Since February 2022, business leaders have noticeably reduced their presence on the public agenda. The situation resembles a stone with a warning: if you go left, you will lose your business; if you go right, you will fall under sanctions. However, right now there is a strong demand for a confident voice of a leader who will calm and show points of support for others. Those who respond to this request will be able to win the audience's trust in themselves and their company. We tell you why a business leader needs to remain in the public sphere and what challenges of the time he will have to respond to.
In Russia, business leaders traditionally rarely communicate with the public on behalf of the company - we have only a few Elon Musks who sit on Twitter. And in vain, because promoting the personal brand of the company's leader is far-sighted and profitable. We talked about this and much more with Alexey Firsov, CEO of the CSP "Platforma" and Vice President of RASO.
4 Compelling Reasons to Promote the CEO of a Company
1. Emotional connection with a personal brand
Companies spend a lot of effort to create an emotional jamaica mobile database perception in the target audience. However, people still respond better to people rather than to an abstract brand logo. Therefore, in B2B, it is faster and more effective to establish an emotional connection with the audience through the business leader.
"Why do we all know Elon Musk, but don't know who runs, say, Adidas? I think it's because in the B2C segment, a strong product brand covers both the manager and the corporate brand. But in the B2B segment, the main focus in the public sphere is on the top person."
Alexey Firsov, General Director of CSP Platforma and Vice President of RASO.
The times are passing when factors such as the scale and aggressiveness of a company came to the forefront when forming attitudes towards it. Now consumers and clients pay attention to corporate culture, the brand's value position, and the use of "soft leadership" tools. Such subtle moments are best conveyed through the company's leader.
2. Rapid formation of trust
Trust in a brand usually takes a long time to build and requires significant investment. At the same time, society shows interest in top management, the public expects them to make bright statements and take a clear position on important issues. The leader who meets these expectations will be able to quickly earn people's trust, and then convert it into trust in the company.
"Through the personal brand of the leader we understand the image of the company much faster; on the other hand, changing a personal brand requires much less investment than a corporate one. A personal image is more flexible and mobile, it is easier to influence the perception of large structures through it. Figuratively speaking, it is faster and easier to understand Igor Ivanovich Sechin than the background of such a large structure as Rosneft."
Alexey Firsov, CEO of CSP Platforma and Vice President of RASO
3. Communicating deeper characteristics of the company
A news story states a fact. A leader, through direct speech, consolidates the deeper meanings of what is happening and thereby conveys the qualitative characteristics of the business that cannot be described in a press release. If the news is usually addressed to the present, then the leader can push off from it and go further - to design the future, to talk about big goals.