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 »

Testimonials, or endorsements, are arguably one of the most powerful promotional tools we can have in our armoury, especially since recommendations are around eight times more powerful than anything we can say about ourselves.

When all other things appear to be equal, or at least largely similar, positive support from an independent third party can swing the odds in our favour. When a prospective employer offers a position to their preferred candidate they usually do so ‘subject to references’. Whilst we accept what the person themselves says, we look for independent comment to support their application.

The same is true for businesses. Feedback and testimonials from past clients are often sought when trying to decide which provider to choose. The one that has most positive, current testimonials will often be the one that’s selected. Read the rest of this entry »

In Reputationz News each month I highlight what I consider to be recent reputation winners and losers. 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 below for my pick of recent reputation winners and losers and feel free to leave a comment with nominations for the next issue if you think someone or something should be included.

Reputation Winners

US company Terrafugia for developing a folding car-plane that will allow commuters with both a driver’s and pilot’s licence to take to the skies when it enters production next year.

NZ company Booktrack for developing movie-quality background music for ebooks that’s attracted interest from global publishers. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re in business it’s highly likely that at some point you will have been asked whether you follow a B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer) model. The question is usually asked to help clarify what kind of marketing, positioning and processes and systems you might need as these can vary depending on the type of business you operate.

Making distinctions of this kind can be useful in some cases, however what’s more important is understanding that every business needs to be P2P – Person to Person. People do business with people. More importantly people do business with people they like and trust.

The more personally engaged and focused you are the more likely you are attract and retain loyal clients and raving fans. That means focusing on the individuals you deal with at a truly personal level and not considering them as a homogeneous mass. Read the rest of this entry »

It makes a refreshing change to see a customer service response go viral because of how well it’s been handled, rather than how badly.

Three-and-a-half year old Lily Robinson wrote to UK supermarket giant Sainsbury to point out that Tiger bread really should be called Giraffe bread (which I happen to agree with).

Her letter could have been handled perfectly well using the normal channels of communication and ensuring adherence to the supermarket’s rules and protocols around responding to such requests.

Fortunately it was handled a little differently to normal by Customer Manager at the time, Chris King, who chose to respond to Lily in a heartfelt, human and totally present way. Read the rest of this entry »

Change is inevitable. It’s something we can guarantee will happen. Of course that doesn’t make it any easier, especially when change is forced upon us, or when we feel the change is unwarranted or inappropriate.

Managing the pre-change process effectively is essential if you want customers to welcome and support the change rather than challenge it.

If there’s any inkling that the change might disadvantage the customer, or be handled in a way the customer considers to be inappropriate, then not only will you find your reputation severely dented, you might also lose the goodwill and customer loyalty you’d previously earned and find yourself watching part of your customer base disappear.

So what should a provider do to help minimise the risk of alienating clients as you go about making the changes needed? Read the rest of this entry »

The international best-selling book by Stephen R Covey, ‘First Things First’, has as its subtitle ‘To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy’. Whitney Houston’s untimely death this week made me think about her reputation legacy.

How we are remembered when we are no longer living is the ultimate test of our reputation. Our reputation outlives us, in some cases by hundreds or even thousands of years.

The words inscribed on monuments and headstones in cemeteries the world over bear testament to how we live our lives and will be remembered. Some of us may write our own epitaph but many of us do not, leaving it to others to make a final public statement about us.

And today, the words we and others leave on the internet will be added to those inscribed in stone as part of our reputation legacy. 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 »

Photo: Russ Frushtick

Although articles and blog posts in January lend themselves well to the ‘New Year resolutions’ or ‘predictions’ type pieces for the year ahead this year being ‘flawsome’ is a trend I think will come to the fore.

‘Flawsome’ came in at number 8 on Trendwatching.com’s top 12 crucial consumer trends for 2012 and means the more humanly a brand or company behaves – admitting and even showing their flaws – the more awesome they’ll be perceived. Trendwatching notes:

“consumers won’t expect brands to be flawless; they will even embrace brands that are FLAWSOME*, and at large (or at least somewhat) human. Brands that are honest about their flaws, that show some empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and dare we say it, some character and humanity. Read the rest of this entry »

The discussion on National Radio’s ‘Afternoons‘ programme with Jim Mora yesterday regarding celebrity endorsements was interesting.

Panellists Scott Yorke and Michael Deaker had differing opinions as to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) might pursue former news anchor, Richard Long, over his involvement as ‘frontman’ for failed finance company Hanover Finance in terms of lending his reputation and name to the campaign.

Might the FMA have to pursue the copywriter, the ad agency, a voice-over artist as well as Long, for example? And might the perceived risk in terms of loss mitigate involvement if it’s low?

Not only did Yorke feel anyone investing in financial products probably wouldn’t be swayed by a celebrity endorsement, he also noted that even if Long had undertaken extensive ‘due-diligence’ to satisfy himself as to the robustness of the company’s financial performance and status, it’s likely financial advisers at the time may indeed have advised him that it was sound. Fair comment. Read the rest of this entry »