An article in the Business Day today states that MORE than 200 directors and executives of JSE-listed companies believe Standard Bank’s Jacko Maree is the most trusted CEO of a listed company, according to results of a recent survey on corporate reputation management.

The annual Trust Barometer study by Ask Africa draws a link between strong leadership qualities of the head of a company and its ability to attract talent, customers and investors.

What better way to have your performance and behaviour measured than by your peers in a transparent manner? (This a good example of a 360 degree feedback survey and its value).

The annual Trust Barometer study by Ask Africa draws a link between strong leadership qualities of the head of a company and its ability to attract talent, customers and investors. The Trust Barometer is a corporate reputation benchmark survey that ranks listed and non listed companies across a range of reputation drivers such as innovation, leadership and social responsibility.

“The link between reputation, trust and CEOs are clear, considering that winning companies have winning CEOs and executives,” it says. The study says leadership** is the strongest driver of reputation , and that the responsibility for leadership rests on the shoulders of the CEO, “making his role crucial to the trust and reputation of a company”.

But Ask Africa director Sarina de Beer says reputation management in many companies is not being taken seriously at either board or management level.

Companies only seem to spring into action when their reputation is under threat from a crisis, such as a strike . Management of corporate brand reputation is a distinct management and operational imperative, she says. She faults some listed companies for having a narrow view of who their stakeholders are, limiting them to shareholders and customers.

Read the full article at: http://www.bday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=80578

It is always good when great minds think alike. In my newsletter Powerlines 87 which I sent out yesterday, I made similar observations about the lack of proactive reputation management by corporates.

It is also intriguing that so many executives profess that they understand stakeholders, until they attend my Stakeholder Reputation Master Classes. So often they come to me afterwards and say, we never knew it was this important and complicated.

Reputation is derived from the way an organisation is perceived by it’s stakeholders and how they measure the institution’s performance and behaviour. Standard Bank, by the way have done a lot of work in this area. They have a dedicated Stakeholder Management unit influencing this process.

Well done to Mr Maree. May your example resonate!

**Footnote – It is interesting that the study shows that Leadership is the strongest driver of reputation, yet few companies have Reputation & Stakeholder Management as a subject on their annual Leadership & Management Development agendas. Makes you think, doesn’t it? (Excuse the pun)