Wal-Mart's brand -- "everyday low prices" -- is a household phrase. It's no coincidence, then, that Wal-Mart's leaders are known for relentlessly managing the company's costs. Or take Apple, Inc. -- known for innovation and sleek design. Similarly, Apple's leaders are recognized for creative thinking that produces leading-edge products and services.

Do your leaders embody the promises your company makes to customers and investors? If they do, then your company has a leadership brand that sets your company's leaders apart and differentiates your organization to customers and investors.

Underlying the concept of leadership branding is an important distinction between leaders and leadership. Good leaders, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood emphasize, come and go, but a company's leadership must deliver results over the long haul in order to keep customers and investors satisfied.

In Leadership Brand, Ulrich and Smallwood explore the advantages of a branded approach to corporate leadership. They use hard data to show that a company whose leadership embodies its unique brand will achieve stronger market value than competitors. In other words, there is real value in building a leadership brand, and now the authors have created the first step-by-step guide for doing it.

Ulrich and Smallwood structure the book around six key steps for building a leadership brand, with individual chapters devoted to the core concepts of how to:

• build a case for leadership brand
• assess leaders against the brand
• measure leadership brand investment
• build leadership brand awareness in key stakeholders

Each chapter is packed with practical tools and assessments to help board members, senior executives, HR professionals, and others charged with building brands and leadership evaluate progress along the way, as a leadership brand is created and implemented.

What do you want the leaders in your company to be known for?

Dave Ulrich is Professor of Business at the University of Michigan and a cofounder of The RBL Group. He has published twelve books and more than a hundred articles, and has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200.

Norm Smallwood is cofounder of The RBL Group, an education and consulting firm that helps organizations and leaders deliver value. He is coauthor of four books and more than a hundred articles.

Ulrich and Smallwood previously collaborated on the top-selling Results-Based Leadership (1999) and How Leaders Build Value (2003).