Are You Cultivating and Protecting Your Reputation?

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A stellar reputation requires integrity, trust, transparency, and humility. It demands ongoing assessment and improvement in every individual, organization, and sector. To sustain a resilient reputation, businesses and their leaders need to make their foundational values and purpose come alive with their stakeholders, from employees to customers and communities. They also need continuous improvement in their policies, practices, and products/services to ensure the respect of those who make the business work. 

My first professional “master class” about cultivating and protecting individual and organizational reputation was from Governor Mike Dukakis when I was hired as his assistant press secretary in 1987. He scheduled an individual conversation with each person joining his team; his expectations have been burned into my consciousness and values since. He made it crystal clear that I represented him and the Commonwealth and that my responsibility was to ensure my actions and words would honor both him and my service to the public. I never let him down.

Throughout my career in public service, business, and nonprofits and now as a university instructor and management consultant, I have zealously guarded my own reputation and those leaders and organizations with whom I’ve partnered.

I started Sustainable Futures Consulting in 2017 and in late 2022 launched the Business Reputation Assessment™ and the Nonprofit Reputation Assessment™ to provide an independent expert review of organizational values and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, from the vantage point of your public-facing content (website and social media). This content is the first view potential customers, employees, investors, suppliers, and community partners see; their initial impressions inform their opinion of your reputation. The assessment includes recommendations to create positive impact on your reputation by refining/adding ESG practices (such as energy conservation) and enhancing foundational messaging (like values).

Your organization’s reputation is the foundation of your success. When you work actively to build and regenerate your stakeholders’ trust, they will likely honor you with their loyalty.

If you are interested in cultivating and protecting your reputation, please reach out to Sustainable Futures Consulting.