qualified. They are the most memorable. Not memorable in the sense of flashy or loud or relentlessly present online. Memorable in the sense that when a specific need arises, a specific face and a specific name and a specific value proposition surface together, clearly and immediately, without the contact having to work to reconstruct who you are and what you do. That kind of memorability is not an accident of personality. It is the result of a personal brand built with enough clarity, consistency and intention that it leaves a distinct impression rather than a pleasant but general one. It is the difference between being someone people enjoyed meeting and being someone people think of when it counts. Think about your own network right now. When an opportunity arises that is perfect for you — do the right people think of you immediately? Or do they think of you eventually, after they have already recommended someone else, and feel a pang of recognition that they should have called you first? If it is the second — your brand is not broken. It is just not specific enough yet. And that is entirely fixable. I work with founders on exactly this — building a personal brand clear and consistent enough that the right people think of them first, not eventually. If you are ready to stop being the person people liked and start being the person they call, book your consultation call with me on this link: https://www.calendly.com/divyaaadvaani/founder-brand-audit — Divyaa Advaani, Personal Branding Strategist (The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Mahayuti sweeps MLC polls amid MVA cross-voting

Abhijit Mulye

Jun 22

3 min read

Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Council elections have exposed the soft underbelly of both the ruling as well as the opposition combine. While the BJP couldn’t prevent rebellion in Nashik to ensure election of Mahayuti candidate, the MVA challenge was decimated under defection and cross-voting at several places effectively preventing them from adding anything to their strength in the upper house of Maharashtra legislature.

Despite these internal vulnerabilities, the ruling Mahayuti alliance asserted absolute dominance in the Local Authorities constituencies, effectively routing the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Out of the 17 seats that went to the polls, the Mahayuti—comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Sunetra Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—secured a massive victory by winning 16 seats. The final tally stood at 11 seats for the BJP, three for the Shiv Sena, two for the NCP, and one for an independent candidate. With six Mahayuti candidates having already been elected unopposed before the June 18 voting, the battleground was left open for the remaining 11 constituencies, where the BJP demonstrated a flawless strike rate.

Rebel’s Victory

However, the ruling alliance’s strategic flaws were laid bare in the Nashik local authorities constituency, a seat allocated to the Shiv Sena within the Mahayuti quota. The official Mahayuti candidate, Narendra Darade, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Gokul Gite, an independent candidate and BJP rebel. Gite secured a decisive 357 votes in the first round itself, effortlessly crossing the winning quota of 303 out of 605 valid votes, while Darade managed only 248. This outcome triggered immediate political tremors. Gokul Gite’s brother, Ganesh Gite—a known supporter of BJP Minister Girish Mahajan—launched a scathing attack on Darade, citing his severe lack of public contact over the last eight years. Despite intense pressure from Mahayuti leaders to withdraw, Gokul Gite remained in the fray, allegedly conducting a covert campaign fueled by voter dissatisfaction and tacit support from the MVA and local outfits. Following Darade’s allegations of betrayal, Minister Uday Samant announced that a detailed report analyzing the exact cause of the defeat would be submitted to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Nagpur’s Record

Conversely, the MVA’s humiliation was systemic and most pronounced in the Nagpur constituency. BJP’s Rajiv Potdar registered a record-breaking victory, defeating Congress candidate Atul Londhe by a staggering margin of 682 votes. Despite the MVA possessing an estimated numerical strength of 211 votes, Londhe managed a mere 130 votes. This massive cross-voting prompted Londhe to allege that the BJP engaged in horse-trading, claiming votes were bought for Rs 10 lakh each.

The debacle led Congress leader Vikas Thakre to demand strict disciplinary action against the “traitors,” signaling a deepening internal crisis within the grand old party. Similar narratives of cross-voting echoed in Satara, where BJP’s Dhairyashil Kadam defeated NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) candidate Abhaysinh Jagtap. Kadam secured 593 votes against Jagtap’s 292, with political observers estimating that over a hundred MVA votes shifted to the BJP due to the strategic maneuvering of local leaders.

Marathwada Magic

The Dharashiv-Latur-Beed constituency provided further evidence of the MVA’s unraveling, heavily influenced by the ongoing “Operation Tiger”—the systematic defection of Uddhav Thackeray loyalists to the Eknath Shinde camp. BJP’s Basavaraj Patil secured a landslide victory with 845 votes, defeating Congress’s Mahesh Deshmukh, who received just 124 votes. This massive margin was facilitated by an estimated 150 MVA votes shifting to the BJP, a move widely linked to the anticipated defection of Thackeray-faction MP Om Raje Nimbalkar to the Shinde camp. In Nanded, BJP’s Amar Rajurkar completed a hat-trick of victories by securing 339 votes, decisively defeating the MVA-backed candidate, Krishna Patil Ashtikar. Krishna’s father, MP Nagesh Patil Ashtikar, was also reportedly caught in the crosshairs of the defection drive, leading to widespread confusion among MVA voters and sealing his son’s defeat with a meager 84 votes.

Ultimately, while the Legislative Council results are a resounding endorsement of the Mahayuti’s political arithmetic, they serve as a stark warning to both factions. The ruling alliance must address its rogue elements, but the widespread cross-voting and the MVA’s inability to hold onto its core voter base indicate that the opposition is severely struggling to maintain internal cohesion ahead of the impending assembly elections.