How to Be the One They Remember (and Promote)
The Standout Playbook
If I ask you “Who would you recommend as a photographer?”
What comes to mind? Who do you remember?
Maybe it’s a photographer you’ve worked with before, but you don’t remember their name or their business website.
Or maybe it’s someone you’ve seen posting content and you immediately remember their unique style and their instagram page, so you pass it along.
Whomever you recommend depends what you remember.
Here’s the hard truth: those chosen aren’t the best, those chosen are most remembered.
If your boss is deciding who to promote, will it be the one who quietly performs?
Or the one who stood out for something unmistakably theirs?
Heartset: What keeps us feeling safe also keeps us invisible and ignored
There’s a quiet tragedy that plays out in offices, boardrooms, and Zoom calls every single day.
The most competent person in the room may not be the one who gets the opportunity.
It’s the one people remember.
If your boss is deciding who to promote, they won’t go back through performance data or Slack transcripts. They’ll think of that one time you made them feel something—surprised them, impressed them, inspired them.
Influence, opportunity, and trust all start with recall.
And recall starts with difference.
Our brains were built to notice what stands out. Back when we were cave dwellers, anything different—an odd sound, a bright color, a strange movement—might be a threat. So we remembered it… because it kept us alive! And we are all descendants of these dwellers who were great at spotting and remembering what stands out.
But here’s the paradox:
“The brain craves novelty, but the brain is also terrified to be novel.”
Howie Chan
To keep ourselves safe, we also learned to blend into our tribes.
That’s the invisible tension of modern leadership and careers.
You crave attention, but you’re wired to conform.
You want to be seen, but you’re terrified of being too much.
That wiring once kept us safe. Now, it keeps us invisible and ignored.
Mindset: Standing out is a service, staying hidden is being selfish
I often hear professionals talk about how icky it is to self-promote or attract any kind of attention. And I totally get it. But intention is important here. You are not standing out for the sake of it, you’re doing it to help and serve more people.
Know this: if people can’t see you and they can’t remember you, you are not doing anyone any favors. You are actually not putting in the effort to help them and that’s lazy and selfish, keeping your superpowers all to yourself!
So instead of viewing standing out as being icky, view it as a service.
When you make yourself easy to remember, you make it easier for people to choose you, to follow you, to believe in you.
Here’s how to do it 👇🏽
Skillset: The Standout Playbook
The What and the How.
1. The What: The Substance That Sets You Apart
Your what is the thing that makes you different.
It’s your signature insight, product, or worldview.
Dyson didn’t just make a better vacuum—they turned suction into science. While everyone else bragged about wattage, they introduced cyclone technology and removed the need for dust bags forever.
Cody Sanchez didn’t sell sexy startups—she sold boring businesses and called it the “Main Street Millionaire” path. She flipped a cultural script and became unforgettable in a sea of sameness.
Your what is your differentiation of substance.
Ask yourself: What do I say, build, or believe that others in my space are too afraid to or they simply can’t do it?
If it makes you slightly uncomfortable, you’re probably onto something.
“Distinctiveness without relevance is useless.”
Howie Chan
It’s not enough to be different, you must be meaningfully different.
Difference gets attention. Relevance earns trust.
You need both.
2. The How: The Sensory Signature
If your what is the content, your how is the performance.
It’s the way you make people feel.
Liquid Death sells water—but in a tallboy can, wrapped in rebellion. Their tagline: “Murder your thirst.” Same product. Different how.
Billie sells razors—but their ads showed real women with real hair. Their how was honesty. They didn’t sell beauty; they sold relief from pretense.
And then there’s Gary Vaynerchuk. His ideas aren’t unique. His energy is. He curses, sweats, and rants his way into your attention. His “how” is unfiltered conviction—and that’s what people follow.
Your how is your emotional differentiator.
Ask yourself: If someone else delivered my message, would it still feel like me?
If not, you’ve found your edge.
3. The Fusion: The Magic of What + How
The world remembers the ones who combine both.
Dollar Shave Club nailed it.
Their what: a $1 razor subscription that rewrote an entire business model.
Their how: a hilariously low-budget ad starring their founder shouting, “Our blades are f***ing great.” (remember THIS?)
Cheap blades. Great copy. Billion-dollar exit.
That’s what happens when you marry a distinct what with a distinct how.
The market doesn’t reward better.
It rewards different.
How to Apply This
Audit Your What
What are you saying, selling, or believing that no one else dares to?
Make a list of your most contrarian truths.
Circle the one that scares you most and that’s your standout.
Choose Your How
What’s your sensory signature? Your tone, rhythm, presence, vocabulary?
Do you communicate like a commander, a scientist, a storyteller? (Go take the influence style quiz if you haven’t already!)
Marry Them
Pair your what with your how.
If you don’t have a unique what, then amp up your how.
Example: “We don’t sell productivity, we sell calm.” That’s your what.
“Murder productivity for dead calm results.” That’s bringing in your how.
Repeat Until Remembered
Consistency encodes memory.
Be known for one thing. Then show up in a hundred different ways to express it.
💡 Rule of thumb: if it doesn’t scare you, you’re not standing out.
🧭 Bonus: The Standout Playbook in Action
Click to see an example of the Standout Playbook in use.
If you like this, you’ll love:
The Hidden Advantage: Learning to Express What You Stand For (The PB3 Framework.)
Create Momentum Not With Speed, But With Trust (The four traits of trust)
What Apple's Disaster Teaches Us About Human Behavior (The single most important factor about influence)
Change behavior, change lives 🤘🏽
Howie Chan
Creator of Influence Anyone
Follow me on LinkedIn
Don’t miss:
The Influence Anyone Podcast
What if the reason people don’t remember you has nothing to do with your talent and everything to do with how you show up?
In this episode, I break down The Standout Playbook — the brain science and strategy behind becoming unforgettable in a world built for blending in.
We dig into the stories and psychology that didn’t make it into the newsletter:
The 1933 experiment that proves your brain literally can’t ignore what’s different
Why your instinct to “fit in” is quietly killing your influence
The two levers that make people remember you: your What and your How
How brands like Dyson, Liquid Death, and Dollar Shave Club hacked human memory to dominate their markets
If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing all the right things but still getting overlooked, this episode will show you how to stop competing and start standing out.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify, the Web, or wherever you get your podcasts.