Executive Positioning: What It Is & Why It Matters

Can the brand and image of an executive be used strategically by a company to drive business results?

If you’re Starbucks, the answer is definitely yes.

In the wake of the pandemic, Starbucks stock had fallen more than 20% in three months. Bringing legendary leader Howard Schultz back in as CEO sent a clear message to the market: the company was getting serious about revamping its culture and reimagining its future from the top down.

What is executive positioning?

Executive positioning is the strategic act of leveraging a leader’s brand and reputation, in order to advance key business goals, including growth, customer retention and investment.

Importantly, executive positioning is a collaborative undertaking between a company and an individual leader. On the corporate side, a company consciously “frames” its leaders in order to maximize the benefits to the bottom line. But there’s also an individual component to executive positioning — i.e., how the leader builds and projects their own brand.

While similar to executive branding, executive positioning is less about personal image and more about influencing how the leader is perceived in relation to the company’s goals and mission. At heart, it involves developing and projecting a strong leadership brand that communicates the leader’s values and vision and how that translates to company results.

Ultimately, executive positioning helps build trust and credibility, which can directly influence a company’s reputation, as evidenced by Schultz’s brief return to Starbucks.

If you don’t tell your own story, someone else will. That’s the way it goes.

Why does executive positioning matter?

Executive positioning is important because it can build trust with customers, employees, and investors and help guide industry conversations. By investing in executive positioning, organizations benefit in myriad ways.

Stand out from the competition

In today’s media landscape, it’s difficult for companies to rise above the noise. By putting a spotlight on leaders and their own POVs and passions, companies can separate themselves from the pack of faceless brands.

Attract media attention

Earned media — organic coverage in relevant media outlets like newspapers, websites and podcasts — is the holy grail of public relations efforts. By focusing on executive positioning, companies increase the chances of earned media coverage, since journalists and analysts are more likely to engage with leaders who are vocal and known..

Enhance brand legitimacy

Executive positioning can give a brand more legitimacy, as seen in Schultz’s return to Starbucks. Well-positioned executives are clear signals that companies are stable and mission-focused, which reinforces customer and investor confidence.

Boost employee engagement

Having a clear face and voice at the top of a company also promotes deeper employee engagement. This translates to greater loyalty and buy-in to company mission and values.

This waterfall effect means that visible leadership at the top can have a profoundly positive impact on organizational culture and, by extension, business performance.

Connect with customers and prospects

People don’t buy from faceless corporations. They buy from the people who power them. By prioritizing executive positioning through thought leadership content, earned media, and social posts, brands can build trust and generate interest, opening up new, more organic pathways to engage with customers and prospects alike.

Reach senior leaders and investors

Executive positioning creates credibility among high-level decision-makers and deep-pocketed investors who respond to the power of a strong leadership presence. Positioning executives as thought leaders in particular can be quite lucrative, with IBM’s Anthony Marshall suggesting that thought leadership can deliver a 156% ROI, opening doors to potential partnerships and funding opportunities.

Tell your own story

If you don’t tell your own story, someone else will. That’s the way it goes.

Through intentional executive positioning, companies can control their own narrative — which is especially beneficial during pivots or crisis scenarios. For example, within weeks of Mary Barra becoming CEO of GM in 2014, the company was hit with a major crisis as a faulty ignition switch caused more than 100 deaths. Instead of retreating behind PRs and letting journalists tell the tale, Barra leaned into visible public leadership, detailing a “pattern of incompetence and neglect” that led to the catastrophe. The approach no doubt paid off, since Barra is still at the helm of GM and the company is more profitable than ever.

Examples of strong executive positioning

To give you a better idea of what effective executive positioning looks like beyond Howard Schultz, let’s examine a couple more real-world examples of how companies have leveraged a leader’s brand to drive business results..

Lisa Su, CEO, AMD

An engineer by trade, Lisa Su is regarded as an expert technologist with a finger on the pulse of the future of AI. AMD has leaned into that executive positioning, framing Su (and by extension the company) as a center of the AI revolution. It’s probably no coincidence that the company’s share prices have skyrocketed 150% over the last six months.

Roland Busch, CEO, Siemens

Roland Busch’s executive positioning emphasizes his  deep technical background and extensive R&D experience. He bolsters this by frequently weighing in on the future of technology — think digital twins, AI, and industrial tech.
Siemens has leveraged this framing to cast Busch as an innovative engineer who sees the future and can deliver. After leading the company to its most profitable year ever in 2023, Busch’s contract was extended for five years, a strong indicator that shareholders and the board are responding favorably to his executive positioning.

After you get the executive positioning engine humming, publish and engage consistently to keep the momentum going.

How do you get started with executive positioning?

Like most else in business, success with executive positioning requires careful planning. Follow these steps to get started on the right foot.

Identify goals

What do you and your company want your executive positioning to achieve? Maybe it’s becoming more credible in a specific domain, like AI or sustainability. Or maybe it’s building customer trust or attracting new opportunities. Once you define your goals, you can begin aligning your executive positioning efforts in a way that ensures they amplify your company’s vision and objectives.

Define your target audience

Which groups do you want to influence the most: customers, investors, analysts, the media? Figure out what your ideal audience looks like, what’s important to them, and the problems they care most about, and refine your positioning from there.

Develop your messaging

Next, develop your core messaging framework. Start by identifying the key themes that will define your executive positioning. Maybe you’re keen on cultivating a highly engaged organizational culture and using AI ethically, for example. Once you’ve ironed out these themes, craft content that relays this messaging in memorable and impactful ways, from speeches and presentations to social updates and talking points for media interviews.

Choose channels

Start your executive positioning initiative by focusing on channels you own or control — like LinkedIn, your company’s blog, and your podcast.

Equally important are conferences and speaking engagements — opportunities to share your key messages with a targeted industry audience.

After you’ve built up a presence and established your executive positioning, expand your reach into larger media channels, from traditional business publications like Fortune, Forbes, and TechCrunch, to relevant podcasts.

After you get the executive positioning engine humming, publish and engage consistently to keep the momentum going.

Measure success

It’s important for companies and their leaders to develop success metrics to determine whether you’re achieving your executive positioning goals. At the individual level, that might include media mentions, increasing engagement, or getting invited to speak at more conferences. At the company level, success might equate to metrics like share of voice, brand perception, or even share price. It’s important to track quantitative and qualitative measures of progress and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Best practices for executive positioning

Increase the chances your investment in executive positioning returns dividends by keeping these best practices in mind.

Alignment between brand and leader

Executive positioning works best when it’s a collaborative undertaking between a company pursuing a business goal and one of its leaders who’s eager to burnish their own personal brand. In the absence of either corporate backing or an individual leader who truly craves the spotlight, executive positioning often flounders.

Authenticity

In the age of AI slop, authenticity is more important than ever before. So leaders need to keep the human element front and center. Share personal stories and insights, and make sure your messaging actually sounds like your real-world voice.

Consistency

To stay top of mind, publish content on multiple channels with a steady cadence, maintaining a cohesive narrative. Since 81% of consumers expect consistent experiences across channels, make sure your messaging stays the same.

Strategy

Effective executive positioning isn’t possible without a fleshed-out strategy. For it to work, you need to understand your audience and outline the key themes you’ll tackle in pursuit of your business priorities. This isn’t a sprint; it’s a long-term endeavor, and you need to prepare accordingly.

Support

When done correctly, executive positioning can have a massive impact on your brand,  reputation, and bottom line.

But doing it the right way takes a lot of work.

With so much at stake, it’s worth hiring experts who have a track record of effective executive positioning and can support the heavy lifting. Get in touch to learn more about the easiest way to turn executive positioning into an asset that takes your business to the next level.

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