Corporate Reputation

Praise For Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation

"In a sea of business books, Corporate Reputation is a beacon of light for all leaders and future leaders looking for direction in the treacherous waters of a volatile business environment. It delivers a message that's provocative, insightful, and needs to be heard."
—Heidi Henkel Sinclair, Director of Communications, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

"Every CEO, senior executive, and, increasingly, board member now appreciates the importance of building and protecting a company's reputation. Anyone who depends upon or shapes a company's reputation—customers, employees, news media, NGOs, and bloggers—will benefit from reading Dr. Gaines-Ross's book and will learn more about the influence they wield over corporate reputations."
—Dr. Robert G. Eccles, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School

"At a time when companies are facing unprecedented reputation crises comes a timely primer from Dr. Gaines-Ross that tells us what companies need to do to bring their reputations back from the brink. The book's 12-step reputation recovery model captures what we know about effective crisis management, and brings the process to life with a host of detailed case examples. It's right on the mark!"
—Dr. Charles Fombrun, CEO, Reputation Institute

"Finally, a book that clearly, realistically, and compellingly explains how companies of all types and sizes can protect and restore an invaluable company asset—corporate reputation. Brilliant insights and practical solutions leap from each page! A definite must-read for business professionals everywhere."
—Anthony Sardella, CEO, Evolve24 and Adjunct Professor at the Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xiii

Part I

Chapter 1 Reputation Matters 3

A Tipping Point 3

Reputation Advantage 6

Chapter 2 Reputation Loss 11

Reputation Erosion 11

The New Reputation Rules of Engagement 15

Chapter 3 Second Acts 25

Reputation Rising 25

One Step at a Time 28

Part II

Chapter 4 Rescue 37

Step 1: Take the Heat—Leader First 42

Step 2: Communicate Tirelessly 53

Step 3: Don’t Underestimate Your Critics and Competitors 65

Step 4: Reset the Company Clock 68

Conclusion 72

Chapter 5 Rewind 73

Step 5: Analyze What Went Wrong and Right 77

Step 6: Measure, Measure, and Measure Again 88

Conclusion 94

Chapter 6 Restore 95

Step 7: Right the Culture 98

Step 8: Seize the Shift 106

Step 9: Brave the Media 119

Conclusion 124

Chapter 7 Recover 125

Step 10: Build a Drumbeat of Good News 127

Step 11: Commit to a Marathon, Not a Sprint 133

Step 12: Minimize Reputation Risk 135

Conclusion 143

Part III

Chapter 8 Return to Flight 147

Reputation Loss is All but Inevitable 148

Reputation Recovery Comes With No Expiration Date 150

Reputation Wounds are Often Self-Inflicted 151

New Reputation Perils Lie Ahead 152

Reputation Radar is Not a Luxury 154

Reputation Halos Do Not Make you a Saint 155

Reputation is and Always Will be a Job For CEOs 156

Beyond The Bottom Line 158

Reputation Capital Rules 159

Notes 161

Index 175

"The book is an easy read-which is tough to do when talking about reputation management, trust me I know-and, as the title suggests, the repair process is divided up into 12 different steps." (marketingpilgrim.com, April 3, 2008)

DR. LESLIE GAINES-ROSS is Chief Reputation Strategist for Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm. She is the architect behind landmark research in the areas of CEO reputation and corporate reputation and the www.reputationRX.com Web site. Before joining Weber Shandwick, Dr. Gaines-Ross was the Communications and Marketing Director for Fortune. Her work has appeared in publications including the Financial Times, Fortune, BusinessWeek, the Times of London, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. She is currently on the Executive Advisory Panel of Corporate Reputation Review, an international journal devoted to the management of corporate reputation.

We all know reputation matters. But what do you do if your company should lose its reputation? Would you know the distress signals to look for before crisis strikes? Would you know how to begin to restore a damaged reputation and build an enduring and lasting one? Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation does more than show you how to manage a crisis immediately after an incident, disaster or disclosure. It guides you along the long road back to recovering your company’s lost reputation, and preserving its organization and culture.

Written by Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, one of the world’s most widely acclaimed experts on CEO and corporate reputation, this pioneering work takes you through a 12-step reputation recovery model that any company can customize and apply to rebuild and restore its good name—and prevent it from being tarnished in the first place.

Recognizing the tangible value and good-will created by a company’s reputation, Corporate Reputation:

• Explains why reputation, more fragile than ever, matters to a company’s valuation, well-being, and permission to exist
• Isolates a new stage—reputation recovery—that deserves its rightful place in the reputation-building process
• Identifies the most important steps in recovering reputation
• Explores the roles that corporate leaders play in reputation recovery and sustainability
• Provides a practical, time-tested road map for restoring reputation over the long-term

Losing money is a setback for a company, but losing reputation is a major blow. Corporate Reputation shows how you can keep your reputation strong by rallying the support of employees, consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders, so that your company’s most competitive asset remains alive and well.