The underestimated power of reputation

I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague yesterday on a topic that is of concern to all PR and marketing people but of very little concern to the C-level folks. That would be reputations. Now of course if you were to ask a CEO how important they viewed reputation of course they would answer that it is of critical importance and is their organization's most valuable asset. But the simple fact of the matter the two of us concluded is that the reputation is the furthest thing from the mind of the CEO and other executives unless something goes wrong or there is the potential for them to look bad personally.

I recall how many bad decisions are made by CEO's from Ken Lewis at Bank of America on back to Jeff Skillings and Ken Lay at Enron. The question you have to ask yourself is, where these people thinking of corporate reputation when making their decisions? The answer is a fairly obvious no! Like most corporate folks, they are focused entirely on the short term and on delivering results that matter for the next quarter or two at most. If you look at most senior level executives they are themselves MBA's or are surrounded by them.

The saddest thing you find at most business schools is that they teach that all situations can be managed and they lack a fundamental view of business ethics. As a result, senior executives do not worry about the results of their actions because they believe anything can be "managed," and they also believe it to be the job of marketing and especially PR to manage any crises that should arises. While crises management is absolutely within the realm of PR, it should be seen in the same light of health care in that the best way to deal with a potential situation is to ensure that they never take place.

Well I had to run yesterday before the big AM thunderstorm hit and what a boomer it was. The past 30 days have been totally miserable and it came as no surprise to me that Boston has had 12 consecutive days of rain! This has been a totally miserable period and I can't wait for the hordes of mosquito's that will come during the next few weeks. I can't say why but this weather has me in the mood for fried clams. I have already made more trips to the Red Wing in Walpole on July 2 than I did all of last year.

On the Red Sox news, last night was quite as the Sox had an off day but thanks to the Seattle Mariners the Sox now have a 3 game lead on the Yankees. I couldn't help but notice in the few innings I caught of the Yankees game that there were loads of empty seats in the "fat cat" section of the new Yankee Stadium, but in the parts where the real fans sit, hardly a seat could be found. Typical of the way the owners see the fans and very well outlined in a book I just read called "Bottom of the Ninth. "

It shows how in the late 1950's and early 1960's there was a plan for a third major league which the American and National leagues were sure to crush. But the new league was offering ideas like revenue sharing and free agency as well as a strong commissioner which the major leagues did not want. However the National Football League was ready and willing to use some of the suggestion and as such quickly passed baseball in popularity and has never looked back. Check this book out!