Everyone is Yapping. But Do You Have a POV?
In a world where everyone is talking, the most memorable personal brands aren’t necessarily louder. They’re chattier, yet clearer about what they believe and why.
I can yap in a single voice note to friends for 20 minutes straight. Across busy schedules and borders, it’s become one of my favourite ways to stay in touch. So, I love the yapping trend sweeping podcasts, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. We don’t simply want to consume people’s expertise anymore. That always felt too elitist for many anyway. We want to feel like they are right there with us - thinking out loud. Contrary to polished content, yapping embraces personality, spontaneity, tangents, intimacy and conversation.
I am very opinionated and unfiltered IRL. Yet, as a Millennial, when I turn on the camera, it always feels like I’m about to deliver a TED Talk. So while embracing the yapping trend may come less naturally to some than to others, from a personal branding perspective, I see a much more interesting opportunity. It’s a chance to be less filtered. To have a point of view (POV). Because you can talk a lot - and be relatable - but you can still be forgettable. A POV gives your content a centre of gravity.
So, with a few simple prompts, start yapping with intention. Express your distinct POV.
1. What is your POV?
Identifying your unique POV can be derived from exploring:
The status quo: The established thinking
Your experience: Your unique insights
Your opinion: Your perspective based on your experience
Your POV may then take shape as your:
Interpretation of something
What you believe
What you challenge
What you notice that others don’t
What you repeatedly come back to
For example, contrary to most popular beliefs in personal branding, I don’t believe personal branding is all about “authenticity”. For me, while oh-so well-intended, it’s a lazy and close-minded excuse in your personal and professional growth. As I’ve shared in my earlier blog, Stop over-rating an ‘authentic’ personal brand. Try this instead (5 Tips)
or Your Alter Ego Advantage: Secret Identities of Elite Performers for Moments that Matter, I prefer to think in alter egos and future selves. Which ironically comes back to authenticity anyway, just in a very different way to what most others immediately connect the idea to.
I also don’t believe in the over-emphasis on visibility and simply reducing personal branding to social media either; while important, I see it as a narrow-minded approach to the real potential of personal branding.
2. Why POV Matters: Your Industry Edge
Your POV is your edge. Imagine two candidates competing for the same dream job, or two creators contending for an audience’s share of time. The two may have identical expertise, but it’s their POV that differentiates them.
What should be more worrisome than having an unpopular POV is having none at all. Because having a POV shows observation, interpretation and analysis of the world around you. Whether others agree with them or not, it shows your values and beliefs. And it takes courage to share your POV. Having even an unpopular opinion can make you memorable. While having none at all can make you invisible.
If you worry about being judged, see my earlier blog, The Courage to Be Disliked: If Your Personal Brand Is Liked by Everyone, You’re Doing it Wrong.
The industry-changing Coco Chanel summed it up beautifully when she said:
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
Your POV is about more than being chatty or controversial for the sake of it. It can shape how you move through and impact an industry.
Chanel’s own POV was shaped by her experiences and the worlds she moved in. Her love of horse riding exposed her to practical, functional clothing, while her relationships and social circles introduced her to menswear, British tailoring and sporting fabrics. She took these influences and challenged the conventions of women’s fashion, incorporating trousers, relaxed silhouettes and jersey - a fabric traditionally associated with men’s underwear - into her designs. Her experience became her insight, her insight became her opinion, and her opinion helped change an industry.
Your POV is the perspective you bring to your work, industry and the world around you. It is shaped by what you know, what you’ve experienced and the patterns you’ve learned to recognise. A strong POV isn’t about being contrarian for the sake of attention; it’s about having something meaningful to contribute and a reason for believing it.
3. Finding Your POV
Your unique POV may not be something you can instantly identify, so to discover more of your perspective, consider:
What do you disagree with?
What do you wish people understood?
What do you think is overhyped?
What do you believe that your industry doesn’t talk about enough?
What have you changed your mind about? Why?
What do you always find yourself saying?
A modern-day brand example I keep coming back to is Hailey Bieber's brand, Rhode. I’ve discussed Hailey's genius in building the billion-dollar brand in my blogs, Cultural Capital: The Hidden Advantage Shaping Modern Success and The It Factor: Why Some Are Magnetic (and Others Stay Invisible). Bieber shows how a POV can become more than content — it can become a business strategy.
In interviews, Hailey explains that she knew when she launched the Rhode brand that critics would dismiss it as just another celebrity beauty brand. Some early interviewers even alluded to her being late to the party with that personal branding and business strategy. However, while she expressed understanding for that perspective, with conviction, she also asserted that she brought a unique point of view to the industry. For example, feeling overwhelmed by elaborate beauty brand ranges, she established the mantra of:
”One of everything really good.”
More than a tagline, it’s her signature minimalist philosophy and a unique POV in the marketplace. She may not have been first to the marketplace, but she brought a fresh perspective. One that has paid off with record-breaking sales.
4. Expressing Your POV
Here are a few simple prompts to help you yap about your POV:
“I don’t believe…”
“Everyone says X, but I believe…”
“Here’s what people get wrong about…”
“My unpopular opinion is…”
Remember, your POV isn't something you need to manufacture to become interesting online. It's something you discover by paying attention to your own experiences, observations and contradictions.
Yap Your Heart Out
So, by all means, yap. But don’t just say more; have something to say.
Your POV is what turns expertise into perspective, and content into something memorable. You don’t need everyone to agree with you. You just need to be willing to think for yourself and say it out loud.
