When a Staples employee's TikTok videos began drawing tens of millions of views, the office-supply retailer faced a choice that has tripped up many corporations: punish the worker for violating company policy or embrace the attention. Staples chose the latter, and in doing so, it became an unlikely case study in how businesses can adapt to an era in which every employee, from the CEO to the front-line worker, functions as a personal brand.
Kaden Rowland, known online as the Staples Baddie, used the company's equipment to print a neon-green cat character with snail-like feelers onto mugs, mousepads and coasters. The videos generated tens of millions of views and inspired thousands of customer posts. Bob Sherwin, Staples's chief marketing officer, said the content produced a measurable impact, though the company declined to share specific financial figures. Sherwin and Dina Mortada, director of social media and public relations, recognized Rowland's work and amplified her reach rather than penalizing her. The company ultimately overhauled its social media policy to reflect the new reality.
That decision stands in contrast to a long history of businesses firing employees who go viral, including Sherwin-Williams and Chick-fil-A. Rowland herself worried she would be fired after her first viral Staples video, since posting was technically against company policy at the time. The retailer's decision to instead celebrate her content reflects a broader shift that many organizations have yet to make.
Personal brands have become ubiquitous, and employees increasingly view them as insurance against unemployment. Yet most leaders still see them as a threat. Many companies struggle with how to handle employees who have side gigs, attract media attention or simply post on LinkedIn. Even firms that recognize the value of a worker with a large following are grappling with how to manage them. Amy C. Benner Anand, a senior agentic solutions sales advisor at Microsoft, noted that most corporate policies are built for confidentiality and formal conflicts of interest, not for someone who writes independently, develops original ideas and becomes known for thinking in her own field.
The stakes are significant. According to a 2021 survey from the Brand Builders Group, 47% of Americans say a personal brand has more influence on their purchasing decisions than a corporate one. Fully 55% are more likely to do business with someone who has a strong personal brand, and 63% are more likely to buy from them. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 63% of respondents trust employees to provide information about a brand, more than journalists or the brand's CEO.
Those numbers help explain why personal brands can deliver outsized returns. Sage Quiamno, who leads public relations for the AI role-play platform Yoodli, urged her CEO, Varun Puri, to post about an award he had won despite his fear that it would seem too self-promotional. The post generated roughly 35,000 impressions, reached more than 20,000 members, drew over 1,800 engagements and produced more than 100 sales leads. Quiamno said that single post did more for the sales pipeline than three months of company page content.
Still, managing employees with strong personal brands raises difficult questions. How do companies rein in workers who post throughout the workday? Should they even try? How do they manage egos inflated by high follower counts? What does fairness look like when one employee's post can have more sales impact than an entire marketing department? And where is the line between what belongs to the employee and what belongs to the company?
Over five months, reporting for a special report engaged 84 people who manage or work with someone with a large personal brand, or who have one themselves. While most managers described success stories, employees with large brands often recounted tales of woe and mismanagement. Companies tend to be good at hiring someone with a large following, but then they strangle that person's voice once they are aboard. One marketing manager, identified only as Anita, spent years building her personal brand through publishing, only to find her employer unwilling to let her use it.
The lesson from Staples is that personal and corporate brands can coexist and even thrive when managers are willing to give up their most cherished asset: control. That means addressing personal brands during the interview process, setting clear expectations, building brand-building efforts into goal setting, performance reviews and compensation, and understanding that turning one star into a constellation can compound the benefits for the entire organization.