Executive & personal brand development
in Berlin

A personal brand runs on pictures of a person at work. Very few of those pictures show the person alone. There is a colleague at the whiteboard, a panel of four on a stage, a team lunch after a product launch, a client shaking hands at a trade fair. In Germany each of those faces carries a legal question before the photo can go on a profile or a personal site.

The rule sits in an old statute, the Kunsturhebergesetz, usually shortened to KUG. Its core idea is the Recht am eigenen Bild, the right to one own image. A portrait of a recognisable person may be published only with that person consenting. The law names exceptions, and they are narrower than most people assume.

The exceptions cover people of contemporary history, crowds at public assemblies, people who appear as mere background next to a place, and pictures that serve a higher artistic interest. A conference panel is not a crowd. A colleague standing beside the founder is rarely background. Treat the exceptions as a narrow fallback, never as the plan.

Photos also count as personal data, so the general data protection rules apply alongside the KUG. For a personal brand the practical answer is the same under both. Get consent, get it in a form that can be shown later, and say what the picture will be used for.

Employees are the delicate case. A person who depends on the founder for a salary may find it hard to say no. For that reason consent from staff should be written, separate from the employment contract, and specific about channels. It should also say what happens when the person leaves the company. Some will want their face removed on the last day. Plan for that.

This changes how a shoot is organised. Before the photographer arrives, the team sends a short consent form to everyone who might appear. It names the purposes, such as the personal site, professional networks and speaker profiles. It asks for a signature, not a verbal yes on the day. People who decline are placed out of frame or photographed separately.

Events need their own routine. Many organisers already state in the ticket terms that photos will be taken. That covers the organiser, not a speaker who wants to post the images later. A founder who plans to use event photos should ask the organiser what consent was collected and for whom. When in doubt, choose frames where other faces are cropped, blurred or turned away.

The content plan should carry a simple column for this. Next to each planned post with a photo, note who is visible and whether their consent covers this use. It takes a minute per post. It also stops the familiar late scramble when a good picture turns out to include someone who never agreed.

Keep the signed forms with the image files, not in an inbox. A shared folder per shoot works. When a person withdraws consent, the team needs to find every place the picture went, so a short log of where each image was published pays for itself the first time somebody asks.

Finally, the founder is also a subject. Photographers hold rights in their own work, and the contract should state that the person may use the pictures on all personal channels, for as long as needed, without a new fee each time.

Sooner or later someone suggests that the founder should write a book. It sounds like the natural peak of a personal brand. Sometimes it is. Often it is a year of work that produces a nice object and very little else, because the purpose was never decided.

Start with the job the book should do. One kind of book opens doors to speaking slots and board seats. Another explains a method so that buyers arrive already convinced. A third collects hard-won lessons for a narrow professional group. Each needs a different length, tone and publisher. Mixing them gives a book that pleases nobody.

The subject should be narrower than the person wants. A general book on leadership competes with thousands of others. A book on pricing software for hospitals, or on running a family firm through a succession, has a readership that can actually find it. Narrow books get recommended inside their field. Broad ones get skimmed.

Most executives will not write every page themselves. That is normal. A writer interviews the author over several months, drafts chapters, and the author rewrites the parts that matter most. The deal should be clear on credit, fees and who owns the notes. The ideas and the stories must remain those of the author, or interviews later will expose the gap.

Publishing routes differ in control. A traditional publisher brings editing, distribution and some prestige, but slow timelines and little say over the cover. Self-publishing is fast and flexible. It also leaves printing, design and every sales channel to the author. A hybrid house sits in between and charges for it.

Plan the book as a source of material. Each chapter can become a talk, a long post, a short video and a slide deck. Excerpts keep the profile busy for a year after launch. Without that plan, the launch week is loud, and then the book sits on a shelf.

Set expectations honestly. Few business books sell in large numbers. The value lies in the conversations they start and the authority they lend. Judge the project by those, and a book can be worth the year.

A visible name attracts requests. A startup wants the founder on its advisory board. A supplier asks for a quote for its website. A conference wants a logo and a photo on the programme. Each request borrows some of the trust the person has built. Handled carelessly, they can spend it faster than it grows.

Set criteria before the requests pile up. A simple test works. Would the person be comfortable if every follower saw the full terms of the arrangement? If not, decline or change the terms. Payment, equity and free products all count as terms.

Advisory seats need the most care. The name will appear on the pitch deck and the website of the company, and investors will read it as a signal. Agree how active the role is, how often the person will be consulted, and whether the name can be used in fundraising. Put an end date in writing. Ask for the right to have the name removed quickly if the company changes direction.

Testimonials are smaller but more frequent. Before giving one, make sure the product was really used. Keep the wording specific, about what worked and in what context. Vague praise reads as a favour. Specific praise reads as experience, and it protects the person if the product later disappoints.

Disclosure is the next rule. When a post mentions a company in which the person holds shares, or a product received as a gift, say so in the post itself. Readers accept interests that are declared. They punish ones they discover later.

Keep a short register. A list of current advisory roles, investments that might come up in public, and paid or gifted partnerships. It helps the person answer journalists and event organisers consistently. It also shows at a glance when too many names are attached to one face.

Review it every few months. Companies fold, change owners or pivot into fields the person would never have supported. Leaving the name on a board that no longer fits is an endorsement too, just a silent one.