Do you remember what your first thought was when you read the line, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life,” in The Catcher in the Rye?
If you were a teen, you might have related to Holden Caulfield’s stream of consciousness narration style. It’s filled with scattered thoughts and emotions and lines of Holden revising himself in his own storytelling.
As an adult, the reading experience might remind you what it was like to be sixteen years old again, before the world’s perception of you mattered. We cannot trust Holden’s version of the truth. We realize this is his perception of events—which is littered with his delusions, fears, and biases. His perception builds the world.
Perception is part of what makes up a personal brand. It’s important that your brand builds trust and doesn’t fall into the unreliable narrator trap.
Now, although unreliable narrators make for an interesting study of character psychology, what happens when a personal brand becomes unreliable, untrustworthy, and compromised?
The story that personal brand tells becomes stained to us, the audience. Without integrity a personal brand can become the unreliable narrator in their own story.
Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, recently partnered up with TrumpRx to make prescription drugs more affordable to all.
Cuban has been pretty outspoken about Trump, calling him an unethical and dishonest businessman. He even famously backed Kamala Harris in 2024.
Now, Cuban has been receiving a lot of backlash for this pivot. Even if this partnership truly does help bring the cost of prescription drugs down, his personal brand is tainted. But it’s more than just bad optics.
Calling Trump a terrible businessman and then turning around and doing business with him makes you lose credibility—just like an unreliable narrator. You lose trust.
How can the public be so sure that this new partnership will be beneficial for those who need it?
Trump Rx acts as a federal portal and directory that will allow users to compare prices of prescription medication. Cost Plus Drugs, Good Rx, and Amazon Pharmacy will all be part of this catalog.
At this moment, this appears to be an actual good service for everyone on prescription medication. But even if Cuban’s partnership with Trump is an overall net positive, it doesn’t eliminate the new perception that the public has of Cuban. Many users online have already been bashing Mark Cuban for acting in true billionaire—and politician—fashion and partnering with someone he’s previously trash-talked.
Something isn’t aligning here. Where’s the real talk? Where’s the responsibility to your audience?
Cuban didn’t communicate this tradeoff properly or own up to it publicly. This tells me that his business partnership with Trump is a higher priority than the perception of his personal brand.
Now, I don’t know Mark Cuban’s values, but for those of us who do value a trustworthy brand, here's how you can make sure your own personal brand doesn’t become unreliable so you don’t end up in Cuban’s situation.
What about my brand? (An exercise)
An obvious note is to not go back on your word. If you say you wouldn’t do business with someone and then one day turn around and do business with that person, you better have a good reason for it and you better own up to it publicly.
A good exercise to avoid potential public apologies is to act in accordance with your values no matter what.
Think about why you do what you do. Whether that’s your personal business, making content, creating art, etc. Why did you start in the first place?
What’s the real reason behind it all?
And if you’re not sure what you value (that’s okay), here are three simple steps you can take:
Look up a list of values online (there are dozens), and choose 5 that resonate the most with you.
Write why they mean something to you. Is it because you want to have more of this quality? Is it because someone you admire exemplifies it?
Then write how you interpret each value and how your brand will or currently demonstrates it.
My take
Here’s my why: Give my life meaning by creating meaningful art to others.
Part of the reason I created this newsletter was to take something I loved since I was little (writing & literature) and blend it with what I do now (help businesses and personal brands with content).
But as I continue to operate in a field being taken over by AI, I have to ask myself: Am I acting in accordance with my brand values and morals? Am I going back on my word or beliefs? As a writer who cares about the written word, I take responsibility for every word I write. And I refuse to let AI do my writing for me. It can be a tool but not a replacement.
The truth is nobody’s brand will be perfect. But we can’t be afraid to call ourselves out, apologize, and own it.
That is how I refrain from falling into the unreliable narrator trap. We don’t have to be perfect, we just have to be honest and real. That, and maybe not do business with people we trash-talk.
—MK