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 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 »

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:

John Lewis department store’s Christmas ad. for challenging viewers’ perceptions and judgements in a heartwarming way whilst brilliantly underscoring the ad’s key message. Enjoy!

‘This Is Why I’m Broke‘ website for providing a seemingly endless range of innovative, quirky and just plain ‘out-there’ products designed to part rational, reasonable people from their money! Read the rest of this entry »

Excuse the pun, but stripping New Zealand’s streaking-granny from the safety video on Air New Zealand’s long-haul flights is a sensible move in terms of reputation branding.

The actress, Betty Messent, remains in the footage for New Zealand domestic, Pacific Islands and trans-Tasman flights and has no doubt put a smile on the face of many passengers who’ve seen her star-turn and are familiar with ’streakers’ at sporting fixtures.

However, seeing an elderly naked passenger running up the aisle if you’re not familiar with streaking makes no sense at all and many overseas visitors to New Zealand would wonder why she’s there. So even though many Kiwis will mourn the clip’s loss, it’s smart that Air New Zealand has removed that piece of the footage for it’s long-haul flights. Read the rest of this entry »

Emerson cartoon: The new adidas logo published in the New Zealand Herald 9 Aug 11

Less than a month out from the opening game of the Rugby World Cup major sponsor Adidas continues to have a public relations nightmare on its hands following the public outcry in New Zealand over its official All Blacks jerseys.

Trying to ring-fence New Zealanders and block them from purchasing the same product more cheaply from overseas websites did nothing but enrage Kiwi All Blacks fans with many promising to boycott not only the official jersey itself, but all Adidas products as a result.

Now the story has spun out into how much the NZ$220 jerseys cost to manufacturer (approximately $9) and whether Adidas is acting ethically given the wages paid to those that make them is estimated at as little as $1 a day.

Their ‘we won’t drop the price under any circumstances’ stance has, and will continue, to cost them dearly. Already events celebrating their support of the tournament have had to be cancelled in the wake of the public outcry that’s occurred. 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

• Australian legislation for promising to give investors in ASX-listed companies the power to force re-election of an entire board if investors believe executive pay is inappropriate two years in a row.

• Air New Zealand for continuing to provide scheduled flights and ensure passenger safely despite volcanic ash clouds that grounded flights by Quantas, Jetstar, Pacific Blue and Virgin.

• St Pancras railway station for supporting bands and musicans wanting to get their music across to thousands of passengers during lunchtime and rush-hour ‘Rock ‘n’ Rail‘ jam sessions.

Reputation Losers

• EMA (Northern) CEO Alasdair Thompson for spectacularly forgetting that the camera is always rolling, the microphone is always on and there’s no such thing as ‘off the record’ when discussing reasons for women’s sick leave.

• Celebrity endorsements of financial products and companies in New Zealand following proposed legislation to make endorsers liable for claims made and face fines of up to $1 million.

• Diving and snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef following a tourist being left behind by a dive boat operator in similar vein to previous tourists, some of whom made it to safety, some of whom didn’t.

Who or what do you think should be listed? Leave a comment to let me know. Click the link to view Reputationz News online.

Photo: TV3 News.co.nz

Following the media coverage resulting from one of New Zealand’s most high-profile CEOs has been like watching a train crash in slow motion.

The fact that he apparently believes women take more sick leave because of ‘monthly sick problems’ is one thing. It’s quite another that he said this in his role as Chief Executive of the Employer and Manufacturers Association (Northern).

Reputation rules and if the CEO states he’s simply expressing the views of many of its members we can take as read that that’s the case. No wonder, then, that many of those members were both aghast and disturbed at his comments, as were members of his board who scrambled to distance itself from Thompson’s comments.

Now there are numerous examples of leaders of organisations who have made untrue, inappropriate or simply strange comments who haven’t been vilified he way Thompson has. So what is it about him that’s keeping the story running and leaving Twitter and Facebook commentators feasting on it? 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 »

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

• The Kiwi owners of Farmers Trading Company for purchasing almost all of the Whitcoulls and Borders bookshops currently in receivership in New Zealand with a view to making the chains financially viable again.

• Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin for bringing his James Bond style personal jetpack one-step closer to commercial reality with a 5,000 foot flight that has military, search and rescue and commercial investors abuzz.

• The surgeons who undertook the first full face transplant in the US that gave Dallas Wiens the opportunity to have facial features again following an electrical accident that disfigured his face. 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 »