Agreed, I don't understand why there'd be any long term benefits with building a brand at a company. The only one I can think of is that one is able to latch on

Agreed, I don't understand why there'd be any long term benefits with building a brand at a company. The only one I can think of is that one is able to latch onto the popularity of the brand and present at conferences in an official capacity, and then once one leaves the company, their followers can still follow them.