How Boards can Build Reputational Resilience

paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, once said: “reputation has a habit of arriving on foot and departing on horseback”

n the recent years, the deluge of high-profile corporate scandals and turmoil have affected businesses, their leaders and in some instances, industry sectors. Some of these scandals have posed a genuine threat to the survival of companies. 

With news and information traveling at the speed of a click due to technological advancements and increased participation on social platforms, consumers, businesses, investors, regulators to governments, are consuming information and making decisions in real time. Public scrutiny, trending conversations and emerging incidents can have a significant impact and on a company’s reputation. 

Reputation risk, a top strategic business risk, is now a board priority – especially in the current business landscape where most companies are stuck in a reactive mode. We are beginning to see growing citizen advocacy on the ‘proactive’ role that Board’s and CEOs should play in external communications, against issues such as pay ratio reporting, gender inequality, shrinking CEO tenures and the ‘celebrity leader’. 

How a company acts and communicates can have significant long-term impact on their reputation. Without a plan or strategy, companies will find themselves on the backfoot in the event of an issue or crises. At the Talk, we strive to find solutions to these pressing issues through a dialogue on how boards can:

• Address misconceptions that communications is only for publicity, a company’s reputation is one of the most valued corporate assets.
• Foster a better understanding and acceptance on the overall value of proactively building reputation resilience.
• Distinguish between issues which might blow up into a genuine reputation crisis compared to others that are just day to day turbulence.
• Determine the readiness levels of organisations in managing crisis and issues, and the importance of having a plan and a narrative.
• Create a balance between getting the right balance of control.

Learning Outcome

Identify the 3Ps — Purpose, Purview & Plan in building reputational resilience: 

• Defining the goals and outcomes.
• Roles and responsibilites of different parties within the organisation as well senior management and board oversight requirements.
• Development of a strategic & comprehensive reputation framework that integrates the overall business, the risks and its stakeholders.