When Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu was asked how she felt about the gold medal around her neck, she shrugged with playful confidence: it matched her hair color. To her, the medal was just a physical object. Something she could even lose.

What she refused to lose was herself.

After rising to fame at 13 and stepping away at 16 from a win-at-all-costs training culture, she returned at 18 with a different mindset. No longer chasing validation. No longer performing for approval. This time, she chose to skate my way.

Authentic expression replaced pressure. Joy replaced anxiety. Art replaced obsession with outcome. And excellence followed.

Her story reminds us that when identity becomes the anchor, performance becomes the byproduct. Winning is no longer the definition of success. Alignment is.

That is powerful from the inside out. That is liberating.

When you stop performing for the world and start expressing your truth, the world responds.

The lesson extends far beyond the ice rink. Leaders who build enduring brands do not chase metrics alone. They build from conviction. They Think Different. They Stand for Something. They lead my way, grounded in clarity, belief, and purpose.

The journey is destiny. Joyful alignment fuels mastery. Authenticity is the ultimate power source.

Find yourself. Clarify your passion. Define your meaning. Live and lead my way.

That is your superpower. That is your brand.

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Joanne Z. Tan is the Founder & CEO of 10 Plus Brand, Inc., a brand strategist, thought leadership coach, and speaker. She helps executives, board members, entrepreneurs, and organizations decode their Brand DNA, create authentic brand identity and content to build brand equity and lead their industries in the AI age. Trained in law and business, Joanne was a former journalist, and an award-winning photographic artist. She had a liberal arts education from Brandeis University before earning a law degree. Joanne's passion is to build brands for leaders and their organizations with her analytical, holistic, and strategic design thinking, as well as her artistic creativity. Her coaching emphasizes comprehensive strategies, business modeling, thought leadership and high authority content creation, brand building, culture, teamwork, leadership mindset and resilience. She guides leaders to stand out with vision, multi-disciplinary approaches, and strategies in leading themselves and their organizations. Additionally, Joanne is a poet, writer, and artist.

© Joanne Z. Tan, Jan. 2026. All rights reserved.

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