Picture as it appeared in Examiner.com 'The High Price of Resume Padding'

What is it about senior executives and ‘not-entirely-truthful’ academic claims on some of their CVs?

Yahoo!’s CE, Scott Thompson, is the latest to find his career bent out of shape following revelations that the bachelor’s degree in computer science noted in his bio didn’t actually exist.

That in itself is cause for concern over his integrity and credibility but the fact that he apparently tried to blame a recruitment firm for adding it to his bio years ago only dug him into an even bigger hole, metaphorically speaking, and his fate was sealed.

Blaming others, especially when that blame is allegedly untrue, is an ugly trait to associate with senior executives. If Thompson thought the recruitment company might sit back and do nothing when faced with this claim, he thought wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

In my recent post about Trendwatching.com’s ‘Flawsome’ trend I explained what being ‘flawsome’ means but didn’t expand on what I believe some of its characteristics might be. So here they are.

Remember, as an organiastion or individual, being ‘flawsome’ is delivering an authentic mixture of being honest about your flaws, being willing to be held accountable and doing so in a way that’s empathetic, generous, humble, flexible, mature and good-natured.

Clients and consumers in 2012 won’t expect brands or companies to be flawless – they know it’s just a matter of time before something goes wrong and they fail in some way. Rather than flawless, they will want to engage with organisations that are clearly ‘flawsome’.

Trendwatching will be providing a trend briefing in March focusing on Flawsome and Human Brands. In the meantime I’d hazard a guess characteristics of being flawsome are likely to include: Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s Christmas advert from UK high-street retailer John Lewis is an out and out reputation winner, which is more than can be said for Littlewoods – another UK retailer.

Both are cute, featuring children under 5 and a focus on presents, but where the Lewis ad hits the nail on the head in terms of positive emotion, and has received more than 3 million views, the Littlewoods’ ad does quite the reverse.

International speaker and confidence coach Eilidh Milnes says “I’d offer that John Lewis truly knows and understands it’s clients, matches the company ethics and ethos to its target market then dares to be different. The company holds its ground and maintains its standards – no questionable implications dubious morals or poor taste; with the advert … focusing on generosity not greed.” Here, here!

Littlewoods’ blatant commercialism and insensitivity won’t have won it many fans – adult or child. The obvious message is unnecessary and the ad’s ability to dispel the supposed myth that Mum, rather than Santa, provides gifts at Christmas will, no doubt, be the cause of tears before bedtime for many a littlie enraptured with Santa and his helpers. Read the rest of this entry »

Pic: 3news.co.nz

NZ Prime Minister John Key is in hot water and it’s not cooling off. The ‘Teapot Tape’ remains a hot topic of conversation, both in the media and amongst the public, given New Zealand is just one week away from a general election.

So why is it still dominating headlines? The apparently inadvertent recording of a supposedly private conversation between Prime Minister John Key and ACT candidate John Banks continues to be a hot topic because of doubts about whether voters are ‘being played‘.

Instead of fronting up and simply saying ‘we look forward to working with ACT as a coalition partner’ National again staged managed the so-called ‘Cup of Tea’ ritual to surreptitiously direct voters in Epsom to vote for Banks, as ACT’s candidate, rather than their own man. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of us will have experienced a time when we consciously caught ourselves thinking ‘I shouldn’t be saying this’. As the words left our lips we wished we could take them back and rephrase them in a more context-appropriate way.

In our increasingly busy lives our mouths often operate faster than our brains. So it’s worth thinking about the impact of what we might say before we need say it so we can minimise the risk of saying something we’ll probably regret. Thinking before we speak is a quick, easy and cost-free way that can preserve, or enhance a reputation rather than damage it. Be aware:

Your role matters – Even if you explicitly state your comments are your personal views and not those of your professional role, or the organisation you represent, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to totally separate the two. At the very least listeners will question your judgement and suitability for the role if you comments seem at odds in any way with your professional role. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been mixed responses to the Government’s proposal to change legislation to make ‘celebrities’ liable for claims they make in so-called celebrity endorsements.

The New Zealand Herald’s editor feels celebrities shouldn’t be held accountable for claims they make. Rather, investors should be better-educated about investment decisions and not so easily influenced by prominent people used to endorse products or services.

Others, including Aucklander Glen Stanton, welcome the fact that under the proposed new legislation endorsers will face fines of up to $1 million as well as compensation orders. Stanton was less than 10 days away from receiving $50,000 from an investment in Hanover Finance when the company collapsed.

Former TVOne news anchor Richard Long’s endorsement of Hanover was a primary reason Stanton invested in Hanover in the first place. Commenting in the New Zealand Herald he said “I lost a lot of money in the other finance companies as well, but in most of those companies I [invested] smaller amounts, like $5,000 or $10,000,” he said. “Hanover was the only one that I invested the large amount in … [Mr Long's endorsement] gave you a feeling of false security, definitely.” Read the rest of this entry »

Reputation branding isn’t rocket-science. It’s largely common-sense; but for some reason common-sense isn’t common.

I’m often asked ‘what do I need to do to make sure I can create and maintain a positive reputation?’ Apart from the fact that we can’t actually create a reputation – we can only influence it – there are certain things we can do to ensure we stack the odds in our favour in the reputational stakes and help others to think and speak well of us. I call them…

The 10 commandments of reputation branding:

• Make it easy for others to speak well of you
• Keep abreast of changing values and expectations
• Seek win-win outcomes from every interaction
• Never assume others think as you do Read the rest of this entry »

From a trust perspective, Rodney Hide’s ousting as leader of the ACT political party shouldn’t have been a surprise to him or anyone within ACT.

The level of trust and credibility he and ACT had previously counted on had been severely damaged by Hide’s apparent attitude and behaviour, and the behaviour of others within the party.

When ‘perk-buster’ Hide became a ‘perk-taker’ – taking his then girlfriend on a round-the-world trip at taxpayer’s expense; and ACT’s David Garrett took the identity of an infant to illegally gain a passport whilst publicly decrying name suppression orders, the trust voters and party supporters had in ACT largely evaporated.

Hide, and by association ACT, breached the fundamental tenants of building and maintaining trust in recent months and years which include, as a five-step process:

• Establish your credentials
• Deliver on your promises
• Be accountable for your actions
• Nurture the relationship and
• Be consistent Read the rest of this entry »

‘Entente’ (pronounced ‘on-tont’) in French means ‘understanding’ and ‘good relationships’, which makes it entirely relevant for Entente Pty Ltd in Australia to be initiating the inaugural International Day of Trust .

As the world’s only International Movement of Trust, Entente is encouraging individuals, businesses and communities worldwide to raise their awareness of the fragility and importance of trust and behave in ways that build trust at every level.

t12 dialogues will be held worldwide on 3rd May, including one in Auckland, to explore the role of trust in business and society, and to commit to behaving in a way that creates a world built on trust.

Breach of trust is arguably one of the single most important reputation damagers there is. Once someone’s trust or faith in you has been shaken, doubts are raised that will be extremely difficult to remove, and regaining their confidence will be a huge challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s just under two years since I wrote about celebrity endorsements being under the microscope with Mike King’s defection from NZ Pork. Two years on and celebrity endorsements are in the news again, this time with a view to holding the celebrity accountable for claims they make – especially relating to finance company products.

In the wake of the failure of literally dozens of finance companies over recent years NZ’s Commerce Minister has asked officials to explore options that include “the possibility of celebrities being liable to investors for untrue statements” which would make the celebrity liable in the same way investment experts are.

In an article in the New Zealand Herald, when asked if he’d have fronted advertisements for Hanover Finance, which collapsed owing around 16,000 investors more than $500 million, former news anchor Richard Long said had such a regime been in force when he was asked to front Hanover’s advertising he would not have done it and said he believed celebrities would now shy away from such work. Read the rest of this entry »