I've written before about what I called the "mass exodus of A-players." And it popped back in my head recently as I've been inundated with Google alerts for articles about hiring and firing as we move into economic recovery.

A current survey by Monster.com said that 79% of the workforce will seek new employment once the economy starts growing. That means that some of your employees may leave, but at the same time the pool of potential applicants will be growing.

So what are you going to do to ensure you keep your A-players as well as hire right-fit employees to replace those that leave?
The first part I've addressed a lot. To reiterate a few:

1. Investigate the reality of what employees are thinking/feeling
2. Ensure you set expectations and communicate with employees about how they should live the brand everyday
3. Recognize employees when they do it right

The latter piece, hiring right-fit employees, is not so difficult either if you ensure that the company brand is infused from the get-go. Here are three simple things you can do to better your chances of success:

1. Utilize a hiring template populated with questions tied to your company values and bullet points about what to look for in responses
2. Implement an employee referral program that rewards employees if the candidate gets the job
3. Tailor the job offer in a way that shows the candidate how the job will use his/her strengths to achieve (personal and professional) goals.

Essential characteristics of effective brand-building leaders include: strong beliefs around the brand, an ability to communicate those beliefs as part of a compelling vision for success, and the courage and energy to manage a culture transformation.

How can we forget the memorable scene in The Wizard of Oz when the Cowardly Lion is talking to the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman doing his best to muster up any available courage:

Cowardly Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.
Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow: What's that?
Cowardly Lion: Talk me out of it!

If as a leader you're running low on or never really had any courage, you may be in need of a trip to the Brand Wizard (wouldn't it be nice if there was such a magical being?). If you’re interested in making your brand THE business versus PART of the business then you’ll need a heck of a lot of courage to get it done. Leadership courage is absolutely critical to achieve any brand success!

Leadership needs courage to:

• Confront all levels of the organization with the business reality in order to help others understand the need for change.
• Reallocate resources to fuel the implementation of the brand strategy.
• Make difficult decisions to keep the brand-building momentum alive. In many cases, these are people-related decisions that are in the best interest of the company. It takes courage to make them.

Like the (not-so) Cowardly Lion, now you've got courage. You'll also need another powerful ingredient to drive sustainable brand-building: energy. So, take a long sip of the proverbial Red Bull and start sharing it with others.

Leadership needs energy to:

• Raise the expectations for performance and accountability. Leaders will need to demonstrate consistent focus on aligning the brand strategy and associated behaviors with individual job category behaviors. This energy starts at the top and permeates throughout the organization, infusing accountability in carrying out necessary performance evaluations and assessments. Keep in mind that people respect what you inspect. Have the courage, energy, and focus to consistently inspect.
• Recognize and reward employees who model the required behaviors and deliver the desired brand experiences. Again, leaders must keep the energy level up and stay focused on the art of finding success in others and sharing them throughout the company. 

The best brand-driven leaders in the world are rarely the smartest people in their company or have the most dominating personality, they just know how to muster the courage and tap into the energy necessary to build and sustain the brand.