Perspecrtive
The Danger Of A Single- Dominant Spokesperson
By Corazon Sefu Wandimi
A founder’ s charisma is rocket fuel, that is until it burns too hot. During the rise of a young company, one magnetic voice can ignite awareness: journalists call back, investors lean in, and customers fall hard for the legend of the lone visionary. Yet hitching an entire reputation to that single“ alpha” also creates a giant point of failure. If the hero stumbles, the whole storyline collapses. Brands built to last sound more like bands than solo acts. Here’ s why a chorus beats a spotlight and how to build yours before you need it.
Personal + Corporate Brands: A Volatile Mix
When the founder monopolises every channel, audiences stop separating the individual from the enterprise. It feels efficient- one face, one back-story, one neat narrative. The problem is volatility. A stray tweet, a nasty court filing or even a routine surgery that takes the leader offline can send the company’ s share price skidding, because the market can’ t quarantine the person from the balancesheet. Further, customers who bought the myth feel personally duped while critics weaponize the gap and watch algorithms amplify the outrage.
Hard Transitions
Succession looks tidy on a slide deck but is brutal when the public has met only one face. A planned retirement suddenly feels like abandonment, while an emergency exit leaves a vacuum rumours rush to fill. Communications teams burn daylight explaining why a“ stranger” is now credible when they should be talking strategy. Firms that routinely rotate leaders in front of cameras glide through change while outfits that don’ t must build a bench in the middle of a storm. The cost isn’ t only reputational- deals stall, talent hesitates and morale wobbles.
Seniority vs Specialism
Vision sells headlines, but depth closes deals. Reporters want an engineer to decode chip shortages, a CFO to unpack debt covenants, and an epidemiologist to interpret trial data. Parade a generalist CEO at every microphone and the commentary starts to sound thin, no matter how brilliant they are. Over time analysts look elsewhere for expertise and label the firm personality-driven rather than competence-driven. Meanwhile, in-house specialists feel sidelined and drift away, hollowing out institutional knowledge the brand actually needs.
Strategic Myopia
Early wins can convince a charismatic founder that intuition equals infallibility. Loyalists climb, dissenters exit, and resources cluster around yesterday’ s big idea. In this scenario, any suggestion to pivot lands like a personal critique, so innovation slows while competitors sprint ahead. The organisation’ s field of vision shrinks to whatever keeps the leader excited while regulatory shifts, consumer habits and emerging tech slide out of frame.
Early-Warning Signs and Building a Resilient Chorus
Trouble announces itself long before headlines explode. Start by watching four signals: if the founder delivers more than 70 percent of earned-media quotes for two straight quarters, the rest of the bench is effectively mute; press releases that recycle the same framing quarter after quarter hint at a creativity bottleneck at the top; neutral brand channels paired with rising negativity on the leader’ s personal feed show audiences beginning to prise“ them” from“ you”; and when new products cluster around the founder’ s pet project while other pipelines stall, the spotlight has narrowed into a blinding glare.
The antidote is to widen that beam. Groom at least three executives across product, finance and operations- for media duty while the sun is shining, then run absence drills that simulate the founder or top leader being offline for 48 hours, two weeks and three months to expose weak spots. Track brand- and leader-sentiment on separate dashboards so you can intervene before personal backlash infects the business. Institutionalise healthy dissent by rotating a“ devil’ s advocate” at board meetings to puncture groupthink, and give specialists space to shine- let engineers host webinars, the HR chief publish op-eds and regional heads front local press. Keep any single speaker beneath that 70 percent share-of-voice ceiling, and you’ ll normalise variety long before crisis forces it.
Bottom line
A founder’ s story can strike the first match, but only a well-rehearsed choir keeps the fire burning. Share the spotlight now and you’ ll build a brand tough enough to weather scandals, leadership transitions and the next curveball the market throws your way.
Corazon Sefu Wandimi is the Managing Director of Edelman Kenya. You can commune with her on this or related issues via email at: Corazon. Sefu @ edelman. com.
12 MAL66 / 25 ISSUE