Metrics tell you whether they're talking. Sentiment tells you how.

Sentiment is the reputation layer, the part of your brand that lives in other people's minds.

The question isn't whether you're being talked about. It's whether the tone of that conversation matches the brand you're trying to build. Are people admiring, curious, dismissive, inspired, sceptical? Recurring descriptors that show up in introductions, "strategic," "innovative," "thoughtful," are your brand in action. If multiple people introduce you with similar language, that's your perceived identity. If their language differs from how you want to be positioned, that's a brand gap worth closing. For most professionals at most stages, the right diagnostic is manual rather than algorithmic, and a three-step review every month delivers most of the signal.

The three-step manual review that surfaces sentiment:

• Google yourself monthly in incognito mode, and check whether the first two pages of results match the version of you that you want people to see
• Scan your DMs, comments, and emails for tone, do people come to you as an expert, a peer, or a vendor
• Pay attention to introductions in posts, bios, and event speakers, and compare the language others use to the language you want them to use

In this video, Des walks through the LinkedIn-specific sentiment tools, the advanced platforms worth using when you scale, and the three-step manual review that works at any stage of visibility.

Sentiment is the proxy for trust.

That's what this video makes legible.