Executive branding for CEOs and board members.

Why executives need a different approach

A founder can say almost anything about their own company. A CEO, a managing director or a board member usually cannot. You answer to a board, to shareholders or owners, to regulators and often to a communications team. Some of what you know is not yours to share, and some of what you could share would help a competitor more than it helps you.

That is not a reason to stay invisible. Customers, regulators, candidates and partners form a view of a company partly from the people who run it. When those people are respected inside the industry and unknown outside it, the company is harder to introduce and harder to recommend. Executive branding closes that gap without breaking the rules you work under.

Start with an approval map

Before any message or profile, write down who must approve what. Most executive branding fails not on strategy but on a late no from legal or communications. A one page approval map avoids it.

Fill in the template below with your communications lead, your legal counsel and, where relevant, your company secretary. Keep it on file and update it when your role changes.

• What I may say publicly about my own views, and who approves it.
• What I may say about the company, and who approves it.
• What counts as inside information in my role, and who decides.
• Which media, conference and panel invitations I may accept alone, and which need sign-off.
• What I may post on my own profile, and what must go through the company account.
• Who speaks if something goes wrong, and what I do in the first hour.

The three things a search should find

Executives are searched more than they expect, by recruiters, journalists, prospective directors, counterparties and people about to meet them. Three items carry most of the weight.

• A current biography of about one hundred and fifty words, in third person, with scope of responsibility and two or three subjects you can speak on. Use the same text on the company site, conference pages and your profile.
• A professional profile with a clear headline, a short About section and an accurate role description. It should read as a person, not a list of duties.
• One or two pieces of your own thinking: a byline, a talk recording, a considered interview. They show how you reason, which a title cannot.

Board members and non-executive directors

A board member often holds several roles at once, and each organisation describes them differently. The first fix is consistency. Write one biography that covers all current roles, and give the same version to every organisation that asks for one, so searches return one coherent person.

The second fix is a short list of subjects where your judgement is credible, perhaps three. Directors who are known for a few subjects get invited to the right rooms. Directors who are known for everything are rarely called for anything specific.

Where an appointment is not yet public, say nothing until the organisation announces it. Under our NDA we plan around that, and nothing goes out without your written approval.

Quiet visibility in practice

Most executives we speak with do not want to be influencers. They want to be easy to place. That points to fewer, better moments rather than a daily feed. A considered panel. A byline that says something specific. A short, accurate answer to a journalist. A profile that reads well on a phone.

Pace matters too. A rhythm that suits a person with a full calendar is more valuable than a burst of activity that stops. We plan visibility to match the real schedule, and we ask early how much you want and how much you can carry.

What to say, and what to leave out

Executives often assume that being careful means saying nothing. A better rule is to say things that are true, specific and yours, and to leave out what belongs to others. Your views on how a sector is changing, how you make a hard decision, what you look for in people and what you have learned are generally yours. Your company's unreleased numbers, its customers, its disputes and its plans are generally not.

A useful test before any public line: could a competitor, a regulator or a journalist use this against the company? Would I be comfortable if my board read it aloud? If either answer is uncomfortable, take it to the approval route or leave it out.

A checklist to run through

Use this before you spend on anything.

• One current biography, approved, used everywhere.
• A profile whose headline says what you do and for whom.
• Three subjects you will speak on, and three you will not.
• The approval map, signed off by the people it names.
• A search of your own name, reviewed for anything outdated or wrong.
• One planned public moment, chosen because it suits you, not because it is available.