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.

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…)

When a company decides to have an official presence on Facebook, or other online social media network, they open themselves up to two huge opportunities:

• They can connect and communicate with potential and existing clients and customers keen to engage in a dialogue with that company and build trust in the process.

• They also run the risk of getting offside with ‘fans’, friends’ and ‘followers’ big-time if they fail to understand the ‘rules of engagement’ and try and use what are perceived as ‘big-brother’ tactics in the process.

The fall-out that’s occurred, which is neatly summarised in Bernard Warner’s blog post at SocialMediaToday.com, demonstrates how the internet can become a bitter battlefield where wars are won or lost based not on words, but on behaviour.

No matter how much a company or organisation may want to control their image and reputation online, it’s almost impossible to do – especially via Social Networking sites such as Facebook.

Attacking its commentators is unlikely to have endeared Nestle to the 90,000 or so ‘friends’ it has (had?) on Facebook as Rick Broida points out at bnet.com.

I’d hazard a guess it would have earned more respect, and perhaps even enhanced its reputation, if it had responded in a way that said ‘we hear you, we welcome your feedback, and we’re actually quite pleased you’re taking the time to let us know how you feel’.

(more…)

Over-promising and under-delivering is one of the biggest reputation-damagers there is.

If the breach of promise is relatively minor, most of us will forgive an organisation and give it a second, or even third, chance to deliver and meet our expectations.

However, when promises continue to be broken, and serious doubts are raised about a company’s ability to deliver – in any way – our willingness to trust that company plummets.

New Zealand’s largest telco company, Telecom, is in serious trouble in terms of reputation branding.

Its much-vaunted ‘available (almost) anywhere’ television ads used to launch the XT Network has come back to haunt them with significant network outages that have affected hundreds of thousands of customers.

This isn’t a minor blip. The fourth major outage this week has resulted in the resignation of Telecom’s most senior executive responsible for the network’s design and implementation. (more…)

Did you finalise your New Year resolutions? Got your targets and action plans in place for a stellar year in 2010? Are you lining things up to give yourself the best chance possible of achieving everything you want this year?

Great! You’re amongst a small percentage of people committed to making things happen. People who are willing to be held accountable for their actions, and accept full responsibility for their achievement.

Setting high targets and challenging ourselves is a worthy pursuit. Congratulate yourself as you tick them off your ‘to-do’ list and enjoy the sense of satisfaction that will surely come from achieving your goals.

And as you enjoy the journey, remember that in our rush to acquire more, achieve more and experience more, we sometimes forget that what we have, and do, is less important than who we are and how we contribute.

The words of Michael Josephson, of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, are very timely at the start of a new year and new decade. We are, after all, human ‘beings’, not human ‘doings’ or human ‘havings’.  What will matter?

(more…)

New Year resolutions happen every year, but predictions generally only occur at the turn of a decade. Knowing what might happen before it actually occurs would certainly be handy.

If we could predict what might happen it would certainly give us a competitive edge.  We could be ‘one-step-ahead-of-the-game’, give us an opportunity to maximise every opportunity and put all our efforts into those things likely to generate the greatest reward – whatever we might want that to be.

Moving from the ‘noughties’ to the teen years of the 21st Century  gives us a opportunity, not only to look back on what happend between 2000 and 2009 – think iTunes, the social media explosion and wireless internet – but also to look ahead and predict what might happen during 2010 and beyond. (more…)

Tiger Woods’ admitted ‘indiscretions’ have tee’d off more than a few people recently, including his wife, Elin, his corporate sponsors, and bigwigs in the golfing world.

Sponsors Accenture, Gillette, Tag Heuer and AT&T are publicly distancing themselves from sports’ first billionaire and no doubt ruing the fact that their names are likely to be associated with the scandal for years to come. (Perhaps the so-called ‘Curse of Gillette’ works both ways?)

Woods’ family and his sponsors have a right to feel aggrieved, and seriously let down, by his actions. It’s a breach of trust on a spectacular scale. (more…)

Maori MP Hone Harawira certainly has a way with words! Not that he’ll ever be nominated for a Nobel prize for literature.

Skiving off from a taxpayer-funded official event in Europe to take his wife to Paris certainly caused a few raised eyebrows. But his expletive-ridden response to criticism about this could terminally damage the Maori Party and have a lasting, possibly adverse, affect on New Zealand politics. (more…)

Internet marketing Guru, Gihan Perera, posted an excellent piece on his blog this week called ‘There’s a right way and a wrong way to say sorry. This is the right way.’

It’s only a short piece, but definitely worth reading, as it demonstrates two critical essentials in terms of positive reputation branding.

Not only does it demonstrate how important it is to minimise reputation damage by responding swiftly when something damaging occurs, it also highlights why it’s essential you only associate with businesses and individuals you’re willing to put your reputation on the line for in any joint-venture initiatives.

Get it wrong and you could find yourself having to mop up a mess, and dealing with irate clients and customers, because of your joint-venture partner’s inappropriate actions. You may also find your reputation severely dented in the process.

A timely reminder for all of us.

Should I ‘fake it till I make it?’ is a question I’m increasingly being asked. No doubt many individuals and businesses have got ahead and been given the opportunity to prove they can, indeed, deliver on their promises by doing exactly this. For others, however, following this advice can be extremely risky and create enormous reputational damage.

High-profile careers have been ruined by the discovery of non-existent qualifications presented in CVs or resumes. Undeclared bankruptcies, convictions, and youthful indiscretions, have stopped many promotions in their tracks when they’ve been discovered.

Dictionary.com defines ‘fake’ as: ‘to conceal, trick or deceive’. A faker is defined as a ‘cheat, fraud or imposter’, something few of us would want to be known as, and someone even fewer of us want to deal with, or be associated with.

And yet the widely accepted concept of ‘faking it till you make it’ is not generally perceived as being a dishonourable thing to do. Rather, implication is that it can enhance self-confidence and credibility, and open doors that may otherwise stay firmly closed.

Well meaning advisors may say “Don’t be held back by personal fears and doubts. Fake it till you make it, and once you’re up and running you’ll be fine.”

So should you ‘fake it till you make it’? In my opinion – No. Especially if faking it means you’ll be out of your depth, and unable to meet the expectations others may have of you.

Presenting yourself in the best light possible – without lying or deceiving – is, of course, entirely appropriate. It can make you more appealing and give you a truly competitive edge.

So how can you talk-up your achievements without feeling, or being, a fraud? What’s important is ensuring the way you present yourself is honourable and not misleading.

Faking it can lead to a tangled web of lies and deceit. Being sure in yourself that you are able to deliver on the claims you make is one of the biggest confidence-boosters there is. And when you’re sure you can deliver, there’s no need to fake anything.