Reputation risk is now in its fifth straight year of topping the charts, according to one survey.

via How to Use Captive Insurance to Manage Reputation Risk.

This is what one quote from the article said: “Experience shows that many operational risks arising from potential catastrophic events – including major environmental incidents, global supply chain interruptions, and cyber risks – invariably threaten to mushroom into reputation risk”

Exactly. Reputation is so amorphous, it underpins everything a company does. It cannot be outsourced.

The 2014 Reputation at Risk survey from Deloitte/Forbes Insights shows that for businesses in all industries, reputation is a complex risk in which managing expectations and perceptions are as important as managing operations and execution.

“A company’s reputation,“ Deloitte’s survey states, “should be managed like a priceless asset and protected as if it’s a matter of life and death, because from a business and career perspective, that’s exactly what it is.”

Who has stated this over and over. That timeless giant – Warren Buffett of course.

The article shares important thoughts about insuring against Reputation risk and states “Another key benefit of reputational risk management is the ability to signal the markets that the company’s controls are sufficient to qualify the firm as an insurable risk”.

That signalling I believe is depended on management’s understanding of Reputation as an asset and that of it as a risk.

If you are interested to enhance your company’s understanding of Reputation Risk, you should not miss my next Reputation Risk training in Johannesburg 15 – 16 April.