Bought in??

As I look through my to do list, I find myself staring down the barrel of a presentation on the concept of Leadership Branding. Having cut my teeth with a branding firm in a previous life, this is a topic that is near and dear to me.

Not to go off on a rant about any one company, or leader, however I do have to mention that yesterday, I watched a sales pitch on Enterprise Computer systems from HP. Who presented? Carly herself. Not the VP-Sales, or the Director of Enterprise Computing - the CEO.

What an amazing concept. Now, most of you are probably looking at this from the opposite perspective that I am. So let me clarify. I was impressed that Carly Fiorina was selling HP, not that HP was selling Carly Fiorina.

In recent years, high profile CEO's like Jack Welch at GE, and Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines have been billed as celebrity representations of their respective organizations. More recently, and from a Leadership Branding perspective, I am impressed that these CEO's are so proud of their organizations, that they practically insist (think Dave Thomas from Wendy's) on being the spokesperson.

Therefore, my rhetorical question of the day is this:

How strong a culture do these organizations have if the CEO themselves are the actual spokesperson?

If the Leader isn't in love with the company.. how can they expect the rest of the company to be?