Nightly Business Report Presents Lasting Leadership: What You Can Learn from the Top 25 Business People of our Times

7. Managing the Brand

Brand is one of those intangible assets that are vital to a company but hard to measure, like customer satisfaction and good will. Yet a number of the Top 25 leaders have been extraordinarily successful in understanding the value of their brands and leveraging them in creative, profitable ways.

Based on her ability to establish an emotional connection with her audience, Oprah Winfrey, chairman of Harpo Inc. and its group of companies, recognized early on the importance of protecting her brand, which, in her case, is herself. She resisted attempts from outsiders to license her name on a wide variety of products, choosing instead to start up her own magazine and cable television channel, among other initiatives. Richard Branson ...