Season 7, Episode 1: How to Build Your Personal Brand with Guest, Bob Gurr, Legendary Disney Imagineer

Happy New Year and welcome to Season 7 of the LEAD WITH YOUR BRAND!™ Podcast.

Jayzen Patria kicks off the new season with a clear and urgent message: the rules of career success have changed—and your personal brand is non-negotiable in 2026.

Economic uncertainty, rapid AI adoption, shifting corporate priorities, and nonstop disruption have created a perfect storm in today’s workplace. In this environment, companies are no longer looking for interchangeable workers. They are looking for standout talent with a clear, trusted, super-premium personal brand.

Your personal brand is no longer about self-promotion. It’s about career ownership, relevance, and long-term opportunity.

In this episode, Jayzen breaks down why your brand determines:

• Who gets a seat at the table

• Who gets trusted with new opportunities

• Who gets paid more—and why

Key Takeaways:

• Are you coffee or are you Starbucks?

Commodity professionals are interchangeable. Super-premium brands are sought out, trusted, and paid more.

• Great work alone isn’t enough anymore

If people don’t know your value, they can’t advocate for you, sponsor you, or amplify your impact.

• Your brand earns you a seat at the table

Opportunities flow through relationships. A strong brand expands your network and builds an army of champions.

• Your brand future-proofs you in an AI world

Roles will change—or disappear—but a trusted brand allows people to follow you into new, undefined opportunities.

• Compensation is brand feedback

Salary, bonuses, and promotions directly reflect how valuable your brand is perceived to be.

• A brand is not a logo, outfit, or tagline

Your brand is your unique DNA—the sum of experiences, behaviors, and expectations others associate with you.

Jayzen grounds it all in one core truth: Your brand is the expectations people have of you—and expectations drive opportunity.

To start the year, Jayzen is thrilled to welcome one of his personal heroes: Disney Legend and former Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr.

Originally trained as an industrial designer with a love of cars, mechanics, and motion, Bob’s career changed forever when Walt Disney invited him to help build Disneyland. What began as a small assignment quickly evolved into a defining role in theme park history.

As Bob famously says, “If it moves on wheels at Disneyland, I probably designed it.”

Bob is the creative force behind iconic attractions including Autopia, the Disneyland Monorail, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the Haunted Mansion Doom Buggies. He completed 100+ projects directly for Walt Disney, becoming known for fearlessness, curiosity, and saying yes to challenges others avoided.

After Disney, Bob went on to design 150+ major projects worldwide. Now 94 years young, he remains an active speaker, creator, and cultural icon.

His story perfectly reinforces Jayzen’s message: competence, curiosity, persistence, and fearlessness build a brand that lasts decades—not job titles.

To book Jayzen for a keynote or workshop: JayzenPatria.com