CEO Branding

Once a Novelty, It’s now a Necessity in the Battle for Top Executive Jobs

People have been talking about personal brands since Tom Peter’s ground breaking article “The Brand Called You” appeared in Fast Company magazine in 1997. Since then the world of branding has exploded, with experts and novices alike extolling the virtues of personal branding.

Human branding has become a force in personal and career development because the process and outcome of personal branding works. It authenticates and clarifies the value of an individual and empowers that individual to be more, to achieve more, and to contribute more—with an empowered enthusiasm and vigor that attracts success, satisfaction, and happiness.

In fact, in the changing world of work, the power of branding may be most visible in today’s most successful corporate CEOs, organization leaders, and entrepreneurs.

Why identify and leverage a CEO brand?
Branded CEOs are valuable commodities—recognized, coveted, and courted by the corporate world—much like the way unique products are known, desired, and purchased in the consumer marketplace. Branded CEOs are visible and respected leaders who project clear and distinctive executive brands—recognizable and unique promises of the value they bring to their companies, their stakeholders, and their world. 

Today’s successful and innovative leaders understand the power of branding and its ability to help them out-compete for the best jobs and best compensation. They know that branding is no longer an option in high-stakes executive careers where branded leadership, branded communications, and branded career management are critical tools for career growth and career control.

What is the difference between a personal brand and an executive brand, especially at C-suite levels?
A personal brand is formed by your authentic worth and attributes—in many ways it is timeless and unchanging. Like a personal brand, an executive brand projects an authentic and unique promise of ROI value. However an executive brand extends beyond the personal. An executive brand is born of a personal brand, but is specifically tied to unique business value—to return-on-investment.

A CEO’s executive brand goes a step further – it projects a clear and marketable value proposition, one that is often coupled with a history of change management, innovation, turnarounds, corporate contribution, thought leadership, and social responsibility – and of course, profit generation and delivery of shareholder / stakeholder value.

As a current or aspiring CEO, your executive brand is your face in the business world, your differentiator, your voice when you are not there, and your advertisement of absolute authentic value. It is your entree to top jobs and top compensation. It is what powers your career.

Your CEO brand combines your personal and business attributes with how you use them in the marketplace while leading your company. Your CEO brand is driven by market reality and market need. Consumer brands change to meet the changing trends and requirements of consumers, and so must your CEO brand, remaining flexible (as does your company) — in pro-action or re-action to critical changes in the marketplace.

What can purposeful brand management do for CEOs, CXOs, and “rising stars?”
The most successful leaders are adept and consistent brand managers—they continually define their brands, and then communicate their brands in all they write, speak, and do. And they surround themselves with environments and items that reflect that brand in their work lives and personal lives.

Your well-managed CEO brand prepares you to out-compete at every level, stay visible, and fuel career momentum. An executive brand diminishes confusion and uncertainty and maximizes freedom and control—all based on your authentic value.

As a successful executive, you will have experienced times when you needed to jump-start an unexpected job search, dig into career management, or differentiate yourself as a top contender for a promotion. And you likely felt uneasy and unprepared. 

You are not alone. Most executives, even at C-levels, are exactly like you—superb at what they do, but confused by the intricacies of high-stakes executive career management. This is where executive branding can be immensely helpful in keeping you constantly prepared for whatever the economy and executive arena throws at you!

Can a CEO’s brand help in resumes, job search, and career management?
Branded executives know that their career communications must be branded, refined, and continually reworked to attract and maximize every individual opportunity—one size fits all does not exist in successful CEO career management.

Branded CEOs know that just as in executive branding, their resumes, career collaterals, networking pitches, and interview content must show leadership, tell a marketing story about vision and innovation blended with practical solutions and bottom-line / profit-building performance, demonstrate personality and management style, and prove a management team and corporate culture fit. 

When preparing to write your resume and launch your job search ask yourself the following questions. Then use your answers as the foundation for branded career development activities.

• What parts of my job do I love? Do my best accomplishments reflect that enjoyment?
• What parts of my job do I do well, but not enjoy? Do I wish to be hired to do those again?
• What is my management style? How do I interact with my team, core management group, or BOD?
• What do my peers and staff routinely say about me?
• Do I have visibility in the marketplace, press, media, etc?
• What have I done that best demonstrates each of those skills with bottom-line, strategic, profit-building, or profit-enhancing performance?
• Can I compose “challenge-action-result” success studies of each of these and then speak of them in a concise, enthusiastic, and compelling manner?
• Do my accomplishments and skills have value in my target market?
• Can I answer the question “Why should I hire you?” with a brief yet compelling value proposition that makes me irresistible to the right company?

What is a value proposition?
A value proposition is what your brand looks like when you take it to work. It’s the “what happens” when you do what you do. For CEOs, it is the result that you deliver to your company when you lead it using the skills and strengths that form your brand.

A brand’s strength is determined by the marketplace—and so is the strength of your CEO value proposition. Be sure that your value proposition is one that is relevant, even critical, to your target market.

When you think about your value, don’t think in generalities. Put a number and challenge to your outcomes whenever possible. Numbers speak louder than words. Challenges frame the difficulty of getting to that great outcome. The combination creates credibility and desire.

A CEO value proposition that says, “I revitalize aging companies, recapture marketshare, and typically deliver 50+% revenue gains, even in down-trending markets.” will likely attract an interview. A brand statement that says, “I revitalize aging brands.” is too vague.

Review your answers to the above questions, identify themes, and construct your overriding and unique value proposition and sub-sets of “value-adds.” It may help you to imagine an organizational chart with you at the top (value proposition / presidential message) heading a core group of direct reports with distinct supportive rolls (value-adds).

Developing a branded resume with a strong value proposition is tough (the better you are at what you do, the tougher it is!) and it may help you to work with a  team of supportive personal and professional resources—your team might include mentors, family, trusted colleagues, a brand strategist, an executive coach, and a resume consultant.

Many successful CEOs routinely assemble such a team—a personal board of directors—a dream team of trusted professionals who help guide them, support their efforts, and give them the listening environment and honest feedback that is critical to branding and career management.

What are key strategies for branded CEO career planning?
Even if you are engaged in a job search, you must also be engaged in long-range planning so that your new position “fits” your brand and your ultimate career goal.

Once in your new executive position, focus on strategic contributions that will support your long-term goals and visibility-building activities. Document your contributions so that you have compelling success studies for compensation reviews, resume updates, media kits, bios, and interviews.

Include these strategies for branded career planning in your executive brand toolbox:

• Continuous visibility-building activities and “give to get” networking.
• Resume and portfolio updates with new, branded success stories.
• Personal performance review / promotion planning.
• Strategic entry, situation-specific, and career planning coaching.
• Personal fulfillment activities for on-brand work-life balance and happiness.
• Continuous refining of your CEO brand and value proposition.
• On-going market research on the key companies and players in your industry.
• Continual practicing of your branded 30-second elevator speech.

How do you discover your CEO brand?
Every CEO has a brand, but not every executive knows he has a brand. Knowledge is power and discovering, defining, and refining your brand is a critical step towards reaching the success you crave and deserve.

Start thinking about the ways you are unique and valuable. Then decide if you will benefit from the expertise of a certified personal brand strategist, if you would like web-delivered training, or if you prefer to read one of the many books on personal branding and begin the process yourself.

The CEO who knows his value, actively manages his brand, and has a robust, marketplace-driven value proposition, is an executive who is poised for accomplishment, success, and fulfillment—for himself, and for his company.