Leadership Drives Reputation

The past year has seen stockpiling of evidence that leadership and the workplace matter to reputation building. RepTrak just added more. The company that has been tracking corporate reputation since 2004 and is one of the world’s leading reputation data and insights companies. It owns the world’s largest reputation benchmarking database of over 1 million company ratings per year used by CEOs, boards, and executives in more than 60 countries worldwide. They consistently track seven drivers of reputation — products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership and performance. Products/services has always led as the top driver. The RepTrak analysts write on their blog that since the outbreak of COVID-19, a company’s Product/Services has had less of an impact on corporate reputation than in pre-pandemic years. In 2020 they see Leadership and the Workplace gaining in importance, while Product/Services loosening some of its grip. Perhaps this is obvious to us reputation-watchers, but it is significant to the public how leaders responded to the unfolding crises of 2020 (coronavirus, economy, racial injustice) and how they treated employees during these catastrophic events. Especially when they are considering brands to purchase, seek employment or support.