(CNN) -- Faced with a choice between a cash incentive or signing up for a hard day's work, which would you pick?

Shoe retailer Zappos.com is famous for bribing prospective employees to turn down a job offer, on the theory that we should only work in a place we love.

This year, CEO Tony Hsieh is testing whether this kind of corporate culture can work beyond the warehouse of this one quirky online company.

Hsieh is trying to spark a Delivering Happiness movement, named after his recent book, which expands on how, and why, companies who care about their bottom line should make employees feel like a family.

Hsieh made a name for himself at Zappos by prioritizing customer service to an extreme, and his in-house employment policies have gotten at least as much attention.

To read the full article on cnn.com please click here>

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Article originally published in South Africa's leading HR publication, HR Future where Brett is an International monthly columnist on employer branding. click here for the published article.

This article provides some insights into "The role of leadership in employer branding as featured in Brett's new book Employer Brand Leadership - A Global Perspective.

Build employer brand leadership capabilities in your company

The role of an employer brand manager is increasing in scope as the discipline evolves. As the line between the role of human resource, marketing and communication professionals in talent attraction and retention continues to blur, employer brand managers are being empowered to deliver responsibilities from all three functions.

In 2006 when I published my book, ‘Your Employer Brand attract-engage-retain,’ the position of an employer brand manager was virtually unheard of. Today companies such as Nike, Ernst & Young, UnitedHealth Group, Vestas Wind Systems, Starbucks, IBM, Ahold, E.ON, Deloitte, Nordea, DONG Energy, HP and Deutsche Bank now all have dedicated employer brand managers focused on developing their company’s  employer brand.
 

Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM
To assist employer brand leaders to better manage their cross functional responsibilities I developed the Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM to ensure a consistent approach to employer brand management. (see figure 1).
 

Figure 1: Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM

^{(click image to enlarge)}

KEY FUNCTIONS
The key functions contained in the Employer Brand Leadership Capability Framework^TM include:

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by Brett Minchington MBA and Dr David Kippen PhD

Brett and David will be presenting at the upcoming 2010 Employer Branding & Reputation Summit in Paris on 18 November 2010 click here for further details>

What do we talk about when we talk about leadership? Too often, we talk about personality, charisma and charm. Too often we talk about the type of traits that defines leadership as a very senior-executive, authoritarian affair.

In this article, we provide a somewhat different definition of leadership: “To lead is to decide.” Under this definition leadership has nothing to do with how many reports one has. It simply means having the opportunity and responsibility to make decisions that matter to others, on behalf of the organization.

To choose such a limited definition throws into relief some of the essential elements we define as branded leadership. It clearly shows that, at some points in our careers (and life), virtually all of us are leaders. As leaders, we all need to possess some fundamental skills such as strategic thinking, coaching, problem solving and managing change that too frequently are never taught at middle-management levels.

A brand leadership culture results in leadership status earned by doing, not by a hierarchical title. This means that your most effective leader may be the one serving your customers right now. It also means the process of training leaders needs to push further down into the organization than it typically does today. But take the challenge, think about leadership differently, and significant organizational benefits will be quick to surface at every level.

 

Defining branded leadership

So, what does it take to engender branded leadership? It begins with re-defining what it means to lead - and sharing that definition throughout the organization.

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Cover story in Business Week looks at the leadership practices at GE and discusses whether they are fit for the current environment or whether the approach at companies like Google and IBM are the way companies need to innovate in developing their leadership talent.

To read the full article please click here>

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