Just an observation. It seems that increasingly more consultancies are branching out into the reputation management space. I regularly get Google alerts on “reputation” comings and goings and keep seeing one firm after another announcing that they are hiring a corporate and reputation expert or restructuring the discipline into a practice. Being a reputation advisor and expert myself, this trend has not escaped my notice.

I wonder if these new hires and offerings are designed to counsel clients on the building blocks and drivers of reputation or if they are based on helping manage corporate reputation during a crisis or issue. I believe that the rise in “reputation” expertise belongs to the latter since so many companies are in reputation recovery and restoration mode now, especially since COVID has been so front and center over these past 12 months. Over the next six months, the reputation race will be relentless and any nick to one’s reputation will be magnified several times over as the news cycle returns to pre-Trump days.

In addition to this quickening in reputation management at agencies and consultancies, I’ve also noticed an outsized upswing in officers with reputation in their title and responsibilities. According to LinkedIn, there are 1,330,000 such titles. I was one of the few “chief reputation strategists” when I first started at Weber Shandwick some 15 years ago and look where we are now.

Why do I think there is this surge in reputation services and responsibilities? I think there are three reasons:

1.     Reputation is a company’s most competitive asset and accounts for nearly two-thirds of a company’s market value. It is that important to nurture, maintain and protect. In this world of sudden crises and emerging issues, strong reputations help companies weather the storm and offer the benefit of the doubt. They serve as a shield to protect companies and organizations from the zing of unwarranted arrows. Having someone in charge of corporate reputation secures oversight and protection as well as brand-building and attention to stakeholders. After all, companies have always had someone in charge of investor relations. Why not reputation?

2.     Reputation has finally arrived in the halls of marketing, communications and public affairs as a legitimate evidence-based discipline. Companies can measure their reputations over time, across regions, across social media assets and across stakeholders. Reputation scores can now be confidently placed on corporate dashboards to demonstrate performance (or lack of). The explosion in type (most ethical, most just, best D&I workplace) and number of awards and recognition is another factor that companies now use to evaluate reputational progress and bragging rights. Just managing a portfolio of awards and recognition is more than a full-time job. I can attest to that! Been there, done that. Companies cannot pursue every award and recognition and follow up on every social media post that is troublesome. Someone with strategic foresight and reputation know-how needs to be charged with and incentivized for identifying what matters to stakeholders such as investors, employees, new talent, communities and customers when it comes to reputation.

3.     The pandemic has vastly changed the dynamics of reputation from an employee point of view. I have been saying for years that reputation = culture. If you have a great reputation, you probably have a great culture. If you have a poor reputation, there’s a good chance that your culture needs work. The pandemic has accelerated our focus on corporate culture and the ability of leaders to build collaborative, innovative, diverse cultures that are built on a bedrock of core values and inclusiveness. Being a best place to work or a “just” place to work is now the reputation advantage. Corporate reputation officers or practices now have to work closely with HR and senior management, including CEOs, to build cultures that match their reputations. Hoping the two are aligned is not enough. The science of reputation requires careful management and attention to the sudden death scenario lurking around the corner that drives reputation lower and repels talent.