The Executive Brand Audit
For senior operators who have never once looked at their own name the way a buyer does.
Definition
An executive brand audit is a scored review of everything a buyer finds when they search your name, covering search results, social profiles, owned properties, third-party mentions and AI-generated answers, ranked so you know which gaps actually cost you money.
Before a board seat, a partnership, or a deal, somebody searches your name. You have never seen what they see.
Not a vanity scan. A structured audit of the gap between the person you are in a room and the person you are on a screen, run across search, social, press and AI answers, scored against a rubric that tells you which gaps actually cost money.
What you get
- The 40-point audit rubric, scored, so the output is a number and a ranked fix list rather than opinions
- The four gap types, and which one you actually have, because most people misdiagnose this
- A prioritised remediation order, because fixing these in the wrong sequence wastes months
- The one-page findings format I hand to executives so they can act without me
The problem
Why this keeps happening
Most senior people have a mental image of their own reputation built from compliments received in person. It is almost always wrong, and it is wrong in a specific direction: warmer, more coherent and more visible than reality.
The person evaluating you does not have your context. They have a search bar, four minutes, and a decision to make. What loads in that window is your brand, whether you built it or not.
The dangerous failures are not embarrassing. They are absences. A missing bio. An inconsistent title. A profile that stops in 2021. None of it looks like a problem until you see it scored.
What is The Executive Brand Audit?
The Executive Brand Audit is an executive brand audit is a scored review of everything a buyer finds when they search your name, covering search results, social profiles, owned properties, third-party mentions and AI-generated answers, ranked so you know which gaps actually cost you money.
A 40-point diagnostic covering six surfaces: search results, LinkedIn, owned properties, third-party mentions, AI-generated answers, and entity consistency. Each point is scored, weighted and ranked, so the output is a prioritised fix list rather than a pile of observations.
Illustrative diagram. Shape of the argument, not measured data.
How it runs
How does The Executive Brand Audit work, step by step?
The Executive Brand Audit runs in 5 steps: capture, score, classify, sequence, brief. Each step is described below with what it produces and why its position in the sequence matters.
- 01
Capture
Record what actually loads for your name, from a clean session, with no personalisation skewing it.
- 02
Score
Run all 40 points against the rubric. Scoring removes the temptation to be kind to yourself.
- 03
Classify
Sort every gap into one of the four types. Most people misdiagnose which one they have.
- 04
Sequence
Order the fixes so each one makes the next cheaper. Wrong order wastes months.
- 05
Brief
Produce the one-page findings document that makes the work delegable.
What is inside
What do you get with The Executive Brand Audit?
The Executive Brand Audit is delivered as a working skill file plus a written companion covering the method. It contains 4 parts: the 40-point rubric, gap classification, remediation sequence, findings one-pager.
- The 40-point rubric35%
- Gap classification20%
- Remediation sequence30%
- Findings one-pager15%
Failure modes
What do people get wrong?
The 4 most common failures are: auditing while logged in; treating it as a list of problems; fixing the visible before the structural; never re-running it. Each one is explained below with why it happens and what to do instead.
- 01
Auditing while logged in
Personalised results show you a flattering version nobody else sees. Capture from a clean session.
- 02
Treating it as a list of problems
A list without a sequence is just anxiety. The value is in what to fix first and why.
- 03
Fixing the visible before the structural
A new headshot on a profile with an inconsistent job title solves nothing.
- 04
Never re-running it
A reputation audit is a snapshot. Without a repeat, you never learn whether the work landed.
Before a board seat, a partnership, or a deal, somebody searches your name. You have never seen what they see.
Bhavik Sarkhedi · somewhere over Australia
The alternatives
How does The Executive Brand Audit compare to the alternatives?
There are three ways to solve this: do it yourself, hire it out, or buy the method. The Executive Brand Audit is the third. It costs $25 once, the method stays yours, and you can re-run it without paying again.
| Consideration | Doing it yourself | Hiring it out | This system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Objectivity | You grade yourself | External, but generic | Scored against a fixed rubric |
| Cost shape | Free, twenty minutes | Four figures per report | One payment |
| Prioritised fixes | No | Sometimes | Yes, ordered |
| Re-runnable | Yes but inconsistently | Costs again | Yes, same rubric |
| Delegable output | No | Usually a PDF | A one-page brief |
Key terms
The vocabulary, defined
- Surface
- One place a buyer can encounter you: search, LinkedIn, press, an AI answer.
- Gap type
- The category of failure, which determines the fix. Most people misdiagnose theirs.
- Remediation order
- The sequence that makes each fix cheaper than if done alone.
- Findings one-pager
- The single page that makes the work delegable to someone else.
Who is behind it
Built from the actual work
Named to the Forbes 2025 list of top personal branding experts. Published twice in The New York Times. Writing for HuffPost since 2016.
Before you buy
Questions
Will this tell me what to fix or just what is broken?
Both, and in order. A list of problems without a sequence is just anxiety. The remediation order is the part most audits leave out.
Is this just a pack of prompts?
No. A prompt is one instruction. This is a working system: the method, the order, the judgement calls, and the standard for what finished work looks like. You are buying the workflow I run inside a paid engagement.
I am an executive, not an operator. Is this too hands-on?
Each one is built so you can either run it yourself or hand it to whoever does this work for you. The value is that the method is decided, so nobody is improvising on your reputation.
Could I not just ask an AI to do this?
You can ask. You will get a generic answer, because the model does not know what good looks like at a senior level and has no opinion about sequence. That judgement is the product.
Do I need to be technical?
No. Installing it is dragging one file into a folder.
What format do I actually receive?
A working skill file you install once, plus a written companion explaining the method so you can adapt it rather than follow it blindly. It runs inside Claude.
What happens after I click buy?
It opens an email to me, already filled in. I reply with a payment link and send the files the same day. Deliberately human, because I want to know who is using these.
Is there a refund?
Yes. If you use it properly and it does not do what this page said, tell me and I refund you. No argument.
What people buy next
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The Entity Authority Kit
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The Personal Brand Playbook
The whole year, on one planFor executives who want the entire strategy rather than one more tactic.