What’s the biggest risk to your business? According to the recent Sunday Times Business Risk supplement, it’s reputation. Now for those of us in corporate reputation, that comes as no surprise. What is more surprising is that “damage to company reputation, which could sink a business in an instant, is rising up the boardroom agenda”. The bit to note in that is ‘rising up’.
It never ceases to astound me that businesses – including many big businesses – are short-sighted when it comes to reputation.
A business’s reputation takes twenty years to build but only five minutes to ruin.
No business in our age of instant digital communication, should be unaware of the impact of reputation – not necessarily just the potential for negative damage but conversely the value of a great reputation. Appreciation of reputational assets shouldn’t be confined to the marketing department, but lodged firmly in the C-suite too.
Discussion about risk needs to be on every board agenda and horizon scanning needs to feed that agenda – what’s up ahead and how can we plan for it?
Who would have thought three years ago that those of us closely involve in food packaging would find ourselves headline news, day after day after day? Now that we are, it’s those business that are agile, creative and innovative that will emerge robustly, there isn’t time to hesitate.
Investment in reputation and reputational risk analysis is no longer an option, it’s a critical success factor.
Packaging businesses need to address every aspect of their corporate footprint, both internally and externally to ensure that everything they do is aligned with their values, vision and mission and is sensitive to public opinion. Where not, they need to make plans for convergence and implement them quickly.
It’s not rocket science and it could mean the difference between success and failure. Investment in reputation and reputational risk analysis is no longer an option, it’s a critical success factor. If it’s not on your board agenda, then get to it. If you need help, contact us – we’d be delighted to talk through your needs.