I’m sitting at a small wooden desk in a tiny country schoolhouse, desperately trying to look busy. My head is down, but the words on the pages are blending together into strange, unrecognisable symbols. I feel stupid and ashamed, wondering why I can’t just be like the other kids. Then, my teacher arrives at my desk and delivers a sentence that should have defined my life: “Lauren, you’re just not getting it, and I think you have word blindness – you’re never going to learn how to read and write like the other children”.
Sounds like an awful thing for a teacher to tell a student, but he knew it would be like a red rag to a bull for me. What he didn’t know was that my dyslexia disability would become my greatest asset.
Turning a Disability into a Superpower
When you’re told you’ll struggle academically and professionally, you have two choices: believe it or find another way. My dyslexia forced me to develop alternative ways of thinking. I learned to rely on visual and creative strengths, approaching problems from unconventional angles.
I discovered that my ability to remember the shape of words actually helped me retain the shape of brands. This is what I came to learn was Neurobranding – the science of how the brain ‘sees’ and retains images. What was once labelled a learning disability became my greatest professional asset. It allowed me to see the world through a different lens and communicate complex ideas in a way that truly resonates with people.
I ended up working in leading advertising agencies as their production manager, checking that the branding was correct before it was produced into TV adverts, print media and eventually even online media (yes, I started working before the internet!).
When I became a brand manager for high-level corporate organisations, I was able to convey the brand tone and message to the marketing team to maximise the services they got from the agencies and external providers as well. I even discovered how the brand voice can be magnified with sponsorships and guerrilla marketing.
It was years later that I started to learn about personal branding, and how brands such as Virgin and Apple were so aligned with the founder’s own sense of purpose.
The Audacity of Your Brand True North
After thirty years in advertising and branding, I started my own personal branding consultancy and won numerous awards for the proprietary process I developed to help leaders, entrepreneurs and professional service providers to find their ‘Brand True North’.
Today, as the CEO of The Audacious Agency, where I lead a team that crafts award entries to shine a light on innovative business owners and build their brands to become industry-recognised leaders, I’ve discovered I was born to do this work.
I realised that my name is actually an aptonym – a name that perfectly fits what I do. “Lauren” comes from the Greek Laurel tree, and its leaves were woven into wreaths to lay around the heads and necks of the winners at the original Olympics. The laurel is an international symbol of victory.
It’s clear that my purpose is to help people who are the world’s best-kept secret to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight as award-worthy winners.
I believe that to find what you were born to do, you have to find your Brand True North and then be bold, brave and audacious with it.
This is the intersection of your passion, your purpose, and your unique approach that provides a valuable solution. When you get clear on this, it guides every decision you make and helps you banish comparisonitis – that nagging feeling that you aren’t doing as well as the person next to you. This is a growing issue, especially with doom-scrolling on social media and the fakeness of AI-generated content.
Silencing the Itty-Bitty-Shitty-Committee
Even when you are doing exactly what you were born to do, that little voice of self-doubt – what I call the Itty-Bitty-Shitty-Committee – will try to hold you back. Many leaders and extraordinary people have this loud cacophony of voices inside their heads, undermining their confidence and sowing seeds of self-doubt. Many face imposter syndrome just as they are about to succeed, feeling like they aren’t worthy of the success they’ve worked for.
In Australia, we also deal with Tall Poppy Syndrome, a cultural tendency to cut down anyone who stands out or succeeds. I’ve learned that the best way to overcome these internal and external barriers is to reframe the feelings and look at the facts. Review the challenges you’ve survived and the things you’ve actually achieved, then get real about what you are truly capable of achieving. It doesn’t always need to be big steps or lofty goals, it can be the simple, everyday actions that rewire resilience.
Put in the Reps
When I turned 50 I decided to change my life. Looking at images of myself as a fat, frumpy 50-year-old empowered me to start working out, eating better and generally being mindful of my health. Then I took up competitive bodybuilding, and I’ve realised that building a business is exactly like building a body.
You don’t get strong by going to the gym once in a blue moon. You have to put in the reps, being consistent, showing up and doing the work. In business, those reps are the daily actions: announcing you are writing a book or creating a program and being accountable to do it, sharing your story when your palms are sweaty, or putting yourself forward for an award.
I also took up pickleball and started playing that competitively too, winning some medals along the way. It was at a tournament that I had a partner who I won a bronze medal with and she told me I should be proud of myself for stepping up and taking the chance to compete. She said that bronze was actually called ‘rose gold’. It’s one of the reasons why The Audacious Agency uses rose gold in our brand.
True success isn’t just the glitzy gold trophy at the end. It’s about having a rose gold mindset and celebrating every single step, every small win, and every problem solved along the way.
You can’t leave a legacy if you’re afraid to be seen.
Your personal brand is what you were born to do. It’s your individual qualities and your unique value. It’s what you do with ease that other people find difficult. It’s why people are attracted to work with you and what draws you to work with them.
If you could turn your perceived greatest weakness into a superpower today, what would it be?
By Lauren Clemett
About the author
Lauren Clemett is known as The Brand Navigator and is CEO of The Audacious Agency. With over 30 years of experience in brand management and as a nine-time bestselling author, she helps entrepreneurs and change-makers build powerful personal brands to become well-known, well-paid, and wanted. Lauren is a personal branding expert who is passionate about helping innovative leaders overcome self-doubt and leverage their unique skills and talents to achieve the visibility they deserve.