The science, art and skill of brand management are something few possess. Requiring a polymatic mixture of identity, marketing, communications, artistic/creative, leadership, business, technological, financial, planning, statistical, and political skills (to name a few), brand management has ultimate impact on a firm's greatest asset: its brand.

Brand management and brand strategy skills take a lifetime for an individual to gain exposure to, acquire and develop (if at all), and require constant evolution via continuous education and training.

One of the more important aspects involves "management" both in terms of resources and leadership. Resource management can be taught, but leadership is a much more difficult and evasive skill to teach and includes motivating, inspiring, innovating, and decision-making under dynamic and pressured conditions (where brand managers must thrive).

This article goes to the brand's front lines to examine the nature of brand management--especially the implications of brand decisions on a firm's success, the framework for best practice decision-making structure, and the consequences of poor brand management and leadership. It also explores traps awaiting brand management-- both traditionally and regarding Online/the Internet.

Finally, Brand Management is not a democracy explores several management myths and new age trends regarding "open/boundryless management" that have wreaked havoc on many small and global brands--and why they have done so.

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“Make sure global strategic leadership for the brand is identified clearly, staffed well, and empowered. Although listening is a key skill in global marketing, business is not a democracy. The global category wars are won only with decisive and powerful generals at the helm." (B. Kirk)