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. Read the rest of this entry »

In terms of acting ethically, employers who say one thing, but do another, will find it increasingly difficult to attract and retain loyal employees according to new international and New Zealand-based research.

Even though the tables have been turned somewhat as a result of the recession, and employers may have an apparently wider choice of candidates for vacant positions, the issue facing many workplaces today is whether they are shortlisted by candidates at all.

An article in the New Zealand Herald today notes a survey of 100,000 people across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific by Kelly Services found almost 90% of respondents said they were more likely to work for an organisation they believed was ethically and socially responsible.

The article’s author, Brad Stewart, also notes 80% said they would like to work for an environmentally responsible employer, and the willingness to accept lower pay to work for an employer with a good reputation was high across the generations. Fifty-three percent of Baby Boomers, 48% of Gen X and 46% of Gen Y respondents said they’d go for a good reputation ahead of higher pay. Read the rest of this entry »

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’.

Read the rest of this entry »

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?

Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Two stories caught my eye this week regarding companies making claims they apparently haven’t been able to keep.

The first is Telecom who’s reached a settlement with the Commerce Commission following its admission it misled around 130,000 broadband customers regarding pricing plans. Apparently it overcharged customers more than $9.5 million between 1999 and 2006 when dial-up customers switched to broadband.

Although Telecom has refunded almost all these customers, since 2003 it has apparently received warnings, settlements or convictions relating to the Fair Trading Act at least eight times. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 was the year the rules changed. The ‘who cares?’ attitude that seemed to dominate so many of our businesses, and personal interactions, up until then finally faced a reality check. Suddenly, large numbers of us started to care.

We cared about whether our life-savings and investments would still be around for us to draw on so we could enjoy a comfortable and happy retirement. We cared that our order books were shrinking and our debtors were taking longer to pay, or not paying at all. We cared that the jobs we were in, and the businesses we ran, would continue to generate income so we could keep paying the bills and live the life we’d become accustomed to. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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”.

It’s a particularly relevant quote given the damage that’s been done to New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera’s reputation following his admission of plagiarism.

Quite why such a distinguished author as Ihimaera, who’s acknowledged as one of New Zealand’s undoubted literary elite, and a professor of literature at Auckland University, would plagiarise another author’s work is baffling. I say ‘undoubted’ but of course, Ihimaera’s admission of plagiarism raises massive doubts about his motives and character. Read the rest of this entry »