The Power of Personal Branding for CEOs

Whether you’re CEO of a large corporation or owner of a dog grooming start-up, investing in your personal brand is always a guaranteed investment in your company. When the individual at the helm has the right image and reputation, they impact everything from boosting the company brand to forging emotional connections with employees, investors, customers, and media.

When done right, personal branding builds mind and market share alike and can directly influence the bottom line. Done wrong, it can completely destroy a company’s image and financials. This is especially important to remember today, when a CEO’s every value, opinion, comment, and characteristic is up for public review. So, how do you get it right?

A great example of excellent Executive Personal Branding is Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly. Gary has been indispensable in propelling Southwest as the world’s largest low-cost carrier. He’s also helped secure it as a mainstay on Fortune magazine’s list of the most admired companies in the world. (It ranked seventh in 2016.)