Looking at how company leadership reflects directly on your reputation
Today more than ever, the line between marketing and reputation management is blurred. If you want to stand out as an expert on either side of that line you have knowledge of how reputation affects selling, and vice-versa. The inspiration for this Crisis Management Quotable is Karen Tiber Leland, a woman who has worn many hats including reporter, management consultant, communications expert, and now marketing guru as founder of Sterling Marketing Group.
“Like it or not, today’s CEO has been pre-cast in the role of their company’s chief brand ambassador.” — Karen Tibor Leland
While some CEOs take to the limelight naturally, many others are more comfortable getting business done behind closed doors than living as an open book for stakeholders to judge. And oh, judge they will. Regardless of how reclusive one may try to remain, the time where you could stayy off the radar while running a major organization is done. The behavior and personal choices of a CEO today serve as a weathervane for the direction of their company, or at least that’s how stakeholders will interpret them. If a CEO defies expectations – a green-energy CEO driving a gas-guzzler to work, for example – they risk immediate damage to their company’s reputation.
All employees are representative of your organization to some degree, and the CEO sits at the top of that heap. Being in that position, they need to be prepared to represent the company well through all aspects of their own life, as Leland says, “Like it or not”.
The BCM Blogging Team
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com