I have not written recently since I have been traveling throughout Asia Pacific for my book and meeting Weber Shandwick clients. Media interviews are on the agenda as well. One of the side effects of my visit to AP, unexpectedly, is that my own perceptions of Weber Shandwick grows brighter and brighter every day. Although I often feel that I understand the depth and breadth of the firm, I see now that not until you visit the network do you truly understand. As a visitor for just a day or two in each market, I also get to meet my colleagues en masse in internal staff meetings. Without a doubt, my Weber Shandwick colleagues are WOWing me. Everyone is enthusiastic, client-focused, smart and generous of spirit. Little did I realize that as I talk about building corporate reputation at luncheons and events, I myself would personally be so impacted by Weber Shandwick’s reputation and its future. Definitely a big return on reputation for me.

So far, I have visited Sydney, Singapore and Hong Kong. Off to Shanghai and Beijing this week and then back to NYC next weekend.

I was catching up on my reading this morning when I learned about presidential candidate Barack Obama’s newest web site. Talk about taking a lesson from corporate America on handling myths and rumors! My blog has previously referred to Starbucks and Coca-Cola having designated areas on their sites that let them refute rumors. Well, Obama now has one and it is worth visiting.  It is called Fight The Smears. The YouTube generation is sure shaking up the entire presidential election.  Obama’s YouTube Channel has nearly 1,200 videos. More than 50m people have apparently watched Obama’s videos.  The advocates are turning out in numbers for this unusual presidential candidate. We are learning that reputation-building online is infectious.

On another subject, am listening to BBC while posting and heard that more confidential documents were left on the subway by someone. The information reveals data on money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorism. Since this is the second such incident in a week, embarrassment is an understatement. The reason I raise this is that our 2006 research found that “security breaches” and “data losses” are among the top five triggers of reputation loss.  Fairly prescient I might say.

Universum’s list of ideal employers for undergraduates and MBA students is out and not surprisingly, Google ranks #1 as it did in 2007. By the way, if you are interested in reputation and do not know about Universum, check them out. I think their research is fascinating and provides important clues into why some employers are preferred over others. The next four ranked companies are Disney, Apple, Ernst & Young and the U.S. State Department. How does E&Y get such a high rating when it was #12 one year ago. BusinessWeek says that its high score comes from E&Y’s early adoption of Facebook as a recruitment tool.  I checked it out. It has nearly 15,000 fans, a You Tube on why to intern at E&Y, profiles, events, internship info, and lots more.

Another reputation survey is out as well. Reputation Institute’s third annual Global Pulse survey is out and the following companies head the list. Again Google leads the best reputation list. This survey is among consumers which differs from the younger audience sampled in the Universum study. Congratulations to the folks at the Reputation Institute who have succeeded in delivering a top-notch survey and reputation monitoring business.

2008 Best Corporate Reputations in the US-Top 25 Companies
(Rank    US Companies    Global Pulse Score of 1-100)
1    Google    85.23
2    Johnson & Johnson    83.48
3    Kraft Foods Inc.    82.79
4    General Mills    81.34
5    Walt Disney    81.22
6    United Parcel Service    81.05
7    3M    79.79
8    Xerox    78.44
9    Colgate-Palmolive    78.04
10    Texas Instruments    77.22
11    Eastman Kodak    77.13
12    General Electric    76.82
13    Sara Lee    76.48
14    FedEx    76.28
15    Deere & Co    76.12
16    Goodyear    76.00
17    Apple    75.42
18    Hewlett-Packard    75.10
19    Intel    74.94
20    Publix Super Markets Inc.    74.91
21    Caterpillar    74.78
22    Whirlpool    74.41
23    Boeing    74.37
24    Costco Wholesale    74.33
25    Dell    74.26

Reputation Institute’s research model is built on 7 dimensions of reputation: Products/Services, Innovation, Workplace, Citizenship, Governance, Leadership, and Performance. What interested me was that when two drivers — Governance and Citizenship — are combined, they account for more than 30% of a company’s reputation. This proves that leadership at the top and corporate responsibility are critical to reputation today.

While on the road last week, I was asked whether I knew of any surveys about perceptions of government entities. This question probably came up because I was talking about the extraordinary rise in coverage and chatter on country reputation. At the time, I said that I did not really know of any survey on government bodies and thought it would make for an interesting survey. When I returned home, we looked into whether such a survey existed and yes, found one. The GFK Roper Consulting survey on federal agencies was mentioned in the The Washington Post in January 2008. The sample comprised nearly 2,000 Americans in the summer of 2007.

The most favorable ratings were given to the U.S. Postal Service, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. The lowest favorability was given to FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (for the second year in a row FEMA came in last place). The poor handling of Hurricane Katrina has been responsible for lowering perceptions of FEMA’s reputation over recent years.

Interestingly, Americans did not know much about some agencies to be able to rate them. This included the Bureau of Land Management, the Administration of Aging, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Hate to say it but they need some pr assistance on getting their reputations noticed!

Hard to ignore Warren Buffett quotes. They are always so “right on.” Have been meaning to write this one down for the record and here goes:

“I don’t want an easy business for competitors. I want a business with a moat around it. I want a very valuable castle in the middle, and then I want a duke who is in charge of that castle to be very honest, hardworking, and able. Then I want a moat around that castle.”

Buffett is making the point that differentiation and the right leader make all the difference between a successful company and one doomed to fail. Our stumble rate (over three-quarters –79 percent– of the world’s number-one most admired companies lost their crowns over the past five years in their respective industries) makes it increasingly clear how hard it is for companies today to maintain a castle, moat and duke that keeps a good reputation afloat.

 This is not at all profound but it seems to me that the group losing out during the Democratic presidential nominee process is not Obama or Hillary or even Bush. In my view, the media is the organization that is suffering the most damage. Over the past several years, several studies have indicated that there is waning trust in the fifth estate. After several scandals and declining revenues, the media is front and center again during this electoral process and getting poor reviews.  Some critics are claiming that the media is too easy on Obama (possibly not the case lately). Other critics are blaming the televised debate in Philadelphia between the two democratic candidates on the questions asked by ABC News’ Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. The endless nighttime chatter about the candidates’ war of words continues to hash the same information over and over and are engaged in a he-said, she-said stream of consciousness.

We have many more months ahead as the election race heats up and it might be the right time for the media to consider how it can reclaim its status at the top of the most admired professions. 

In my new book, I mention the importance of “rewinding.” This is one of the four stages of reputation recovery that I describe as a means to restore reputation for the long-term. It basically means looking backwards at what went wrong (and right) to prevent wrongdoing from ever happening again. It sounds so basic but I am always surprised at how many companies and leaders do not look back at the root cause of their undoing as they try to repair their reputations.

Today I was reading The Economist  an article on Internet communities (3/22/08) when I came across a quote from Winston Churchill that resonated with my thinking on restoring reputation: “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” A good example was also cited. Philp Rosedale, the founder of Second Life (the virtual community), is said to review old media coverage of AOL’s life history to make sure that Second Life does not make the same mistakes as AOL in not adapting to the web’s open standards.

This got me to thinking about my friend, social psychologist and reputation expert, Joy Sever. She started a business (Tell Me O Muse) a few years ago on the timeless wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey, the ultimate literary story.  There is so much to be learned from the past as she has shown me. Listed below are 18 themes that Joy has culled from her tireless reading of that ancient journey back home.

The 18 Themes of Timeless Wisdom

1~Think carefully about what you’re pursuing … and how you’re pursuing it.
2~There is a right and a wrong time for modesty, but never a good
time for hubris. 3~Fear less. 4~Leaders need strategies. 5~Stay awake or
you may pay dearly. 6~ Use power to empower. 7~ Honor the guest-host relationship. 8~ Do not be fooled by disguises, beggars can be heroes.
9~Treat all people with dignity 10~ Accept the guidance of wise women and
the advice of wise men. 11~Honor solemn oaths. 12~Realize the potential
for enemies to become friends. 13~Maintain your vision, even in the face of temptation and despair. 14~When between a rock and a hard place,
select the path that minimizes loss. 15~When in doubt, test
before acting. 16~Take personal responsibility for your actions. 17~You’re
not home, until you’re home. 18~There comes a time when the
fighting must stop.

Unfortunately we are witnessing too many crises and fallen reputations today. Weber Shandwick’s stumble rate of most admired companies only continues to climb. Business schools need to include courses on the most colossal business mistakes of the past decade and on lessons from the classics (contact Joy!) to make sure that our next generation of business leaders realize the power of the past.

Thought you might want to hear about a new book on managing your reputation online. The book written by Andy Beal and Judy Strauss is titled Radically Transparent and here is their seven point guide on online reputation management. I made it my business to read the book (I just received a hard copy in the mail yesterday from amazon). The authors sent me a pre-copy weeks ago which I read with gusto. Lots of great information which got me up-to-speed quickly and smartly. I liked it so much that I was happy to give them a testimonial on the back cover. You might want to get a copy too. As I have said before (and everyone else), online reputation management is the new black.

Reputation erodes in many ways. One sure-fire way is when employees spill the beans. A working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that employees lead the list of corporate whistleblowers when it comes to fraud.  Companies often wonder how they get themselves into these jams. It is actually pretty simple. Perhaps if they kept the lines of communications wide open or just a little open, employees would not have to resort to tattle-telling. Remember Sharon Watkins and Enron’s Kenneth Lay. If he had only listened and acted sooner.  We continually see reputations dashed as negative things come to light. The worse is when it surfaces little by little.  I wait every day to hear the Societe Generale story continue to unfold. Now we hear that another person may have been involved with rogue trader Jerome Kerviel. This week we heard that there were early warning signals alerting Societe Generale officers about the fuzzy transactions. Employee fraud is usually suspected by other employees but no one says anything out of fear. The article in BusinessWeek (January 28, 2008) where I learned about the corporate whistleblowers reports that 82% of them are ostracized, fired or demoted. Not much incentive for telling the truth.  

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

I was reading through the many reasons that Fortune gives for why it chooses its 100 Best Places to Work For in its recent issue (February 4, 2008). In addition to the company ranking, number of employees, job growth, job number of applicants, average annual pay, and 2008 revenues, Fortune has a box for “what makes this company so great?” They do this every year. The reasons cited include a litany of reasons such as best credit union, generous time off,  best 401k, best cafeteria, best child care site, rent breaks, on site health clubs, autism benefits, and so on. Then I came to company #70 — Mattel.* The toy manufacturer was cited for how its CEO handled the recent toy recall crisis. Fortune said ”…with CEO Bob Eckhert getting kudos for quick and responsible actions in recalling defective toys from China.” I thought that Fortune deserved a pat on the back for awarding a company as high an honor as Best Place to Work because of its CEO’s actions during crisis. Worth sharing with you. I always like when CEOs are recognized for rightdoing over wrongdoing.

* Full Disclosue: My company worked for Mattel during the recent toy crisis. I did not however.

I thought this was an insightful statement about online reputation. It was mentioned in a post by Chris Abraham who was quoting Forget Publicists, All the Cool Kids Have Online Reputation Managers. Abraham says that “online reputation management is apparently the new black.” Sure seems that way to me too.

Goes back to that wonderful article in Wired by Clive Thompson about Google being a reputation management system, not a search engine. 

To digress, I read in another article somewhere that corporate responsibility is the new India. I guess this phraseology is catchy. Perhaps I should say something clever like reputation recovery is the new green. Doesn’t have the same ring to it. Worth a try.