As a brand director for a major CPG company with over 13 years experience manging and developing brands, I don't fully agree with this article.  While I do agree that brand promises need to be fully integrated and infused into everything a company thinks and does, I do not agree that business leaders should drive the brand strategy and management.  I strongly feel it still needs to reside and be managed within Marketing.  Contrary to the article, I believe Marketing shouldn't just be about advertising and communications to stimulate awareness and demand.  It needs to be much much broader and encompass the who, why, and what is being served to the consumer.  This is even referenced in the American Marketing Association.definition of marketing: the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
As Marketing should best understand the consumer and its wants and needs, so should brand strategy and management emanate from Marketing.  Once the strategy is set, it should then drive the brand promise and be lived by the entire organization.  As a result, Marketing should be both Internal and external to be fully effective.  Internal to set the brand strategy and external in terms of advetrtising and communication.  While brand strategy and management should be the rudder that steers the ship, I feel Marketers are best equipped to lead it as they have the best pulse on the consumer...not the business leaders.