Humility at the Top

Branding isn't just for products anymore. Newly-minted MBAs are advised to build their own brand in order to further their careers. Business owners concentrate on building name recognition in order to further their companies. Steven Van Yoder recommends that entrepreneurs seek the spotlight by becoming "slightly" famous. (Van Yoder's website is Get Slightly Famous.)

While entrepreneurs can boost their company's profile by raising their own, "corporate executives should be wary of too much personal brand building", according to Carol Hymowitz. Hymowitz observes in today's Wall Street Journal that:

. . . an executive at an established corporation who brands himself is competing with his company's image. Such executives risk quashing the spirit of teamwork essential to innovation and productivity, and they tend to fail to do vital succession planning.

According to Tom Kuczmarski, professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management:

When you're the rock-star brand at the top, you're conveying to people in the ranks that they're second-class citizens - and you stop thinking about how to develop the next group of people who will run the show.

Turns out that the most successful corporate CEOs are humble. They spend more time and energy understanding their employees and customers than they do promoting themselves.

Read the entire article here:
Some CEOs Advertise the 'Me' Brand - With Limited Success