No more mood boards

On more than one consultation call, a client has sent me a mood board.

A carefully assembled collection of photos of other experts they admire. And the images are all over the map.

There's the expert in a flowy dress, standing on the side of a mountain, hair catching the wind like it's a cover shoot for Esquire.

There's the mid-laugh shot, except the laugh is enormous, almost creepy, because it feels completely put on for the camera (in most cases, guess what, it is.)

Some of them aren't even that extra, but they all feel very out-of-place for one reason or another. And they all lead to the same conclusion.

I don't care that they exist. And most of the time, I don't even open it up. Why?

Because everything on that mood board has zip, zero, zilch to do with them.

Every image on it belongs to someone else, and this branding session is for them. 

The moment they try to sublet someone else's identity, the whole thing falls down a flight of stairs.

Congrats, you just wasted your investment on a session that will create photos where you don't recognize yourself in one of them.

Here's the belief underneath the mood board that's the real problem.

Experts think that being seen as an authority requires amping up what's already known to be true about them and how they help others.

Be more expressive than you actually are.

Shoot somewhere more dramatic than where you actually work.

Upgrade the wardrobe into a more elevated version of who actually shows up.

Add, add, add, until you "look like an authority."

Why do many experts default to this theory of how they're supposed to present themselves in front of the camera? Because they're assuming that leaning into who they are and how they operate is not enough.

So what do they do? 

They copy and paste what the next person in their space is doing. 

You know what that leads to?

A category full of experts performing a version of authority, all looking vaguely like each other and nothing like themselves.

It becomes a wall of noise where decision makers can't make heads or tails as to who is the right fit for them.

One thing I'd like to make clear: you absolutely do need to look premium, operating at a high-level in order for people to instantly say, "yeah, they look like they're worth what they charge."

But the premium signal is not rooted in being something you're not. Quite the contrary. It comes from a commitment to alignment.

You in the actual environment where you do your best work, dressed the way you actually dress for the highest-stakes room you actually walk into, with an expression that ties back to how you genuinely want to be perceived. 

That reads as far more premium than you in a rented dress on a mountain you've never set foot on for work.

If you betray your own essence, you're putting on a show. 

That reads as insecurity. And insecurity is the opposite of premium.

So "don't be extra" and "look like you operate at a high level" are family members, not rivals. The premium read comes from truth, dialed up to your real ceiling. Not from a bigger production.

Which means the work isn't adding. It's aligning.

Your expressions need to connect to how you want your audience to see you and to the real aspects of your personality.

The location needs to complement your essence and the spaces where you actually do the work.

The wardrobe needs to be the clothes you genuinely put on in front of the people who pay you, at the top end of how you really show up.

This isn't an off-Broadway play over here. It's real life, captured with intention.

Your visual presence is meant to set expectations in the mind of a decision-maker who is deciding whether to invest more time in figuring out if you're the right fit for them, their company, or their association.

That's the job - to set the right expectation. 

You do need to look like the real deal, no doubt about it.

But you also need to balance those high-level photos that position you as an expert with images that also inspire the buyer to picture sitting across a cafe table from you without feeling like you need to impress them.

Be a superhero and a relatable human being through your visuals. That's the juice right there.

The next time you're planning how you want to show up on camera, or choosing the images that already represent you, ask whether it looks like you, on your best real day, doing the work you actually do.

If it doesn't, you're putting on a show… for people who are attracted to the show, and that can lead to bad fits on both sides of the conversation.

If you want to see whether your current images are setting accurate expectations or selling a production, start with the 10-Second Visual Authority Scan. It shows you what your visual presence is actually communicating, before anyone ever talks to you.

Take the scan here: johndemato.com/newsletter-signup