So BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward, is to be sent to Russia. Hardly a career highlight after almost 30 years with the company.

Whilst in no way minimising the loss of lives, livelihoods, environmental and economic consequences, the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion provides a near-perfect case-study of how being ‘out of touch’ with public opinion, and assuming an air of arrogance, can kill reputations, careers and trust.

In spite of the magnitide of the disaster across all fronts, it was essentially small, throw-away comments from Hayward (“I’d like my life back“) and Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg (caring about ‘the small people’) that put the nail in the coffin of Hayward’s career. The comments demonstrated how out-of-touch Hayward, and therefore BP, was from those affected by the disaster. Taking part in a regatta didn’t help.

One of the biggest reputation-damagers there is is failing to listen, and track trends. Keeping your finger ‘on the pulse’ of public opinion is critical when trying to influence and maintain a positive reputation. BP, and Hayward,  failed miserably.

Thinking we can control our reputation is a myth. We can’t control it because we can’t control what other people think of us, and what others think of us is our reputation.

In terms of reputation-branding perception is reality. No matter how much BP might have wanted to keep him as CEO, public opinion meant it wasn’t possible if it wants any chance of jettisoning the adverse reputational-baggage now attached to Hayward.

If he considers himself the ‘fall-guy’ within BP he may be right. However, as Winston Churchill once said “The price of greatness is responsiblity”, and responsiblity cannot be abdicated.

According to the ‘Social Media Revolution’ video from Socialnomics, 96% of Generation Y or Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000 or thereabouts) are part of an online social network and yet the fastest growing segment of Facebook is females aged 55-65 years old.

Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Sweden, Israel, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and Panama, and half the mobile internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook. Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old and email is considered old technology by a significant number of them.

We are connecting, communicating and revealing personal and professional details about ourselves more openly than ever before. In the time it takes to read this post around 50 hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine.

We tap out information about ourselves at the stroke of a key and yet rarely think about the damage that can be caused to our reputation, both online and off, by posting careless remarks and images.

Even if we don’t write the words ourselves, others are writing about us, and in this digital age of instant upload it’s worth remembering that the camera is always rolling, the microphone is always on, and there’s no such thing as ‘off-the-record’.

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In terms of trust, is ‘business as usual’ what we really want? For many business owners and operators the answer will clearly be ‘yes’.

However, given the ever-expanding list of failed finance companies, apparently less-than-honourabe senior executives and so-called ‘professionals’ that turned out to be anything but, a large number of the people I’m speaking with certainly don’t want business to go back to being ‘usual’. What they want is quite the opposite – ‘business unusual’ – particularly in terms of trust that is, demonstrate some!

Business heretic Mark Di Somma’s blog post ‘Peak Trust’ is very timely and right on the button. Much like the concept of ‘peak oil’, Di Somma notes “some sectors have reached and passed their highest levels of trust – and that they can now expect trust to be harder to find and to cost much more to generate than it has historically.” I agree.

The fact that so many industries and sectors are now having to be regulated, and legally reigned-in, in an effort to weed-out the unscrupulous and dishonest is pretty disheartening.

One would think businesses would put their client or customer first – as so many say they do – and genuinely provide what’s right for the custmer as opposed to what maximises profits for the business. However, for a large swathe of businesses, and individuals within them, this wasn’t, and isn’t, the case.

Philosopher Joseph Hall said “A reputation, once broken, may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep its eyes on the spot where the crack was”.

Regulation won’t win back high levels of trust. It will simply make it easier for consumers to consider one more variable in deciding who to engage with and use. Although it’s sad, it’s essential in a post-’peak trust’ economy.

Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters at www.guardian.co.uk

Leadership expert Jasbindar Singh hit the nail on the head when she blogged about the six leadership lessons we can learn from BP CEO Tony Hayward’s behaviour to disaster still occuring in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hayward has attracted much criticism for his apparent inability to demonstrate any kind of genuine empathy for the people, wildlife and general environment affected by BP’s catastrophic oil spill.

Over a million gallons of oil a day are spewing into the ocean and yet Haywood seemed more concerned about himself, openly stating ‘… I’d like my life back …’ before heading away to attend a sailing regatta.

BP Chairman’s remark ‘we care about the small people’ also infuriated peole worldwide, and left BP’s senior executives looking like self-absorbed, spoilt brats concerned solely about the oil and profits being lost to BP, rather than the economic and environmental impacts their rig explosion caused.

CE’s get paid big bucks to handle crises – preferably with integrity. Making excuses and blaming others is behaviour unbecoming of any CEO, especially one whose company was responsible for the level of damage caused. No matter what happens now, BP’s reputation will always be tarnished by the comments Tony Hayward and Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg made, and the way they responded. (more…)

For many businesses, particularly those providing services, more than 85% of business comes from personal referrals and recommendations. Yet many businesses spend thousands of hours, and dollars, trying to acquire new customers, and relatively little time and effort nurturing and retaining their existing ones.

Valuing and retaining your current clients and customers is essential. Not only will you benefit from their continued custom directly, you are also more likely to benefit from any new clients or customers they recommend. And given that it’s 6-7 times more expensive to gain one new client or customer than it is to retain one, retaining your existing clients and customers, and being highly recommendable, can have a huge positive impact on your profitability.

Clients and customers who already trust and respect you:

• are more likely to acknowledge, and value, what you provide and the benefits they gain from dealing with you
• may be more willing to accept your prices, terms and conditions without question or negotiation
• are often more loyal
• require less ’selling to’ and
• are more likely to continue doing business with you, and even increase the amount they spend, as their trust in you increases.

They are also significantly more likely to recommend you to people they know and trust giving you an opportunity to gain new clients whilst reducing your acquisition costs and improving your profitability. (more…)

We live in an age of instant global communication and no one knows that better than young people who are incredibly at home in a highly networked world.  What’s also become incredibly apparent is just how vulnerable those same young people are to seriously damaging their reputation by not thinking through long term consequences of online or digital communications.

Downsides of such actions can generate much media play: schoolyard bashings filmed on mobile phone cameras; child bullying by text and emails; young people sharing too much personal information on social networking sites; doubtful photos casting the wrong light on how people present themselves.  

Schools, universities and even employers are checking out online reputations of applicants and taking action accordingly.

So what can a parent teach their digitally advanced child about this realm?  Ten top tips for parents to share with their children include:

1.  Once information is on the internet it’s basically there forever and can be copied, forwarded and misused. Thousands of strangers will read your comments without knowing the type of person you really are, and will draw their own conclusions.

2.  Other people will judge you based on what you say and do on the internet. Small details in the background of images can identify you and others. Think carefully before publishing online information and images.

3.  Never publish anything when you’re in a rush or under pressure. Wait, re-read it and publish it only when you’re sure you want it visible to everyone – forever. (more…)

Each month in ‘Reputationz’ I highlight what I consider to be 3 reputation winners and 3 reputation losers for the month.

They can be people, companies or even abstract ideas. Some are fairly obvious. Others are off-beat or quirky. You may or may not agree! The lists are purely my opinion.

Check out the lists for June 2010 below and feel free to leave a comment or email me with nominations for the July issue.

Reputation Winners June 2010:

• The creative genius responsible for bringing to life the most compelling, and simply beautiful, ‘always wear your seatbelt’ ad ever. An absolute ‘must-see’.
• DNZ evidence for proving the world’s longest serving prisoner for a rape conviction had been wrongly convicted almost 30 years ago. 
• Tauranga Perspex for developing a removable perspex shield to enhance the safety of both cab-drivers and their passengers exposed to theft, attack and abuse.

Reputation Losers June 2010:

• TV2 for running an advert during the semi-final show of American Idol that clearly showed which contestants got through to the final before the semi-final had concluded.
• Australia’s ‘Big Four’ banks for allegedly overcharging millions of customers around A$5 billion worth of penalty fees.
• Oil giant BP for the billion dollar disaster continuing in the Gulf of Mexico and business-threatening loss of shareholder confidence.

To view Reputationz online click here and to receive your own copy each month, opt-in here.

There are many ways to create, and maintain, a winning reputation, some of which are specific to an industry, or even a business or individual. However, the seven ‘Reputation Branding Essentials’ below apply across the board and can help you develop and maintain a reputation that will open doors rather than slam them shut!

1. Keep abreast of changing values and expectations
People’s expectations are constantly changing. What they value in you, and your products or services, today may not be what they value tomorrow. Read and research widely and actively engage with those you want to create lasting relationships with regularly to stay in tune with them.

2.  Aim for ‘win/win’ outcomes from every interaction
Focus on nurturing a long-term relationship rather than a short term gain. For example, if you know another provider may have a better solution than you, recommend them. The level of trust your client or customer will have in you will go up and your reputation will be enhanced immensely.

3.  Make it easy for people to recommend you
When someone recommends you, they are putting their reputation on the line. Make people feel good about dealing with you and you’ll enhance your chances of being recommended. Deliver on your promises and focus on building high-trust, high-value relationships. Acting with integrity will also help you be recommended more often.

4.  Never ‘bad-mouth’ or be disparaging about others
Bad-mouthing your competitors or others is a major reputation loser. No-one likes a gossip. News travels fast, especially online and people will think “if they say those things about them, what might they be saying about me?” If you don’t have anything good to say, it’s better to say nothing at all. (more…)

Reputation is a double-edged sword. UK tabloid The News Of The World has scored a coup with its video coverage of the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, discussing access to Prince Andrew in return for more than half a million pounds.

The story is an absolute reputation-winner from the newspaper’s perspective. It’s certainly captured twitterers and bloggers all over the planet and will no doubt drive millions of eye-balls to the video footage on the News Of The World’s website.

From the Duchess’s perspective it’s a reputation loser, and it will be interesting to see how she or her PR-handlers respond to the reports and coverage.

If she tries to bluff her way out of it and cast herself as the victim in a vicious sting designed to humiliate her and the Royal family as deeply as possible I doubt she’ll find many sympathisers.

If she fronts-up and brushes it off as nothing to get excited she’ll probably discover quite a few people are excited about it and will continue to be for some time.

Either way, calls for her to become the ‘celebrity endorser’ of products or services in the future are likely to be fewer and farther between, and that’s been a significant source of income for her in recent years. 

Digital cameras and audio recorders come in micro sizes these days. If you don’t want to be filmed or recorded doing, or saying, something that may come back and haunt you, don’t do or say it at all.

Today, more than ever, the camera is always rolling, the microphone is always on and there’s no such thing as ‘off the record’. Assume everything you do and say could be recorded by anyone at any time.

If you’re happy for that to be plastered all over the internet, great! If not, tread with care.

Very occasionally companies or organisations provide excellent examples of how to create a competitive edge simply by being who they are. The email below – a genuine email sent to a genuine customer, who then sent it to me – is one such example. (Personal details have been changed.)

Being friendly without being overly familiar, and allowing your personality to shine through, is almost always a reputation winner!  Congratulations to 1-day for a memorable, ‘feel-good’ response to an every-day event.

From: David at 1-day
Sent: Thursday, 6 May 2010 7:29 a.m.
To: Richard
Subject: Invoice from 1-day for PSP game

Dear Richard

Thanks for your order with 1-Day! Invoice # ABCDEFG.

Your product has been painstakingly removed from our shelves, the dust wiped free, and carefully placed inside its packaging. It has gone through a number of checks and all with contamination free sterilised gloves.

A hush echoed through the 100 staff as the final tape locked down the packaging. We all linked arms and swayed in time (except for Luke who was swinging his hips in the opposite direction to everyone else) and sung the 1-day version of ‘I’m leaving… On a jet plane’. Real tears were shed by some of us, who are still coming to terms with the fact the product has left the building for good.

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