Embody and Exude the Value That You Bring to Your Organization: Interview with Jessica Zweig, Founder and CEO of SimplyBe

I recently went one on one with Jessica Zweig, founder and CEO of SimplyBe.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Jessica: Every day, I try and show up for the world as authentically as possible. Before I was able to operate this way (and let me tell you, it took a lot of therapy, deep spiritual journeys, self-work and most of all, self-responsibility), I was out of alignment with my true self. 

I decided to get clear on who I was at my core and let that version of me shine—a big-thinking visionary with magnetic energy and a superpower for helping others discover theirs. I created my own personal brand (at first, by accident, and eventually by design) and realized that when I started showing up as my highest, most authentic self every day, my world changed. I began attracting opportunities, media, partnerships, clients, and community that were in alignment with my goals and values. 

It dawned on me that I needed to share this approach with others. And in 2014, my personal branding company, SimplyBe. Agency, was born. I democratized my trademarked methodologies even further through my #1 best-selling book, “Be. - A No Bullsh*t Guide to Increasing Your Self Worth and Your Net Worth by Simply Being Yourself” in 2021 and through my companion workbook in 2023.

Now I work with my team of rock stars to help our clients—which run the gamut of powerhouse individuals and execs to big corporations—identify their unique intrinsic value, and how to communicate it effectively to meet their unique objectives.

Strong personal branding, when done right, is an act of service. It’s greater than your ego and bigger than your fears. It’s about your audience, your customers, and the impact you can have on the world. 

Adam: What should everyone understand about marketing?

Jessica: If you try and be everything to everyone, you’ll be nothing to no one. That’s marketing 101 in my opinion. It’s easy to cast a wide net and try to serve “the world” all at once, but you have to break things down into bite-sized pieces. If there’s one thing everyone should understand about marketing it’s that you simply can’t and won’t serve everyone. The magic (and the creative challenge) is in the specificity you create with your message. That’s how your unique audience is going to hear the signal from the noise.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topic of branding?

Jessica: Branding is an exercise in clarity. It’s about incorporating who you really are with what you do and telling your story over and over again. It’s about communicating that story clearly, constantly, consistently, authentically, with depth and emotion, while also providing clear expert value. This is the winning formula that gets you seen and makes true connections. 

The clearer you become with your message, your talking points, and the audiences you seek to serve, your brand will extend farther than you. It will resonate beyond the stages that you command and the connections you make. Branding is a true practice in memorability at scale. 

Adam: What are your best tips on the topic of personal branding?

Jessica: Personal branding is the art and science of building equity in your name and reputation. As an entrepreneur and as a leader, you simply have to have a powerful brand in the market. That’s how you attract not only great opportunities and clients but opportunities and clients that are aligned with your values. These are the moments that can really drive your business forward, beyond just the transaction, and create longevity in the market.

Your own market positioning as a personal brand is everything. Making yourself stand out and attracting the right people is critical to success. This is something that I, as a personal brand, complimented with the marketing of SimplyBe. as an agency, have done really well. The harmony between these two platforms has been a secret sauce to our success and has allowed us to attract our right clients. It’s been the fuel we need to grow in directions that are in alignment with our bigger goals and values.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Jessica: Leaders today need to do more than check the proverbial boxes and slap their core values up on a poster in the hall. You need to embody and exude the value that you bring to your organization, and the values you hold dear as an individual. This is how you make your value known and experienced through not only your words and actions but through your presence. Culture starts at the top, and the example you set for your team should be clear when they are around you.

Simply put, as a leader, you need to not only make your value known, but felt. 

You can’t fake this. (And frankly, if you’re in a seat of leadership, you shouldn’t be faking anything.) It’s about showing up fully, truly, authentically, and in alignment with the values that you expect your team to endorse and follow. This is how you take your leadership to the next level.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Jessica: My best advice for leaders when it comes to building and leading teams is to check your ego at the door. You have to know and accept that you can’t (and shouldn’t) be the smartest person in the room. Being a good leader is understanding where you shine, and (equally, if not more importantly) where you don’t. The minute I was able to identify and unapologetically own where I needed support is the minute I started attracting my ideal, top talent. Building a team allows you to elevate others into roles that aren’t meant for you or are not in your areas of genius. And what’s more, this takes you out of the weeds and elevates you to shine as a leader.

I know this to be true: businesses grow not just because of a strong product strategy, clear vision or amazing work product alone. They grow because of the human beings within the business that bring it all to life. It’s the people that drive the strategy, the vision, the culture, the work forward. To my fellow entrepreneurs: we are not meant to do this alone! You will go so much farther with the right team around you than you will ever go alone. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders? 

Jessica: 1. Get clear on your brand messaging. The best way to build your brand message is to define the following: (1) who you are, (2) what you do, (3) how you do it, and (4) why it works. Take this exercise even further and gather insight from others, too. Call up your closest confidants, friends, folks in your network who know you and ask them, “What is my value?” Take notes and see what common themes you find. These commonalities will then serve as the foundation of your brand message.

2. Get clear on where your brand stands. At SimplyBe. we call this brand positioning. Before you dive headfirst into the market, you have to get clear on your strategy. This means a thorough analysis of your target audience and your competition. But where to begin? At SimplyBe., we like to organize target audiences into three groups: your clients, your peers, and your community. Your clients are the people you want to sell to, your peers are the people you want to be known amongst, and your community is made up of your social media followers,  your email subscribers, and your brand evangelists. This last group is your long-term audience play—they may not buy from you today, but they may buy from you one day. Once you have these groups down, your competitive analysis can be fairly straightforward. Use Google to scan your landscape and social channels to search hashtags related to your industry. In doing this, focus on how you can separate yourself, or in other words, capitalize on what your competition is not doing. Circle back to your message and ensure it stands out from the landscape and connects with the audiences you are targeting.

3. Begin creating a drumbeat of original content. You are who you say you are and what you do consistently—it’s that simple. Remember that if you want to be a “thought” leader, you have to think! All I mean by this is that true thought leaders have original ideas and therefore create original content. Your original message, perspective, and value, therefore, should not live and die on your Instagram or LinkedIn profile. It should come in more tangible forms of content, like a podcast, videos, email newsletters, or even live events. Think about what medium would best serve and connect with your audience and let that strategic point of view guide your decision.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Jessica: Years and years ago, in the early days of SimplyBe., a dear friend and mentor of mine reflected back to me the famous adage, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” In my personal experience, this couldn’t be more true. You could have the most beautiful, sound, branded business plan… but if you don’t have the culture, the people, the passion behind it, it’s just a useless piece of paper. Being a leader, and being an entrepreneur, requires you to be nimble, to not hold your original ideas too preciously, and to pour into the people that are ultimately going to help you bring your vision to life. 

Your business has got to have a strategy, yes, but it’s not going to go anywhere without a soul.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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