Ignore reputation at your peril
Corporate reputation is critical, yet 67% of board directors fail to speak up in the face of entirely foreseeable crises.
Financial crises, business collapses, cover-ups - these are just some of the issues threatening trust in businesses. So what can leaders do to safeguard their reputation? For Board Agenda, Andrew Kakabadse and Nada Kakabadse draw from their research to show how those in governance positions need to have their ear to the ground to maintain and protect trust in their company.
Our ongoing research and everyday observations show that the global corporate environment is increasingly scarred by financial crises, business collapses, cover-ups and abusive management behaviour.
In the process, many firms’ legitimacy to operate declines as leadership and organisational reputation spirals into freefall. The accompanying capacity to attract resources and invest in a sustainable future also becomes progressively untenable.
With such volatility in the markets, the importance of enhancing the entity’s reputation is tantamount to all other priorities.
As noted by The Reputation Institute in 2018, intangible factors account for 81% of a public company’s value, while a 1% increase in reputation yields a 2.6% increase in market capitalisation.