Earlier today, I read an article/presentation overview from 2006 entitled "How to Become a Thought Leader". The site RainToday.com interviewed established blogger/businessowner and marketing/lead generation thought leader Brian Carroll. The article was great to read to learn more about how to establish oneself and one's organization amidst the realms of blogging, writing, and public speaking. An interesting point was raised about "branding" and "reputation".
Nowadays, the terms "branding" and "reputation" typically get lumped together. The terms are often used synonymously in conversation. Yet, Carroll comments that branding is more focused on a consumer's feeling--which impacts short-term transactions--while reputation comes into play for more complex decisions and purchases. As such, reputation--which sounds less formal in business lingo--is more important than a brand name.
When taking a look at the various aspects and issues of business today--from finance and accounting to management and operations to ethics--how much emphasis is placed on reputation? How much emphasis is placed on brand name? Considering some of the scams and deception of fallen corporate officials and companies of the last 20 years, it seems that companies have been taking the opposite approach--i.e. brand name builds reputation.
Fundamentally, using brand name to build reputation can make sense. A series of successful and pleasant short-term transactions can lead to a good reputation and long-term relationship building. Yet, an overemphasis on short-term transactions can prohibit stable long-term relationships from building. That is, once a negative circumstance arises, a shallow business to consumer relationship falls apart. Instead, a commodity relationship is exposed, leading the dissatisfied consumer to consider alternative options and deal with another business that can avoid the negative circumstance at hand.
Ethically, the concern here is that corrupt officials have taken advantage of such a stance on branding and reputation. What corrupt officials have done over the past 20 years is utilized branding to create an illusion of a good reputation. Masked underneath financial and statistical success and favorable key performance indicators (KPIs) are deceptive and corrupt business practices. When corrupt officials have been able to successfully create an illusion, the reputation that has developed is not shallow. Rather, a high level of trust has been developed from business to consumer as well as from business to employee and business to shareholder. With a fake but stable reputation in place, corrupt officials can cover up a multitude of deceptive and corrupt business practices. Illusions--like rumors and lies--can build up into astronomical proportions.
Sadly, in the last 20 years, the corrupt buildup of supposedly good brand names and reputations has meant sudden, dramatic collapses of businesses upon the uncovering of long-running deceptive and corrupt practices. As such, the ability to differentiate between brand name and reputation goes beyond marketing. Brand name and reputation are fundamental to business and social life. The absence of ethics in branding and reputation can negatively impact more than just shareholders--selfish, deceptive, and corrupt business practices can disrupt society as a whole. Thus, business ethics is not just for the idealistic. Likewise, taking care of business is not enough. A transaction is worth money today, but a good reputation is worth money and other benefits for a long time.