Calls Personality types fall in and out of fashion. During the boom years of the 1990s, flashy and visionary business leaders were in vogue; in the recession that followed, quiet, nose-to-the-grindstone executives seemed to be more in style. AT&T had a long history of alternating between the two types: John deButts, an outgoing, garrulous CEO, was followed by the introverted and taciturn Charlie Brown, who in turn was succeeded by the energetic and gregarious Jim Olson, who was followed by the quiet and thoughtful Bob Allen, the charismatic Arm- strong, and finally the folksy Dorman. Depending on your assessment of each CEO's tenure, you could make a case that each either fit or mismatched the particular circum- stances in which the company found itself. But I think the real lesson here is the importance of developing and cultivating a public persona for CEOs that reflects their true character. The price of being a CEO is the loss of anonymity. Like it or not, CEOs have become the public personification of their company. Inter- nal and external stakeholders look to them for clues about the com- pany itself. How people see the CEO in large measure molds their attitudes toward the company. To a company's public relations coun- sel, the CEO is not only the boss but a corporate asset that needs to be protected and exploited. While it may strike some as immodest or self-aggrandizing, CEOs should approach the task of managing their public persona as seri- ously as they would the task of managing any other corporate asset. First, based on a thoughtful and candid analysis of their personal strengths and weaknesses, they should select the core attributes for which they want to be known. None of the executives I served were introspective enough to do this by themselves. Some, like Bob Allen, recoiled at any hint of "han- dling." But when we captured their voice in the messages we devel- oped for them, they recognized it. And when we selected communications channels that were suited to their strengths, they felt comfortable