Developing Your Leadership Brand

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Another company listed 10 requirements including the ability to make decisions quickly, manage change, deliver results, and work well in teams, but eight of them fell into the execution domain. A successful leadership development model should incorporate all elements of the Leadership Code. Individual leaders may have a predisposition in some areas, and should be strong in at least one, but should demonstrate a high level of competence in all of them.

How can companies evaluate their leadership brand efforts?
DU: One way companies can evaluate the success of leadership brand efforts is by looking at how much confidence investors have in their future earnings. A publicly traded corporation's price/earnings ratio is a simple, though not a perfect, indicator of that confidence. Companies with strong leadership brands, we have found, tend to have above-average p/e ratios.

Another company evaluated leaders by the extent to which they provided talent to the rest of the company. Leaders at this company has been accountable to produce financial results and give money to the company. But the company also began to track the extent to which leaders were either consumers or producers of talent for the company. Some leaders took in company talent with few individuals leaving their division for other divisions in the company. These were consumer leaders. Other leaders were producers who exported more talent than they imported. These were producing leaders.

NS: At the end of the day, a leadership brand shows up not only in stable stock prices but in higher market value. Increasingly, the market value of a company is determined by its intangibles, its ability to keep promises, design and deliver on a compelling strategy, ensure technical excellence, hire and retain smart people, build strong organizational capabilities, and, especially, develop strong leadership. Intangible value grows as customers and investors gain greater confidence about the future fortunes of one firm over others in the same industry.

Thank you for your thoughts on leadership brand. How can our readers contact you?
DU: They can e-mail us or call (801) 373-4238.

NS: If they are interested in additional information and resources they can also visit the RBL Group Web site.

Marshall Goldsmith, who writes Marshall and Friends every week for BusinessWeek.com, can be reached at Marshall@MarshallGoldsmith.com. He provides his articles and videos online at MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com.