How to Maintain a Corporate Reputation

SynergyBlog has found a great post regarding the importance of corporate reputation – how to earn it and how to maintain it.

Referencing the demise of many corporate reputations, according Edleman Trust Barometer, a number of Britain’s most admired leaders sat down to discuss the maintenance of a good name…

The full transcript of the panel can be found in Management Today. Enjoy the post!

A recent trust survey confirmed that management has lost public respect. It’s not just individual businesses in the firing line, but business itself. MT brought together Most Admired leaders and other practitioners to debate the issue of how to hang onto your good name…

MATTHEW GWYTHER – Where better to start on a discussion of reputation than with Shakespeare? Iago may be a thoroughly disreputable character, but he has some sound words (Othello, III.3) on the value of character:

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,

Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.

The concept of reputation or honour was around for thousands of years before Fred Goodwin. But nowadays it has moved from the individual to the corporate realm, to the point where it is one of the most important things that faces business organisations.

We’re interested in corporate reputation today – not only of individual businesses but of business generally and how this may have been affected by the downturn. Certainly, inasmuch as it is aligned to the subject of trust in business, it has taken a battering – as a recent Edelman Barometer of Trust survey confirmed.

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TRUST… and More Trust.

This is a piece from the Academy Leadership that SynergyBlog feels they could have written themselves. It’s that good.

We’ll not pontificate. Please read, and in doing so, may your organizations and relationships thrive.

Enjoy. Trust… and be Trusted!

From the Academy Leadership: In its simplest form, trust can be described as the belief that those on whom we depend will meet our positive expectations of them. While this may sound the same as confidence, they are different. Trust is not always rooted in past experience with others, whereas confidence generally results from specific experiences with people and is built on reason and fact. In contrast, trust is based in part on faith. We sometimes give our trust in spite of evidence that suggests we should feel some caution, if not outright suspicion, about relying on another.

Business realities now require that more power be given to those with close contacts with very discriminating consumers. No longer can the few powerful people at the top make all decisions and take all actions. Most companies now realize that they must provide people at lower levels increasing latitude in order to react promptly to demanding market forces and to progress and prosper. Thus, they must trust people to do the right thing. To do otherwise could well spell disaster for the future. Leaders can lead only to the extent that they are allowed to lead by their followers. When people believe that they are not trusted, or lack trust in their leaders, they will actively or passively resist what the team is trying to accomplish. Thus, a leader’s options are limited by excessive and ongoing mistrust among employees.

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Obama Administration: More Confidence (T-R-U-S-T) Required to End Recession

President Obama’s director of the National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers, spoke to a forum on Friday and said that the nation’s economic crisis has led to an “excess of fear” among Americans that must be broken to reverse the downturn.

Mr. Summers stated that, “Fear begets fear,” and that “is the paradox at the heart of the financial crisis.”

“It is this transition from an excess of greed to an excess of fear that President Roosevelt had in mind when he famously observed that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself,” Summer said. “It is this transition that has happened in the United States today.”

Summers spoke amid new signs of a deepening recession. The U.S. trade deficit plunged in January to the lowest level in six years as the economic downturn cut America’s demand for imported goods, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The economic adviser said it’s still too early to gauge the broad impact of the president’s recovery program.

“But it is modestly encouraging that since it began to take shape, consumer spending in the U.S., which was collapsing during the holiday season, appears, according to a number of indicators, to have stabilized,” Summers told the Brookings Institution, a think tank.

Summers was asked by a member of the audience what the nation’s business community could do to help speed the recovery.

“What we need today is more optimism and more confidence,” Summers said.

SynergyBlog agrees – and we’ve decided that we are going to do our part to end the recession by not allowing it to self-fulfill.

We need to establish trust in the marketplace and in our organizations. To do that we must do the following:

1. Deliver Excellence in the products we make and services we provide. Every time.
2. Exude a level of Goodwill that can be detected in the things we do and say. Is it that difficult to help a neighbor or a colleague in need?
3. Maintain the highest level of Ethical Standards in your industry sector. Promote integrity in word and deed.
4. Create Value for our clients, constituents, strategic partners, and colleagues. Ask yourself daily, “Have I delivered on my brand promise?”
5. Listen to the needs of stakeholders and act on what you hear. Responsiveness can make the difference between success and failure in these economic times.

By continuing to exemplify trustworthiness in the marketplace, we fuel the engine of confidence in the economy. One business at a time.

See the full AP story here.

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Breakthrough: Nine Steps to Double Your Brand Equity in an Uncertain Economy – Part I

In a faltering economy, Brand Trust is the most powerful tool corporations, nonprofit organizations, and even individuals, possess.

To establish a trusted brand means more than to present pretty logos and fancy slogans.

Your brand foundation should be one that is authentic; built on the integrity of your products and services, and recognized for the passion and value you and your organization bestows upon the world.

Follow these nine steps to create the perfect brand pitch. Your brand equity and the opportunity to monetize your brand reach will double within the next twelve months.

We bet our brand on it!

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TED: Daniel Goleman Asks Why We All Aren’t Good Samaritans

As a long-time admirer of TED, SynergyBlog is pleased to have happened upon this inspirational piece from Daniel Goleman. Dr. Goleman studies, writes, and lectures on Emotional Intelligence along with Case Western Reserve University’s Dr. Richard Boyatzis.

As you listen to Dr. Goleman, perhaps it will do your heart good to reflect on all of the times you were a Good Samaritan (we know you have been).

Did, in those moments, you become the leader you have always wanted to be? Did “Brand You” become so much more than just a slogan? It’s not to late to bring those moments of pure goodness back in our words and deeds, both inside and outside of our corporate lives. We can bring them back, and we should. Again and again.

Please click here to watch Dr. Goleman. Enjoy!

P.s. There’s also a wonderful talk by Elizabeth Gilbert on creative genius… brilliant!

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Building a Trusted Brand: Keynote to an International Nonprofit

Synergy Marketing Strategy & Research, Inc. CEO Rachel Daniel delivered a keynote address at the OIC International Conference of Affiliates on Feb. 24, 2009. Daniel addressed board chairs and program directors from sub-Saharan African countries, along with OIC International board and staff, international diplomats, and U.S. dignitaries. Executives from U.S. business, civic, educational, and governmental organizations were also on hand.

The speech was designed to outline an innovative strategy for success in building a strong OIC International brand in challenging economic times. Daniel made brand trust a focal point for OIC International growth over the next 40 years, building on the organization’s success in providing individuals in underserved countries with the education, skills and confidence they need to help themselves, their households, and their communities.

“What is most important for our organization,” says Dr. Christiana Thorpe, the Chief Electoral Commissioner of Sierra Leone, “Is that we make the commitment to our brand. We are excited to go back to our country and implement change.”

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Bankers Vow to Build Trust with Increased Lending

A fascinating headline in the AP tonight. The top bankers in the U.S. are now concentrating on rebuilding the public trust.

We are certainly going to be watching. In our opinion, there is nothing more important in this crisis than the public trust – and it has been violated with impunity.

The leaders of our financial institutions would be well-served to learn a valuable lesson. Stakeholder trust that you earn by leading with integrity, making sound business decisions, and exuding compassion and respect to valued stakeholders is far more important than short-term profits.

Lead. Thrive. Trust and be Trusted!

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Restoration of Consumer Confidence a Necessary Ingredient for Recovery

Here is an interesting piece by Dr. Anthony DiBella about the need for trusted leadership. Enjoy. Thrive. Trust and be Trusted.

In their efforts to manage the ups and downs of the business cycle, economists often talk about the need for soft landings. During the past six months, what seemed like that has turned into a major crash that continues to spiral downward. When will the tunnel digging end? How do we create a financial phoenix and turn the nose of our economic flight upwards again?

It should be clear by now that the $750-billion bailout package passed by Congress last year was a case of don’t just stand there, do something. In a society that values action over reflection, there are major pressures on our politicians to act (fire first, aim later). Action is vital, but if not guided by rigorous and valid analysis, can cause more harm than good. The bailout money given to the financial sector was intended to free up credit. Instead, it’s been used primarily for private rather than social gain, and we are worse off now than before.

With Capitol Hill and Smith Hill planning more initiatives, we need to think clearly about underlying causes and tipping points. Many pundits claim they know what will get us moving again, to turn our economic ship, to grow rather than regress. Some say it will require an upturn in the housing market, others say employment. The Fed thought that lowering interest rates would do the trick, but rates now are as low as they will ever be unless the Fed wants to give us money for free. Conservatives and libertarians think the times call for tax cuts.

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Trust is a Competency

This article is brought to you by one of our heroes: Mr. Stephen M. R. Covey.

As we develop Synergy’s Return on Trust model, we highlight examples of increased trust driving business performance, customer loyalty, and employee passion – even in our most difficult economic times. Enjoy. Thrive. Trust and Be Trusted.

“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
– Marcel Proust, French novelist

One of the most significant things today’s leaders and organizations can do to achieve and sustain superior performance is to look at “trust” through new eyes.

Typically, trust is assumed, taken for granted, misunderstood and severely underestimated. As the French proverb says, “Fish discover water last.” In other words, fish are so immersed in the presence of water that they are unaware of its existence – until the water gets too low or becomes polluted. In the same way, people discover trust last. We become so immersed in the presence of trust that we take its existence for granted – until the trust gets dangerously low or polluted. Then we become painfully aware of the effects of its poor quality or absence.

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The Carnival of Trust

This Carnival of Trust is brought to you by Ian Brodie, and our friends at Sales Excellence.

This month sees the publication of the 10th Edelman Global Trust Barometer – and it makes for frightening reading. Across their sample of “informed publics” in 20 countries across the globe, 62% of 25-64 year olds reported that they trust corporations less now than they did a year ago. In absolute terms, in the US, trust in banks for example, has fallen to 36% among 35-64 year olds; with trust in automotive companies even lower at 33%. In the UK, even trust in “people like me” dropped 13 points to 38%.

Set against this backdrop of falling trust levels, it would be easy to fill this months Carnival with lurid tales of corporate misdeeds and breaches of trust. And in the aftermath of the recent Madoff, Merill Lynch, Blagojevich, Satyam and other scandals we have no shortage of candidates.

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