The real lesson Orville (Redenbacher) taught me was the power of a good brand to trump all rhyme or reason in the marketplace.

It is not easy to build a great brand. It takes leadership to persuade the rest of the company to follow your vision. It takes an artistic sense of proportion and timing. It takes a ruthless willingness to distinguish yourself from competing brands and, hopefully, bury them in the process.

Good brands do three things for highly stressed out consumers: 1. They save time. 2. They project the right message. 3. They provide an identity.

Finding an excuse not to buy a brand can be just as enjoyable as finding an excuse to buy one. That, too, is human nature.

While the importance of a strong brand is widely understood, nothing is as misunderstood in American business as the question of how to use it.

It's not fair, but it's not entirely wrong to presume that the more capable people will come from the better brand.

The real lesson Orville (Redenbacher) taught me was the power of a good brand to trump all rhyme or reason in the marketplace.