Charisma is key to successful business leadership, but does this mean every entrepreneur should model themselves as a ‘personality’? Growing Business weighs up the case for making yourself synonymous with your company’s brand
The idea that a firm’s image can become more dynamic when linked with the verve and gravitas of a successful chief executive is simple enough. Take Richard Branson and Stelios; their names are intrinsically linked with the brands of their businesses.
Presumably, if you are already fuelling a hungry business with personal acumen and ambition, your name has potential. With the right communications strategy and a strong focus, you can make the transition from behind-the-scenes boss to figurehead. But are the business benefits compelling enough for you to make the effort?
Dan McGuire, managing director of recruitment company Broadbean, thinks they are. “It’s hard to relate it directly to revenue, but you can’t underestimate good marketing and PR,” he says. Mark Turrell, who founded AIM-listed innovation software firm Imaginatik in 1994, agrees. Both entrepreneurs’ names are firmly entwined with their companies’ brands and they believe this is the only way to go. “As an entrepreneur, you can really leverage the personal brand you have,” Turrell says.
But it’s not for everyone. As well as being chief executive and managing director of their companies, both men write blogs and columns, network energetically and speak at high-profile events. To be the name behind your business, you have to work hard at raising your profile. Move forward with a clear purpose and direction, and it can yield impressive results, Turrell insists. “We’ve grown 40% year-on-year for the past four years, and around a third of that business is supported by this kind of chief executive intervention,” he says.
Profile building
First and foremost, you need decide whether it’s about you or the company. “Some people get carried away with public engagements and speaking,” says McGuire. “But it’s important that it remains a very small part of what you do.”
If the goal is to help your company grow and, in Turrell’s case, to give returns to shareholders, you really need to think of it from that perspective. In these days of online social networking, the first step of making profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is an obvious and easy one. By doing this, you’re sending out information to promote yourself, and advertising that you are the chief executive of your company. Do it well and you can create a good impression of the business, while positioning yourself as the public face of the brand.
There are also recognised business benefits to courting PR and being personally interviewed in the press. You put a face to your company’s name and boost brand recognition. Mitesh Soma, founder of online retailer Chemist Direct, believes speaking with the press is an integral part of growing a business. “I like to be highly visible for the company, to help develop a trusting relationship with consumers,” he says. “It’s part and parcel of the brand.”#
Similarly, entering and winning competitions is more than an ego massage. Your company can establish itself as a leader in its field, strike up key contacts and gain invaluable press coverage. Soma has won a number of well-regarded business competitions over the last year, and says it’s worth the effort. “If you win, you get some great PR,” he says. “The events are fantastic for networking and developing partnerships.”
Broadbean’s McGuire agrees. He says the independent judgment of an awards panel also carries a lot of weight when speaking with clients. “When tenders and proposals come up, awards set us apart from the competition,” he says.
Speaking at debates and conferences or writing a blog or column can also help, according to Turrell. “I’ve spoken at the last two Davos events, and walked away with 250 business cards,” he says. Such activity offers so many business opportunities, you may even have to hire someone to do the follow-up. If your name is a recognised authority in your field, people naturally view your venture positively.
“If you look at the best brands in this country, most have got a well-known figurehead, like Stelios and Branson,” says Turrell. “The person at the helm of a good company is generally considered an expert in that industry and a lot of people would like to hear that voice. There’s no way that can be bad for your business unless you say something incredibly stupid.”
Balancing act
But creating a public image for yourself and your company is not all plain sailing. “It’s important to balance it so that people don’t get the impression that it’s just one person behind the company,” Turrell warns. Once again, it comes down to looking out for the interests of your business first, because when linking your personal brand with that of your company, there is a risk of inadvertently damaging its reputation in the market.
You could dilute whatever power the company brand holds on its own, for instance. Or a chance comment could lead to the near-collapse of your business, as Gerald Ratner will testify. What’s more, if you bind your name too closely with your business, you may cut off any feasible exit strategy.
You also need to ensure that following such an aggressive communications effort does not take you away from your core operational and strategic business duties.
It shouldn’t take up all your time, according to McGuire, who believes the PR and marketing team should ensure that whatever you become involved in is well worth it. After all, the larger a company grows, the more valuable the time of the person who’s running it becomes.
“If you do it right,” McGuire says, “then even if you don’t spend a lot of time on it, you’ll get coverage.”
You don’t have to be the person who writes proposals or who reviews contracts. “To be a good leader, you have to work out what it is that you’re good at, and how that will add value to the company,” says Turrell. Building a strong brand may be your forté, but it’s important to keep a good balance between your public persona and your business life. Developing a core team of leaders who can deal with the day-to-day running of your business can help.
Avoid celebrity
There are limits to how much a high profile can help your business, so it’s probably best to leave full-throttle celebrity to the likes of Sir Alan Sugar and Peter Jones. Branson may be a celebrity, but he has people to run his company while he is out there promoting it. “If you’re an entrepreneur and managing a business, that has to be the first priority,” says McGuire. “PR has a business benefit, it just has to be sensibly weighed up against everything else you’re doing with your time.”