Thinking Outside the Ball Park: Marketing Leaders

Abstract

As both Tony Blair and David Beckham have shown in their own peculiar ways, great invisible leadership is a contradiction in terms. Greatness is a function of exposure and hence, to be recognized as great, it needs to be communicated to many. Research shows that the greatest celebrities on earth are athletes, actors, and entertainers, not politicians or business-people. More often than not, the greatest sporting celebrities are also the leaders in their sporting discipline and, when playing in a team environment, also the captains of their teams. They maximize their earning capacity by leveraging their celebrity status in order to sell their brand to the rest of the world. Equally, business leaders can do the same.