In 2007, a major company issued a statement saying that it had dismissed its CIO for violating an important corporate policy. The nature of the corporate policy wasn't revealed. Just about every IT publication carried news of the event. For weeks IT bloggers posted comments about what the CIO could have done to be let go. Eventually, the noise level around this executive's dismissal died down, and the executive took a new job in an area outside of IT.
In this podcast, enterpriseleadership.org asked one of the world's most sought-after authorities on executive reputation, to talk about how C-level executives, especially CEOs, build their reputations based on their corporate strategies, what they need to do to maintain them, and what challenges they face in developing and executing their corporate strategies.
In her role as chief reputation strategist, Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross leads Weber Shandwick's global reputation consulting services and proprietary thought-leadership development. She has done groundbreaking, award-winning research into CEO and corporate reputation, executive team reputation, leadership transitions, and reputation sustainability and recovery.
She spearheaded the first comprehensive research on CEO reputation and its impact on corporate reputation and performance. She developed Weber Shandwick's first global corporate reputation study - "Safeguarding Reputation," which identifies strategies for sustaining and recovering corporate reputation. Dr. Gaines-Ross also created Fortune's "On the Minds of CEOs" research. Her book, CEO Capital: A Guide to Building CEO Reputation and Company Success, was published in 2003 by John Wiley & Sons and her book on reputation recovery is scheduled to be published in 2008, also by John Wiley & Sons.
Dr. Gaines-Ross created www.reputationRx.com, the Web site devoted exclusively to reputation news and information, and her blog can be found at http://reputationxchange.com/
Bio
Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross is the chief reputation strategist at Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm based in New York City. Before joining Weber Shandwick, Dr. Gaines-Ross was chief knowledge and research officer worldwide at Burson-Marsteller and marketing and communications director at Fortune. At Fortune, she did several groundbreaking research programs including “Leveraging Corporate Equity” and “Brands at the Crossroads.” She is also recognized for her strategic insights into and analysis of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies Survey.
Numerous business publications have featured Dr. Gaines-Ross’s work. She has also appeared on CNN and CNBC. A frequent public speaker on CEO and corporate reputation management, she has lectured at The Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, USC, Wharton School of Business, New York University and Columbia University. Ethisphere Magazine named her one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics for 2007.”
Resources
Pittsburgh Forbes - How to Build Your Corporate Reputation
Reputation Institute - How Can You Put a Value on Reputation?
Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio Producer
AlarmMusic.com Production Music Library for Broadcast, Film, Video & Post Production
