The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation

Citation

Tyrrell, M.W.D. (2006), "The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 317-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730610667216

In this new climate of suspicion and scrutiny, a good reputation is more important than ever and provides one of the few safety nets companies can count on.

It is my hope that this book will guide you in creating that good reputation. (page x).

There should be a sub‐title to this work – “Alsop's Fables”. The work, itself, is an excellent collection of stories including both atrocity tales and wonder tales. It is not, however, a “guide” at least in the sense of being a road map.

The book is divided into three primary sections – Part 1: establishing a reputation, Part 2: keeping that good reputation, and Part 3: repairing a damaged reputation – and a preface. Each section is further divided into “laws” or chapters that take on a particular aphoristic focus.

Part 1, “establishing a good reputation” contains seven aphorisms masquerading as “laws”. Law One: Maximize Your Most Powerful Asset, asks the question that binds the entire book together: “[t]he key question for companies is whether they will passively let others form opinions about them or actively manage and maximize their most valuable asset.” (p. 10). This is not only the “key question” for companies; it is also the question that defines the endpoint of this morality play where a good reputation is the pilgrimage goal of Alsop's Canterbury Tales for the corporate world.

While the first chapter lays out the general question, subsequent chapters elaborate on particular themes inherent in the question. Law 2: Know Thyself – Measure Your Reputation, which might be called “Du Pont's Tale” makes several key points: “you can't manage what you can't measure” (p. 25) and, more generally, know what you are actually measuring and make sure that you measure it. The remaining five “laws” in the first section lay out the general parameters of what central areas compose a corporate reputation: appealing to multiple audiences, living your values and ethics, being a model “citizen” conveying a vision, and creating a positive emotional appeal.

In Part 2, “keeping that good reputation” Alsop presents the reader with six “laws” each of which crosses several of the general parameters laid out in part one. Each of these laws deals, at its core, with questions of communications whether the focus is from the company to the stakeholders (laws 8, 10 and 12), from the stakeholders to the company (laws 9, 11 and 13), or about the dangers and opportunities of that most chaotic of communicative media, the internet (law 11). Alsop's stories show that at the heart of corporate reputations there lies the symbology of the corporate name along with all of the emotional connotations that can be associated with it. He returns to the importance of a corporate name in the final chapter of the book (law 18).

The final section, repairing a damaged reputation, contains five “laws”: “manage crises with finesse” (14), “fix it right the first time” (15), “never underestimate the public's cynicism” (16), “remember – being defensive is offensive” (17), and “if all else fails, change your name” (18). As with Part two, these chapters deal with the confluence of several general parameters; they are also the most anthropomorphic chapters in the book.

The five “laws” in this section are dominated by tales of how a company should react to crises. Laws 14, 15 and 17 are all concerned with exactly how a company should, and should not, act during a crisis. As Alsop notes (p. 218), “[h]ow an individual or company reacts [to a crisis] can be far more important than the circumstances of the crisis. It's the response that makes all the difference in minimizing its damage to corporate reputation – and possibly even enhancing it.”

Laws 16 and 18, deal with the problem of a symbolic crisis where a corporate name has an immense amount of negative emotional connotations. Law 16, which might be called “Coors' Tale” parallels the Book of Job by asking why bad things happen to good companies – or, at least, companies that have done everything that they should to handle crises and still have a bad reputation. And like the Book of Job, “Coors' Tale” offers a glimmer of hope for the future.

In the final chapter, “if all else fails, change your name” deals with a corporate death and rebirth theme with a decidedly karmic tinge to it. This is highlighted by one of Alsop's section headings “you can run, but you can't hide” (p. 276). While name changes offer some potential to re‐establish reputations, they are not panaceas.

Underlying the entire work is an analogy between an organization and an individual operating in society. This analogy is continually put into conflict with the reality that corporations are composed of individuals who have their own agendas. At the start of this review, I suggested that the book should have been sub‐titled “Alsop's Fables”. I made this suggestion not to disparage the work, it is definitely worth reading, but, rather, to highlight its genre. If you are looking for an exact, linear, guide to how to manage your company's reputation, do not read this book. If, however, you are looking for a work that will force you to think and develop a reputation program tailored to your companies specific situation, then this work should be the first book on your reading list.