How Can a Corporate Brand Minimize “Key Person” Risk?

A dynamic leader can be a company’s greatest asset—until they’re not.

A visionary founder or high-profile executive can drive growth, attract investors, and set a compelling narrative in the market. But when a company’s brand becomes too closely tied to an individual, it creates an often-overlooked vulnerability. After all, if that leader steps away, what happens to the company’s perceived value?

Organizations that fail to prepare for this transition may face uncertainty, skepticism, or even a total loss of confidence. The cause? “Key Person” risk that wasn’t addressed in time.

What is “Key Person” Risk?

Originally known as “Key Man” risk, “Key Person” risk refers to the potential business disruption and loss of value that occurs when a company is overly dependent on one or a few individuals—whether a visionary founder, a rainmaking executive, or a leader with deep institutional knowledge. In B2B organizations, this risk can affect investor confidence, succession planning and long-term growth.

Fashion firms with a celebrity designer, for example, or asset management firms with a star investment manager, are particularly vulnerable. Yet even large global firms can be exposed.

Wondering if your organization has to worry about “Key Person” risk? Here are four key questions to use when evaluating whether your brand is built around the company and its value proposition—or just one individual.

The Four Questions for Determining if You Have “Key Person” Risk

1. Do key messages address the breadth, depth or specialization of the team’s expertise or just the experience of one person?
2. Have you developed—and communicated—a strong firm culture that does not depend on a “cult of personality”?
3. Do communications such as marketing collateral, press releases, websites, videos and emails, feature multiple people at the company or just the Key Person?
4. Is it clear that the key differentiators—both tangible and intangible—are institutionalized as a framework of the company, and not all based on the talents and reputation of one person?

“Key Person” Cautionary Tales

In late 2019, with his company’s Sprint takeover seemingly secure, T-Mobile US CEO John Legere announced he would be stepping down from his post ahead of schedule. Legere—with his long hair and pink tees and foul mouth—had become synonymous with the T-Mobile brand, particularly among investors. So the news led to serious speculation, even concern for the company. As Bloomberg writer Tara LaChappelle put it, “What is T-Mobile US Inc. without John Legere?“

Although Legere was leaving at the top of his game and had been preparing his replacement for years, commentators saw his departure as a break with the T-Mobile of the past. LaChappele expressed skepticism that the new CEO, Mike Sievert, would be able to continue the rapid growth the company saw under Legere. Karl Bode of Techdirt even speculated that Legere was leaving because he didn’t want to watch T-Mobile become “everything he claims to despise.”

It turned out that T-Mobile, with its high name recognition in a consumer market driven by value, could take the hollowing out of its brand in stride, providing enough investment to fill the void and pivot its positioning. Its stock continued to rise, even as the age of T Mobile as a disruptor brand seemed concluded by Legere’s exit.

Not all brands move on so easily.

Bob Iger, who had built Disney into a global entertainment powerhouse, stepped down as CEO in 2020, handing the reins to Bob Chapek. But Chapek struggled to manage Disney’s evolving media strategy and faced backlash from employees and investors. Under his leadership, Disney’s stock price declined significantly.

In 2022, Iger was unexpectedly brought back as CEO, signaling that investors and the board saw him as essential to the company’s stability and brand strength. Disney’s brand had become so deeply tied to Iger’s leadership that they could not move forward without him; he is not even scheduled to name another successor until 2026.

For companies without T-Mobile’s marketing budget, or the allure of running one of the world’s best-known brands that Disney used to regain their Key Person, the exit of a charismatic or effective CEO poses even bigger problems. Smaller and less well-known companies need ways to avoid the perception that their reputation and credibility rest on one person’s shoulders.

Reducing “Key Person” Risk with Brand

The best way to mitigate “Key Person” risk? A brand strategy that reinforces the firm’s value beyond any one leader.

We have worked with a number of companies that have strong, very well-known founders. It can be a challenge creating a brand for these organizations that isn’t reliant on their reputation. (When the founder is deeply involved in the branding process, it can also require chutzpah!) Yet it needs to be done.

In developing a brand for an asset management client, for example, we focused on the firm’s focused, unwavering investment strategy rather than the fame and acumen of its star founder. This took the emphasis away from the individual and placed it squarely on the firm itself. The underlying message was subtle yet clear: the firm is stronger than any one person.

Companies spend significant time and resources developing succession plans, operating procedures and other strategic business initiatives to ensure that business success does not hinge on one person. But to truly mitigate “Key Person” risk, firms cannot ignore brand strategy. To ensure success, brand and business strategy must be aligned and positioning and messaging must be built around the business and value proposition—attributes that will endure beyond any one leader’s tenure.

In sum: Brands need to make it about the message, not the individual communicating the message.

Want to discuss building your brand to reduce “Key Person” risk? Let’s talk.