LESSONS IN REPUTATION STRATEGY

A Strategy Checklist for Reputation Leaders

It’s easier to focus on immediate challenges than invest in longer-term issues. This is especially true for corporate reputation leaders, who face relentless demands on their time, caused by shifting policy environments and changing public expectations.

The adrenaline rush of responding to day-to-day needs often feels more gratifying, but confronting complex root-cause issues has a vastly greater payoff – raising the bar on your organization’s performance, elevating expectations and driving systemic change.

Here are five places to start:

1. Master the Business Fundamentals

Credibility in driving reputation strategies begins with demonstrated mastery of business and an understanding of reputation-related impacts. While this may seem obvious, many leaders struggle to prioritize it in practice. How fluent are you in key strategy elements such as market entry, major investments, recruiting/retention targets, regulatory approvals, or public policy goals? How might these imperatives be accelerated by a strong reputation or derailed by a weak one?

How to do it:

  • Ask for time with counterparts in key lines of business or functions.

  • Get them to tell you what they’re focused on – and what needs to be true for that to happen.

  • Ask the question, “if you could wave a wand and remove any obstacle, what would it be?”

Opens the door to:

  • Deeper relationships and access to information across your organization.

  • Enhanced ability to connect your work directly to the business and the company’s strategy.

  • Ideas for actions that can create tailwinds for business priorities.

2. Identify Hidden Vulnerabilities

In martial arts, pressure points are areas that can be attacked to debilitate the target. Companies have pressure points, too: subsidies, tax breaks, legal protections, permits and so on, which can be weaponized by adversaries to inflict pressure or coerce behavior. As a leader, it’s your job to understand these pressure points and how outside interests might exploit them. What actions or inactions might expose your organization to vulnerabilities?

How to do it:

  • Make an inventory of: permissions to operate, tax benefits, legal carveouts or other major business-enabling conditions.

  • Consider geographies and jurisdictions and the decision-makers within them.

  • Confer with your counterparts in government relations, legal and finance to develop a complete perspective.

Opens the door to:

  • Implementation of an issues management process to monitor and prioritize threats to the business.

  • Better instincts and internal decision-making to head off unexpected consequences of enterprise actions.

3. Develop a Durable Narrative

Narratives work for or against the business. The same piece of information can be turned into a positive story or a negative one, depending on market context and audience interpretation. Shaping these narratives is one of your most important responsibilities.

This starts with understanding existing narratives and beliefs shaping perceptions of the business or industry. What tropes or default beliefs held by outside audiences should factor into your strategies? What is the best narrative you want others to believe and repeat about the business – and how can you help it compete in the market?

A clearly defined narrative allows you to align leaders, agencies, partners and other stakeholders to a unified set of messages that articulate your point of view – on your terms. Defining a strong narrative provides a clear North Star for every other decision and action you’ll take.

How to do it:

  • Create a connected story that explains your company’s origin, purpose, differentiation, impact and future ambitions.

  • Explain motivations and trust in the context of this story.

  • Employ workshops with senior leaders to resolve competing perspectives.

Opens the door to:

  • Aligned messaging and communications across all platforms.

  • Greater receptiveness among stakeholder audiences.

  • Greater understanding of and support for the business strategy.

4. Build a Leadership Roadmap

A durable leadership roadmap allows you to shape conversations, promote change, engage allies and establish new spheres of influence. It enhances the ability to drive an intentional approach, rather than responding to incoming requests. It provides opportunities to showcase your perspective and differentiate your organization from competitors. Choosing where and how you’ll lead is a consequential decision that requires careful thought and planning.

How to do it:

  • Identify potential territories based on importance to the business, expertise and relevance to society.

  • Develop a point of view that is unique and compelling – and that aligns with the brand and strategy.

  • Build a roadmap of speaking and writing opportunities, audiences to engage and relationships to cultivate.

Opens the door to:

  • Better strategic use of the CEO’s time.

  • Enhanced stature or authority in important fields.

  • New avenues to reinforce messages and narratives about the business.

5. Integrate Reputation Into Major Enterprise Decisions

The quality of internal decision-making is often the most important barrier to good reputation strategy. Consider: when it comes to important decisions in your organization, do reputation matters more often get stuck or get their due? Are debates a jump ball between competing functions whose remits aren’t focused on reputation? Is anyone with a company-wide perspective adjudicating these debates?

How to do it:

  • Develop a persuasive POV to help leaders understand how reputation can help or hinder business objectives.

  • Build time into every major decision to consider reputation as a factor.

  • Ensure the CEO or someone influential and connected can adjudicate deadlocks.

Opens the door to:

  • Greater ability to contribute and influence key internal decisions.

  • More time to plan and shape future conversations and issues.

  • Avoidance of missteps that hurt company reputation.