When families think about legacy, they often picture portraits on the wall or the name of a company above the door. But legacy is not only about what you build, it is about who carries it forward. This means preparing the next generation to present themselves not just as competent professionals, but as leaders whose stories resonate with the world around them. A thriving family business depends just as much on trust and credibility as it does on balance sheets. Now more than ever, in the world of social media, businesses will continue to be evaluated not just on their enterprise, but on the people and story behind it.
For more than two decades, I sat on the other side of the table as a Dean of Admissions at Harvard and Columbia universities. I reviewed tens of thousands of applications from bright young people, all competing for a coveted spot in classrooms that would shape their futures. In more than two decades of experience behind the doors of the most selective universities of the world, I learned that what separates a merely accomplished student from a truly compelling candidate is not always test scores or résumés. It is their ability to tell a coherent story about who they are, what they value, and how they might contribute beyond the classroom. I will often see the same principle play out in the boardroom. Whether an investor is evaluating leadership potential, a board considers its succession strategy, or employees deciding whether to trust the next generation, the underlying question remains the same: does this individual project a personal brand strong enough to inspire confidence?
Understanding Personal Brand as a Leadership Tool
The term personal brand is often dismissed as a buzzword, something we associate with today’s era of self-made influencers. I implore business leaders, future and present, to think about their personal brand differently. At its core your personal brand is about consistency, clarity, and credibility. A strong personal brand isn’t about spin, it’s about alignment in one’s values, actions, and words. Ultimately, stakeholders want to be able to trust that what you project outward matches what you practice privately.
In the admissions process, committees want to see a student who knows themselves: their interests, their commitments, their vision for how they might contribute to a campus community. In business, investors, directors, and employees want the same. They want to know who you are and whether your story is compelling enough to rally behind.
Helping the next generation understand their personal brand early is an investment not only in their education, but in the continuity of family leadership.
Parallels Between Selective Schools and the Boardroom
The families I work with understand that elite universities are, in many ways, gatekeepers of leadership pipelines. They are not only admitting students, but they are also curating future cohorts of innovators, policymakers, and executives. The qualities they look for: resilience, intellectual curiosity, authenticity, the ability to lead and inspire peers, are also the qualities boards and stakeholders expect of rising leaders in family enterprises.
I often remind parents: admissions officers are trained to look past the résumé. A perfect test score may get your foot in the door, but it doesn’t reveal a student’s character the way the essay, the interview, and the story behind the grades can. In the same way, a polished résumé may spark interest among a hiring committee, but it is a candidate’s ability to articulate who they are, what they stand for, and how they will advance the company’s vision that earns them credibility once they sit down.
Crafting a Consistent Narrative From Adolescence Into Adulthood
Whether in academia, business, or family enterprises, the most successful leaders I’ve encountered are those who learned early how to zoom out and connect the dots of their own story. That process often begins in adolescence, when young people are asked to articulate why they want to attend a particular school or pursue a certain path.
I encourage families to help their children think about their narrative as an evolving thread, not a one-time performance. A student who frames their passion for engineering in high school essays may, ten years later, frame that same passion as a commitment to innovation in the family business. The details may change, but the consistency of values and purpose builds trust over time.
By nurturing this consistency, families give their next generation more than an education. They can give them a head start on a skill that will serve them well as future leaders. Instead of waiting until their thirties or forties to “find their voice,” young leaders can step into adulthood already practiced in aligning their identity with the needs of their community and company.
Why This Matters for Family Enterprises
Family businesses face a unique challenge: balancing tradition with renewal. Customers, partners, and employees often watch closely to see if the next generation can honor the company’s history while also charting a course for the future.
A carefully built personal brand helps answer that question. When the son or daughter of a founder steps into the public eye with a clear, authentic story that connects their own values to the company’s mission, it reassures stakeholders that the legacy is in capable hands.
To be clear, this is not about manufacturing a persona. It is about helping rising leaders clarify their story so that throughout the course of life’s moments, whether it’s a college interview, a client pitch, or a boardroom presentation, they can communicate with confidence and integrity.
Legacy Beyond the Name
Ultimately, legacy is more than a surname or revenue. It is a set of values, a narrative, and a vision that can be carried forward. Developing your personal brand may begin to take shape formally in the college admissions process, but it serves future leaders well beyond their acceptance letters. By treating personal brand development as seriously as financial planning or succession planning, families prepare their children not just to inherit leadership, but to embody it.
In short, the storytelling and self-presentation skills that matter so much in the college admissions process are not wasted once an acceptance letter arrives. They are practice for the boardroom, the investor meeting, and the moments when the family legacy is put to the test.
Families who invest early in these skills are not only helping their children succeed in school, they are ensuring their legacy will be stewarded with clarity, credibility, and purpose for generations to come.
