"You don't say ?"
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Books
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Reputation's DNA
JFB
a curmudgeon's credentials
Opinions
to challenge yours
Reputation has become the poster-child term for the varied mix of soft-values for which today’s CEOs are held publicly accountable. Fundamentally, reputation refers to a combination of moral ands other personal traits that make one the kind of person one is.
But today reputation like other once strong and specific adjectives – i.e. best, better, first, quality, has been so overused, misused and abused that it has become ambiguous and arbitrarily invoked as a sort of shorthand description to make a point leveraging pro forma advice by consultants
For a chief executive reputation is of consequence, not only fore the implicit moral authority conveyed but because it establishes the character of the company—not to overlook the psychological satisfaction of being regarded well by peers.
The process of gaining a positive reputation is as complex as curing the common cold, notwithstanding the 24-hour remedies offered by consultants. It must be earned not manufactured by practice and commitment
A corporate, or CEO's, reputation is driven by at least 22 benchmarks and a dozen or so subsets.
They are:
Personal Attributes
The CEO persona
Dress, carriage, language, personality, comportment
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Ability to be candid
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Capacity to listen |
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Nature of leadership with shareholders, peers, employees, Wall Street cognescenti, neighbors, staff, customers, press. |
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How criticism is handled |
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Management style open, secretive, participatory, command-and-control |
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Personal accessibility |
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Personal visibility |
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Conduct in non-business (controlled) venues |
Comfortable or uneasy
Professional Attributes
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Vision |
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Clarity, relevance, realism, breadth |
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Career record |
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Current performance |
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Peer status |
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respect; seen as a leader or a follower |
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Staff cohesion/respect |
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Quality of strategic plans |
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short or longterm;conservatiuve vs bold |
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Relationship with colleagues/fellow officers feality, collegiality, depth of talent, share spotlight building careers |
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Initiative |
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Innovative, risk-taking vs by-the-boo, risk adverse |
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Analyst relations |
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Communications style |
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Speaking style |
Note: Perceptions of these soft values are what ultimately count heavily.Facts do not necessarily create or change impressions. Truth likes in old saw that one does not get a second chance toi make a first impression.Certainly if the evidence is not there perceptions can not be managed.