“Vice President (VP): Billie says your DCM got a lot of experience… He’s been giving you a crash course?
Ambassador (Amb): Yes
VP: What have you covered?
Amb: He’s fantastic… Uh, we haven’t had a lot of time… So far, he’s sort of hung up on the packaging… I’d rather focus on policy, and – I don’t know – um, the Senate…
VP: Packaging?
Amb: My clothing, uh, my hair, which he finds particularly upsetting…
VP: He’s right… It’s a visual world… No one will read your policy papers… Best case, a sound bite will go viral once a year… Your face will appear in the media an average of 12 000 times a day… Every classroom in America, every embassy in the world, will hang your picture on the wall… It’s soft power… You’ve got a couple of choices… Wear a suit like a military wears a uniform… Disappear. Hide the individual behind the duty to serve. Or get a gimmick. Blond bob, red lipstick, pins like Albright, collars like RBG… Glasses, a shirt hand so people see what you stand for…
Amb: And little girls dress like you for Halloween…
VP: I think I’m opting for the suit that makes disappear…
Amb: Are you?
VP: Black Suit… Every now and then a navy suit… What do you think it broadcasts?
Amb: As little as possible… No?
VP: Looking to the north, you probably think your hair says you are too busy serving your country to get a blowout. But it reads like a bedhead, which sends a signal I think, in this case, that’s better unsent. East and west, try a bra with a little padding…
Amb: I know there’s not much to hide.
VP: What do you it broadcasts?
Amb: As little as possible
VP: But when your jacket opens, I’m getting headlights… Which takes us to the south. Is that a paperclip?
Amb: Oh yes, I had a… um… zipper issue.
VP: When you’re a second-tier diplomat in a third-world war zone… If you’re representing the interests of 300 millions, whose healthcare is failing, whose planet is burning, whose future might get a little better or a little worse… It best to look like the care of your trousers… Based on what you do during the course of day… it wasn’t more than you could manage… So let’s talk about the Senate.
****
Amb to her husband, Hal:
Amb: The vice president called me a sloppy hussy… Hal: One time, chief of protocol called me a shit in a suit
Amb: Hal…
Hal: She’s a sore loser…
Amb: She’s not… She’s incredible…”
The above dialogue is quoted from “The Diplomat”, an American television series. This is a seemingly casual conversation between the Vice President and the newly appointed Ambassador opens a window into one of the most underestimated tools of leadership: the art of self-presentation. What begins as an exchange about preparation quickly becomes a masterclass in personal branding as diplomacy.
The Ambassador, trained in policy, intellect, and statecraft, represents a generation of professionals who believe competence alone should suffice. Yet, as the Vice President reminds her, the twenty-first-century world operates on optics before substance. “It’s a visual world,” she declares — and in that phrase lies both warning and wisdom. Before one’s ideas are heard, one’s image is seen. Before one’s policy is debated, one’s presence is decoded.
Optics: The Aesthetics of Leadership
The Vice President’s counsel that one must “wear a suit like a military wears a uniform” is not about fashion but discipline. A uniform, after all, is a visual shorthand for duty, structure, and belonging. In leadership, attire becomes a form of punctuation — a silent grammar that reinforces credibility. The black suit, as she notes, broadcasts neutrality and gravitas; it invites focus on the message rather than the messenger.
Yet the dialogue also exposes the paradox at the heart of leadership optics: the balance between visibility and neutrality. The Ambassador is encouraged either to disappear into her duty or to cultivate a signature image — a pin like Albright, a collar like RBG. Both strategies are valid; both are branding decisions. The former signals institutional discipline, the latter personal distinction. Either way, the leader’s body becomes a billboard for ideology, identity, and intent.
Semiotics: Symbols as soft power
The Vice President’s inventory — lipstick, pins, collars, glasses — transforms personal style into the language of diplomacy. Each accessory becomes a visual metaphor: Albright’s brooches communicated subtle diplomatic messages; Ginsburg’s collars became emblems of justice and feminist defiance. These were not aesthetic indulgences but semiotic tools — instruments of soft power that communicated conviction without uttering a word.
Every leader, consciously or not, curates symbols that speak before they do. Barack Obama’s rolled-up sleeves projected accessibility; Nelson Mandela’s Madiba shirts translated reconciliation into cloth. Even hairstyles, as the Vice President suggests, can broadcast intent — or negligence. As she remarks, “It reads like a bedhead… which sends a signal better unsent.” It’s an uncomfortable reminder that optics and interpretation are inseparable.
Authenticity: Between performance and integrity
But beneath the polished irony of the scene lies a deeper question: When does branding become performance? The Ambassador’s frustration is rooted in a moral dilemma — she wants to serve, not to perform. Yet in an age where authenticity is a curated construct, performance becomes part of credibility.
Personal branding, therefore, is not about pretense; it’s about controlled revelation. It’s the art of showing who you are in a way that aligns with what you stand for. It’s authenticity expressed through intentionality. The problem is not that we brand ourselves — it’s when we do so without alignment between substance and symbol.
The Vice President’s critique – though harsh – is strategic. When she says, “If you’re representing the interests of 300 million people… it’s best to look like you care for your trousers,” she is not reducing diplomacy to vanity. She is reminding us that leadership is a total experience: intellect, discipline, empathy, and presence all contribute to the credibility of power.
Power: The Politics of perrception
In the end, The Diplomat’s dialogue is not about hair or hemlines. It’s about how power is perceived. The Vice President’s black suit and minimalist aesthetic represent an old-school realism: in diplomacy, invisibility can be influence. But her advice also underscores a brutal truth — women in leadership are still scrutinized through a gendered lens that conflates presentation with professionalism.
For the modern leader — whether in politics, business, or public life — this conversation echoes beyond fiction. Every photograph, interview, tweet, or public appearance contributes to the architecture of perception. As much as we may wish to be judged by our ideas, the world still reads our image as text.
To brand oneself, then, is not to surrender to superficiality; it is to claim agency in how one’s narrative is told. It is to ensure that the packaging does not distort the policy, but rather, delivers it with clarity. As the Vice President says, “No one will read your policy papers.” That may be true — but they will read your face, your tone, your attire, and your comportment.
Conclusion: Branding as the diplomacy of being
In a world where leaders are seen before they are heard, personal branding becomes the diplomacy of being. It is the subtle negotiation between who we are and how we are perceived — between truth and transmission.
For diplomats, executives, or cultural ambassadors, the lesson is timeless: credibility is holistic. It resides not only in policy or performance but in presence. Your wardrobe, your walk, your words — all are instruments of persuasion in the theatre of leadership.
As the Ambassador discovers, branding is not the enemy of authenticity — it is its amplifier. The question, then, is not whether to curate your image, but how to make that image speak truth to who you are.
Tujenge Afrika Pamoja! Let’s Build Africa Together!
Enjoy your weekend.
Saul Molobi (FCIM)
PUBLISHER: JAMBO AFRICA ONLINE
and
Group Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Brandhill Africa™
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