CEO reputations make or break their company's reputations

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Heidi Sinclair, Burson-Marsteller, http://www.bm.com/pages/home

On top of all other responsibilities, the CEO is also largely responsible for his/her company's reputation; over 50% of a corporation's reputation is tied to the CEO's reputation. This figure is increasing (up from 40% in 1997). This means that the CEO does not only drive the operations, but also must serve as the face and voice of the company to customers, employees, investors, partners, media, and so on.

In fact, media coverage of CEOs also continues to rise (up 86% from 1990). So even though this is time when many CEOs would prefer to keep their heads down, that isn't an option. In fact, it could be a career-ending move.

So, go with it. A strong CEO reputation increases the propensity of people to buy and recommend stock in the company, to buy the corporation's products and services, to want to work at that particular company. An individual CEO can really make or break a company's success across all spectrums. In fact, the downside shows that when a CEO fails, the number-one cited failure is lack of credibility.



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So, what are you going to do to up your reputation quotient? It isn't just about becoming known. While celebrity CEOs are still in vogue, being a celebrity is always a risky endeavor if you are better known for your exploits and personality than for leadership legacy and qualities.

A CEO must give careful thought to the reputation and image he/she would like to have. The planning around this should have the same level of intensity that goes into the annual planning process. Analyze your current reputation with key stakeholders and analyze your chief competitive CEO's reputation as well. Don't try to do this yourself, and I wouldn't recommend you task someone on your team to do this if you want a true picture. Bring in an objective third party. Next, determine your list of role models and the chief aspects of their reputation that you admire. This you can do all on your own. So now you know where you stand and where you want to go—how you want to be perceived by all stakeholder audiences, the reputation you want.

The plan for getting you there must be holistic, taking into consideration who you are, your company's historic situation, the competitive and market environment, industry and global trends. It should start with an assessment of what's important to you, your values, your beliefs, and your personality in order to keep it true to you. Above all, a CEO's reputation must be based on a true representation of the individual. Again, with some outside assistance, a map can be drawn of the reputation markers and drivers for you, your company, and your industry. With this map in hand, you can develop the platforms to put forward, to whom and in what time frame.

The final CEO reputation guide will be a roadmap of the positions and platforms you should be a leading voice on and the specific activities and programs you need to undertake to solidify your reputation as a great CEO and as an industry leader. The balance of leadership content and actions is what in the end will deliver the reputation you need to be successful.

If this all sounds like one more thing to deal with, you may want to know you are in the majority. A recent study my company undertook says that seven out of ten CEOs have considered quitting. Yet, establishing a strong reputation will be one of the easiest tasks you undertake; not doing so will increase the difficulty of everything else.

Heidi Sinclair is chair of global technology for Burson-Marsteller.

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