Mark: Alright Michelle, I have a book title for you. I want your gut reaction, no filter. The book is called… Be Seen. Michelle: Oh boy. My gut reaction? It sounds like a manual for becoming an influencer. Step one: perfect your latte art. Step two: find a photogenic brick wall. Step three: write vaguely inspirational captions about your "journey." Am I close? Mark: That is a hilariously cynical, and probably very common, take. But it’s what makes this book so surprising. Today we’re diving into Be Seen: Find Your Voice, Build Your Brand, Live Your Dream by Jen Gottlieb. And it’s not about the performance of being seen, but the courage it takes to let yourself be seen. Michelle: Okay, you have my attention. The courage part sounds a lot more interesting than the brick wall part. Mark: Exactly. And the author’s own story is the perfect frame for this. Jen Gottlieb is a successful entrepreneur now, but she started her career on Broadway and as a host on VH1’s That Metal Show. And here's the kicker: she secretly disliked heavy metal. She was literally playing a role, hiding her true self to fit a mold. The whole book is born from her journey of shedding that costume. Michelle: Wow, okay. So she’s lived this. This isn't just theory from someone who’s always been comfortable in the spotlight. It’s from someone who had to find her own voice after getting paid to use someone else's. That changes things. It’s not about posturing for social media, it starts somewhere much deeper. Mark: It starts with what she calls the first and most important pillar of her system: Be Courageous. And her definition is what really hooked me. It’s not about being fearless. It’s about the assessment that something else is more important than your fear.

Michelle: I love that quote. It reframes courage from some kind of superhuman trait into a simple, but not easy, calculation. What’s more important: my comfort zone, or this thing I dream of doing? Mark: Precisely. And the book uses some incredible stories to show this in action. Take J.K. Rowling. We all know the massive success of Harry Potter, but we often forget the sheer gauntlet of rejection she faced. Michelle: I know she was rejected, but I don't think I know the full story. It was a lot, right? Mark: It was brutal. She was a single mother, living on state benefits, pouring her soul into this manuscript. She finally gets an agent, who then sends it to twelve different publishing houses. All twelve reject it. The feedback was things like, "it's too long for a children's book," "children's books don't make money." It was a chorus of "no." Michelle: Twelve times. I think most people would have given up after three. I might have given up after one, depending on the day. What keeps someone going through that? Mark: That's the core question. It was courage, fueled by a purpose that was more important than the fear of rejection. She believed in this world she had created. She believed it needed to exist. Her courage wasn't a loud, dramatic act; it was the quiet, stubborn persistence of sending the manuscript out one more time. And that thirteenth time, a small publisher, Bloomsbury, said yes—and only because the chairman's eight-year-old daughter read the first chapter and demanded to know what happened next. Michelle: An eight-year-old saved the entire Harry Potter franchise. That's incredible. But you know, it’s easy to look at a billionaire like Rowling and see her story as a fairy tale. It feels exceptional. What about for people whose dreams don't involve wizards and global fame? Does this idea of courage apply to more everyday ambitions? Mark: It absolutely does, and the book backs this up. It points to research that really grounds this idea. One study in the Journal of Business Venturing found that a high fear of failure makes people 30% less likely to start their own business. Nearly half the people surveyed named fear of failure as the single biggest barrier. Michelle: Okay, now that feels real. That’s the fear of leaving a stable job, the fear of telling your friends you’re starting something new and then having it flop. It’s the fear of looking stupid. Mark: Exactly. It's the same fundamental force. And the book offers another powerful example in Rosa Parks. Her act of courage wasn't about becoming famous or starting a movement. On December 1, 1955, she was just a seamstress, tired after a long day's work. Her act of refusing to give up her seat was a quiet, personal decision. It was a moment where her dignity became more important than her fear of arrest, of harassment, of the consequences. Michelle: And that one quiet act of courage lit a fuse that started the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott and changed the course of American history. When you put Rowling and Parks side-by-side, you see the pattern. It’s not about the scale of the dream. It’s about the personal conviction being stronger than the external risk. Mark: You’ve nailed it. Courage is the prerequisite. Without it, the best ideas, the most brilliant skills, they just stay locked inside. You can’t be seen if you’re too afraid to step into the light.

Michelle: Okay, I'm sold on the need for courage. But courage without a plan can sometimes just be recklessness, can't it? It's one thing to feel brave for a moment, but another to sustain that, especially when imposter syndrome kicks in. How do you actually build the confidence to keep acting? Mark: This is my favorite part of the book, because it gets so practical. Gottlieb moves from the 'why' of courage to the 'how' of confidence. She offers a toolkit, and the first tool is something she calls the "Badass List." Michelle: A Badass List? I'm intrigued and a little skeptical. It sounds like something you'd write in a journal and then feel embarrassed if anyone found it. Mark: It might feel that way at first! But the purpose is deadly serious. It’s a direct weapon against imposter syndrome. The idea is to create a running, living document of every single thing you're proud of. Not just big stuff like "got a promotion." It’s also small wins, skills you’ve mastered, a difficult conversation you handled well, a time you helped someone, a compliment you received that you brushed off. It’s your personal evidence file that you are, in fact, capable. Michelle: An evidence file. I like that framing. It’s not just self-hype; it’s a collection of data points to refute the negative voice in your head. Mark: Precisely. The book shares a story about one of the author's clients who was paralyzed by feelings of inadequacy. She couldn't bring herself to promote her business. Gottlieb had her start a Badass List. At first, it was hard. But as she forced herself to reflect, the list grew. She added skills she'd forgotten she had, projects she’d successfully completed years ago. Over time, reading that list became a ritual. It rewired her thinking. She started to internalize her own value, and that gave her the fuel to finally start putting herself out there. Michelle: So the Badass List is the internal work. It’s for your own private pep talks. But how does that private confidence translate into public visibility? It’s a big leap from writing in a journal to being seen as an expert. Mark: It is, and that’s where the second tool comes in. Gottlieb says once you start building your internal confidence, you need a strategy for building external credibility. She calls this becoming a "CIA Agent." Michelle: A CIA Agent? Are we talking espionage and trench coats? Mark: Not quite, though the acronym is just as cool. CIA stands for Credibility, Influence, and Authority. It’s a framework for how you show up in the world. Michelle: Okay, break that down for me. Credibility, Influence, Authority. Mark: Credibility is your foundation. It's the proof that you know what you're talking about. This can be testimonials, case studies, certifications, or just consistently sharing valuable insights. It’s about showing your work. Influence is about connection. It's how you build relationships and engage with your community. It’s not about having a million followers; it’s about having a real impact on the people you reach. And Authority is the result of the first two. When you have proven credibility and genuine influence, you become a recognized, trusted voice in your field. People seek you out. Michelle: That makes so much sense. It’s a roadmap. And I can see how the Badass List connects to it now. You can’t build public Credibility if you don’t privately believe you have anything credible to say. The list is where you gather the proof for yourself before you present it to the world. Mark: Exactly. The Badass List is your pre-mission briefing. The CIA framework is the mission itself. It’s a system for translating that inner confidence you’ve built into a public reputation that feels earned and authentic, not like you’re faking it. It’s the antidote to the "vaguely inspirational caption" problem you mentioned at the start. It’s about substance, not just style.

Michelle: When you put it all together, it paints a really clear picture. The journey to "Be Seen" isn't an external one about marketing tactics. It's an internal-to-external process. Mark: That’s the profound insight at the heart of this book. What Jen Gottlieb is really arguing is that visibility isn't a performance you put on. It's an outcome. It's the natural result of doing the deep work of cultivating internal courage, arming yourself against imposter syndrome with your 'Badass List,' and then applying that confidence with an external strategy, like the 'CIA' framework. Michelle: It flips the script completely. We think we need to get the perfect website or the perfect business card before we can feel confident. She’s saying you have to build the internal confidence first, and then the external stuff almost takes care of itself because you're operating from a place of authenticity. Mark: You are. You're not "building a brand" so much as you are revealing who you already are. You’re just clearing away the fear and self-doubt that have been obscuring it. Michelle: So for anyone listening who feels stuck, the first step isn't to hire a brand strategist or a web designer. The first, most practical step is to open a notebook and write down one thing for your Badass List. Just one accomplishment you've forgotten to celebrate. Mark: That's the perfect takeaway. Start with one piece of evidence. And it really makes you wonder, what is the one fear that, if you faced it, could unlock everything else for you? Michelle: A powerful question to end on. This has been incredibly insightful. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.