Leadership and Branding - Development Principles For CEOs
Leadership and Branding - Development Principles For CEOs
Leadership means different things to different people. It means ability to inspire. Leadership is charisma, courage, and even sacrifice. Leadership requires vision. Leadership is talked about in rarefied atmosphere of CEO conferences, business schools, HR meets, and strategy meets. There seems to be an unstated and unanimous agreement that leadership is too important, too-sweeping-in-its-scope, too-good-to-be-described, and therefore too-complex-to-be-systematically-deployed concept. Everyone is convinced that such indescribable leadership must be good for any organization.
Branding too captures imagination of people. For some CEO s it is a reverential bowing item to be ticked off the agenda. For CFO s it is a black hole of cash. Sales people think it is a watering hole for unsuccessful ex-salesmen. For M & A specialists it is a valuation game. It is a playground of creativity for advertising agencies. It is PR first for PR agencies. For many, branding means eye catching, entertaining, beautiful visual and audio communications or smart copy. Everyone knows branding and everyone has definite opinions about it.
Is there then any connection between leadership and branding? Leaders are responsible for branding. But they are also responsible for many other things. Are there any fundamental linkages?
Connection between leadership and branding
The answer might be found in people, since leadership and brands exist in minds of people. Brands provide neat and crisp symbols denoting product performance levels, shared experiences, dreams, aspiration and expectations of actual and potential users.
Who will deny that leadership too deals with shared dreams, aspirations, and expectations of all stake holders -customers, employees, vendors and others? Like brands, leaders are seen as icons. Similarly, leadership without its own constituency is unthinkable. Leaders build constituencies through shared understanding of goals and ways to achieve them.
How do communities come into existence? A unique feature, a benefit, some newness, or drama sets people talking. When people talk, when they integrate products in their lives, when they constantly share their experiences, problems, or solutions communities are formed. Communities can also be built around new categories of products. People love to talk. They need to share things. It is for a company to create or articulate such uniqueness, to express it evocatively, and to nudge and support its customers into sharing it. Can this be done by marketing department alone? Can this happen by bombarding customers with advertisements, direct mail, or price promotions? Can this happen without a strong leadership? The answer is no. Brands may seem to come into existence through some accidents. But is takes sustained and consistent efforts to bring about branding.
Just as brands raise the bar of customer expectations, leaders broaden horizons of their people. They inspire people to outdo themselves. Leadership means moving way from authority to respect, and from respect to inspiration.
Leaders must have vision, mission, and agenda for their constituencies. They are being constantly observed, emulated, or criticized. They need to make statement all the time. Successful leaders know this intuitively and develop distinctive styles of their own.
Some CEO s become great leaders without any formal training. But that does not reduce importance of training and learning. Almost everyone can improve leadership skills through systematic efforts. Learning Leadership requires sustained efforts. Leadership coaching can help in accelerating leadership development.
Leadership and career planning
Just as branding requires involvement of everyone, great leadership comes about only through developing leaders at all levels. If organizations have to develop and attract talent they must have well designed learning leadership processes in place. Leadership development must be integral to career planning.
In today's world leadership is branding. Successful branding and great leadership requires vision, values, performance, style and community building. Both require making difficult choices, sticking ones neck out, readiness to face guillotine when the time comes, and grace to accept success. Leadership and branding are possible only with passion, thinking, working, first walking alone, and then rallying others around.
Leadership and Branding Development Principles For CEOs - To learn more about this author, visit Hemant Karandikar's Website.
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Leadership and branding are hot topics. Leadership development programs are quite popular. There are many conferences and seminars on the subject of branding. Leadership development and brand development consume a lot of resources of businesses.
Leadership means different things to different people. It means ability to inspire. Leadership is charisma, courage, and even sacrifice. Leadership requires vision. Leadership is talked about in rarefied atmosphere of CEO conferences, business schools, HR meets, and strategy meets. There seems to be an unstated and unanimous agreement that leadership is too important, too-sweeping-in-its-scope, too-good-to-be-described, and therefore too-complex-to-be-systematically-deployed concept. Everyone is convinced that such indescribable leadership must be good for any organization.
Branding too captures imagination of people. For some CEO s it is a reverential bowing item to be ticked off the agenda. For CFO s it is a black hole of cash. Sales people think it is a watering hole for unsuccessful ex-salesmen. For M & A specialists it is a valuation game. It is a playground of creativity for advertising agencies. It is PR first for PR agencies. For many, branding means eye catching, entertaining, beautiful visual and audio communications or smart copy. Everyone knows branding and everyone has definite opinions about it.
Is there then any connection between leadership and branding? Leaders are responsible for branding. But they are also responsible for many other things. Are there any fundamental linkages?
Connection between leadership and branding
The answer might be found in people, since leadership and brands exist in minds of people. Brands provide neat and crisp symbols denoting product performance levels, shared experiences, dreams, aspiration and expectations of actual and potential users.
Who will deny that leadership too deals with shared dreams, aspirations, and expectations of all stake holders -customers, employees, vendors and others? Like brands, leaders are seen as icons. Similarly, leadership without its own constituency is unthinkable. Leaders build constituencies through shared understanding of goals and ways to achieve them.
How do communities come into existence? A unique feature, a benefit, some newness, or drama sets people talking. When people talk, when they integrate products in their lives, when they constantly share their experiences, problems, or solutions communities are formed. Communities can also be built around new categories of products. People love to talk. They need to share things. It is for a company to create or articulate such uniqueness, to express it evocatively, and to nudge and support its customers into sharing it. Can this be done by marketing department alone? Can this happen by bombarding customers with advertisements, direct mail, or price promotions? Can this happen without a strong leadership? The answer is no. Brands may seem to come into existence through some accidents. But is takes sustained and consistent efforts to bring about branding.
Just as brands raise the bar of customer expectations, leaders broaden horizons of their people. They inspire people to outdo themselves. Leadership means moving way from authority to respect, and from respect to inspiration.
Leaders must have vision, mission, and agenda for their constituencies. They are being constantly observed, emulated, or criticized. They need to make statement all the time. Successful leaders know this intuitively and develop distinctive styles of their own.
Some CEO s become great leaders without any formal training. But that does not reduce importance of training and learning. Almost everyone can improve leadership skills through systematic efforts. Learning Leadership requires sustained efforts. Leadership coaching can help in accelerating leadership development.
Leadership and career planning
Just as branding requires involvement of everyone, great leadership comes about only through developing leaders at all levels. If organizations have to develop and attract talent they must have well designed learning leadership processes in place. Leadership development must be integral to career planning.
In today's world leadership is branding. Successful branding and great leadership requires vision, values, performance, style and community building. Both require making difficult choices, sticking ones neck out, readiness to face guillotine when the time comes, and grace to accept success. Leadership and branding are possible only with passion, thinking, working, first walking alone, and then rallying others around.
Leadership and Branding Development Principles For CEOs - To learn more about this author, visit Hemant Karandikar's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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