Customer Reviews

Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value

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Thousands of books have been written for leaders. Like a leader that stands out from the pack, a new leadership book must present some significant new insights to prosper in this crowded marketplace. Hard on the heels of their last successful book, How Leaders Build Value, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood produce another winner. How's that? A mix of reliable advice combined with some new insights which include:

' Leadership is more than individual leaders. "An exceptional individual leader may deliver outstanding results for a while, but the quality of leadership is what sustains results ... Leader emphasizes the qualities of the individual and how he or she leads and engages others ... leadership emphasizes the quality of leaders throughout an organization."
' It focuses on results, not on the traditional personal characteristics of leaders. "Our study of leadership began with a simple premise: leaders must deliver results ... the leadership field has become so enamored with competencies and personal characteristics of leaders that the leader's job to also deliver results was almost forgotten."
' Its leadership focus is from the"outside/in instead of the inside/out." "Outside in means that customer (and investor) expectations should frame, focus, and influence leader behaviors. When leaders know and do things that add value to customers, they are more likely to be doing the right thing."
' It uses the metaphor of a brand (like those of Pepsi, Lexus and Nokia) to reframe the power of leadership. "Leadership brand is the identity of the firm in the mind of the customers ... Leadership brand occurs when leaders' knowledge, skills, and values focus employee behavior on the factors that target the issues that customers care about ... it shows up in the behaviors and results of leaders throughout a firm in a manner that bridges employee and customer commitment."
' A leadership brand must pervade an organizational culture and its processes--(think GE/Jack Welch or Walmart/Sam Walton.) "A leadership brand bridges the firm's identity in the mind of those outside (customers and investors) with the behavior of its employees. When an organization has a leadership brand, customers have positive images of the firm, investors perceive the firm as possessing intangible value, employees feel more committed, and leaders are creating enormous value."

Supporting these insights are numerous examples, models, assessments, and other practical tools. This book models what is becoming the Ulrich-Smallwood brand: new insights combined with the best of the old, supported by easy-to-read, pragmatic implementation support. Sounds like a sustainable brand for leadership in the leadership field.

In the Preface, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood make this affirmation: "We believe that leaders matter, but leadership matters more. We have all experienced a gifted leader who engaged all of us -- our hearts, minds, and feet. Dynamic leaders enlist us in a cause, and we willingly follow their counsel. But leadership exists when an organization produces more than one to two individual leaders. Leadership matters more because it is tied not to a person but to the process of building leaders." By no means do Ulrich and Smallwood question the importance of individual leaders. On the contrary, they assert (and I agree) that one of the most important obligations of being a leader is to strengthen or at least sustain a process by which to identify, hire, develop, and then retain high-impact leaders at all levels and in all areas throughout her or his organization.

With regard to this book's title, Ulrich and Smallwood offer another affirmation: "We believe that all organizations have a leadership brand, either explicitly crafted and deployed or implicitly perceived and randomly perpetuated...[Therefore] leadership brand is the identity of the leaders throughout an organization that bridges customer expectations and employee and organizational behavior." I've noticed that in recent years, several of the same companies (e.g. Berkshire Hathaway, FedEx, GE, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota Motor) appear on the annual lists of those Most Valuable as well as those Most Highly Admired. These exemplary companies all have high-impact leadership that consistently produces superior results. I've also noticed that the U.S. military services and their academies are also renowned for the high quality of their leadership development programs. However different these organizations are in most respects, they do share this in common: Each has devised a high-impact leadership program that is appropriate to their specific needs and objectives.

As Ulrich and Smallwood correctly point out, a brand combines an identity with a reputation among various constituencies. "Leadership brand is the identity of the firm in the in the mind of the customers, made real to employees because of customercentric leadership behaviors. In other words, leadership brand occurs when leaders' knowledge, skills, and values focus employee behavior on the factors that target the issues that customers care about." The challenge for any organization (whatever its size or nature) is to formulate a program ensuring that everyone in that organization embraces the values, gains the knowledge, and strengthens the skills needed to drive performance and build lasting value.

After briefly explaining the "what" in Chapters 1 & 2 (i.e. what leadership brand is and why it is important), Ulrich and Smallwood devote the remaining chapters to "how," answering questions such as these:

3. What is a "brand statement"?
3. How to prepare one?
4. How to assess leaders against the brand?
5. How to invest in the leadership brand?
6. How to measure its ROI?
7. How to create and then increase awareness of it?

Note: My own opinion is that creating and then increasing awareness of the leadership brand should precede measuring its ROI. That is, I would reverse the order of what are now Chapters 6 & 7.

8. How to preserve it?
9. What are the implications of a leadership brand for a personal brand?

Then in two appendices, Ulrich and Smallwood review the criteria for a firm brand and include the last of several self-diagnostics, "Diagnosis for leadership brand"). Then in the second appendix, they briefly discuss their research on the top firms for managing quality, suggesting that some function as "feeder firms" because they "feed the demands for next-generation leaders in other firms." For example, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson Controls, and Kraft. Non-profits include the Drucker Foundation, UNICEF, and the U.S. Marine Corps.

With regard to the U.S.M.C., Jon Katzenbach is quoted in a footnote to Appendix B: "Their mantra is simple and compelling and I first heard it articulated by Brig. General John Ryan (ret.) as follows: `We want all of our leaders - at every level -to focus on only two things: First, mission accomplishment; you will accomplish your mission no matter what...Second, and of equal importance, you will take care of each and every one of your Marines - let me repeat that that, you will take care of each and every Marine in your unit.' I have often thought that if all aspiring young leaders focused on these two things they could go a long way down their journey to becoming admirable leaders at whatever level they gravitate to."

I especially appreciate the provision of self-diagnostics as well as various "Tables" that organize key points within the context of a given chapter. They include Figure 3-1, "Creating a leadership brand statement" (Page 53), Figure 4-3, "Collaborative behaviors" (Page 94), Figure 7-1, (Pages 166-167), and Figure 9-1, "Creating a personal brand" (Page 212). Reader-friendly devices such as these facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review of key points later.

Credit Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood with providing in a single volume just about as much information and counsel as most organizations will need to devise and implement or strengthen a process by which to produce the high-impact leaders it needs. In my opinion, becoming a "leadership brand" is only one result of that process. Moreover, everyone should be involved both as a student and as a mentor. Exemplary companies are proud of their current, hard-earned reputation as a "leadership brand" while keeping in mind that the high quality of their leaders will continue only if they constantly nourish and strengthen the process by which they are developed. For that reason, I strongly recommend that all decision-makers in a given organization read this book, then discuss it with other members of senior management. It would be a serious mistake to try to apply everything that Ulrich and Smallwood recommend but equally irresponsible to have no development process whatsoever. As they suggest when concluding their book, "the journey to leadership brand begins with the self." Bon voyage!

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out Judgment co-authored by Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis, Ram Charan's Know-How and his more recent Leaders at All Levels, Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, The New American Workplace co-authored by James O'Toole and Edward Lawler, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Here's the Quick Review of Leadership Brand: Developing customer-focused leaders to drive performance and build lasting value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT:
Concentrates on leadership as a company endeavor, not as a matter of individual growth.
The authors attempt to get you to analyze your company's leadership from the outside in.

STRENGTHS:
This is truly about leadership development in the company.
The chapter on "Assessing Leaders Against the Brand" is worth the price of the book.
Good research and citations.

WARNINGS:
You may have trouble reading this book from cover to cover.
What's here is far too programmatic to be practical taken whole.
The concept of "Leadership Brand" may get in your way.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you're interested in leadership development, this book should be on your shelf.

Now for the detailed review.

There's not much new about leadership. But every new leadership book attempts to give you something unique, a new way to look at the subject, new things to try, or old things to try in different way. Every book tries to shift your thinking.

Leadership Brand by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood attempts to shift your thinking from studying leaders to studying leadership and toward influencing how leaders connect the company to customers and other "outsiders." They work through the metaphor of a "leadership brand," which they tell us is "the identity of the firm in the mind of the customers made real to employees because of customercentric leadership behaviors."

That quote tells you that this book will stretch your thinking about leadership development in your company. It also tells you that the authors are overanalyzing and, yes, branding the process they describe. Here's a quick chapter outline

Branding Leadership - the authors introduce their concept of Leadership Brand

There are six chapters that lay out the process in step-by-step fashion.

Creating a Leadership Brand Statement
Assessing Leaders Against the Brand - worth reading if you read nothing else
Investing in Leadership Brand
Measuring Return on Leadership Brand
Building Awareness for Leadership Brand
Preserving Leadership Brand

Implications for Personal Brand

There are two Appendices

Criteria for a Firm Brand - worth reading for an overview of things to do
Firms with Branded Leadership

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT

Leadership Brand concentrates on leadership as a company endeavor, not as a matter of individual growth. That makes it different from most leadership books, but similar to recent books like The Leadership Pipeline.

The authors also attempt to get you to analyze your company's leadership from the outside in. This is a powerful concept and one you can use in any company.

If you start thinking about leadership development by thinking about the results that need to be produced, you will see things that you won't see with the "competency" or "trait" approach. You will also be able to identify the ways that leadership at your company needs to be different than leadership at other companies.

STRENGTHS

This is truly about leadership development in the company. It will help you develop a leadership development program or modify what you've got.

The chapter on "Assessing Leaders Against the Brand" is worth the price of the book. This chapter is filled with tools and references that will help you assess leadership and leadership development whether you use the authors' program or not.

I love leadership books that are well-researched. Because the authors describe their thinking and support their points with research, you can judge whether you agree. You can also adapt a point or suggestion more effectively to your own situation.


WARNINGS

You may have trouble reading this book from cover to cover. The prose is absolutely tortured at times.

What's here is far too programmatic to be practical taken whole. Like so many programmatic books, this one lays our multiple, detailed steps and makes it seem like you go through them, bang-bang-bang in a linear fashion.

The fact is that the kind of changes the authors are calling for require changes in multiple company systems and in the culture. It's a generational process that will take years, not months.

The concept of "Leadership Brand" may get in your way. It did for me.

I never understood how a "leadership brand" was different than the culture and values of a company. Ultimately I just substituted "culture and values" in my head every time I read "leadership brand." That seemed to work fine.

BOTTOM LINE

If you're interested in leadership development, this book should be on your shelf.

Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood are breaking open an enormously important concept. As the companion "meta" brand to an organization's perceived commercial identity,the intangible asset of a leadership brand is an underappreciated competitive factor today. The idea that leaders should through deliberate means create and refine a brand to hold the reputational assets of what leadership does and means within an organization is new. Yet it will become more important as organizations look to their human capital as the source of sustained competitive advantage. Most organizations today don't realize that leadership can become a branded asset that can help deliver growth and value. I'm specifically going to share this book with my clients who approach leadership development in a haphazard way. This book is an outstanding and original contribution to the leadership literature.

This is not your typical leadership book. Ulrich and Smallwoood have gone beyond repackaging the same old motivational look at leadership. Leadership Brand creates a much broader view of what is required to inculturate a whole organization from the top and link it to strategy. They have done a great job of translating the customer view into management actions and results. As usual, they provide concrete examples, practical steps and tools for making it real to employees and those accountable for results. I'd recommend this book to anyone who is not just a student of leadership, but who is serious about creating lasting impact and value for their organization.

I spent the weekend reading this book and loved it. Really. I think this is their best book--it was accessible; it gave great new insights that I hadn't considered; and I really liked the tools they used. I'm going to use this book a lot in the work I'm doing. These guys are great! Kendall

It's easy to pick out what makes a particular brand distinct and valuable... Apple, Costco, Wal-mart all have a definite public perception that drives their operation. In the book Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, the authors contend that each company also has a "leadership brand" that helps drive that public perception and that enables the company and employees deliver on those expectations.

Contents:
Branding Leadership; The Case for Building a Leadership Brand; Creating a Leadership Brand Statement; Assessing Leaders Against the Brand; Investing in Leadership Brand; Measuring Return on Leadership Brand; Building Awareness for Leadership Brand; Preserving Leadership Brand; Implications for Personal Brand; Criteria for a Firm Brand; Firms with Branded Leadership; Notes; Index; About the Authors

Ulrich and Smallwood do a good job in changing the way that an organization's leaders are normally viewed. Using the "brand" concept, building and promoting leaders is based on an underlying element that lends a continuity to how the company performs and delivers in the marketplace. These types of leaders are the ones that allow a company to consistently lead their market niche over a long period of time. It's obviously not a "quick-fix" solution to a company that's failing. You don't just decide "here's our leadership brand, so lead in this way" one Monday morning. Using the measured approach outlined here, it's possible to start to attract and promote the type of person that will complement the core message of your company.

It looks like Dave and Norm have, once again, offered up some forward thinking, thoughtful, pragmatic, relevant views and approaches to Leadership. Thinking of Leadership in Brand terms is, in itself, novel - and spot-on given changing market and customer dynamics. Leadership Brand will be a must read for every C-level leader.

An excellent book and guide for leaders that want to stick out of the pack and distinguish themselves with a world-class leadership style from the outside in. Fully packed with diagnostics, questions and practices, "Leadership Brand" is a must for experienced leaders and those that want to get there fast. This is one of those "sticky" books that I cannot just put back onto my book shelf. I wonder what comes next?

Legendary organizational theorist James March once called leadership a "bogus concept." His disparaging label definitely applies to the fuzzy material masquerading as leadership on the shelves of most bookstores. In Leadership Brand, Ulrich and Smallwood avoid this trap. Their "brand" metaphor is useful in at least two ways. First, it links leadership development to a business concept most people understand: brand development. This makes the ideas more concrete. Second, it follows logically from Ulrich and Smallwood's recent emphasis on intangibles, the non-financial assets that account for nearly half of a publicly traded company's market capitalization. Powerful brands epitomize intangible value, but leadership is perhaps the king of intangibles, since it drives all other organization capabilities. Linking the two concepts -- leadership and brand -- is a nice touch. Ulrich and Smallwood are developing an impressive stream of related work, of which Leadership Brand is the latest and perhaps best exemplar.