CEO Branding: Between Theory and Practice — Case Studies of Israeli Corporate Founders

This is the first interdisciplinary study to empirically test a theoretical model described in 2013 by Bendisch, Larsen, and Trueman, regarding the CEO branding process—by comparing three founder CEO brands in Israel. The findings validate the model and display strongly perceived “authenticity” in each case study, strengthening the reliability of the CEO brand. The study clearly shows that each of these successful CEO brands has: a clear brand identity, built on the alignment of its human identity and its managerial identity; a strong CEO brand reputation, built on its human reputation and aligned managerial reputation; clear congruence between the CEO brand identity and reputation, producing a distinct, differentiating CEO brand positioning leading to CEO brand equity. These findings, along with stakeholders’ internalization of CEO Brand Reputation values, produce stakeholder positive perceptions of the company—largely through the central role of the business media in the process of CEO branding. Surprisingly, none of these founder CEOs had any prior intention of creating a CEO brand. This study also offers a clear, detailed replication methodology for studying other types of CEOs, in other countries/cultures.