e-bay: a peer-to-peer reputation management system
Conall McDevitt has an interesting post up about CEO reputations:
“Communicating frequently with their employees. Certainly with their customers too, but not to forget their employees. At a time of uncertainty employees are hungry for information. CEOs need to take responsibility. Apologize if they are wrong. If they don’t know the answer, say they don’t know. We are just starting to see CEOs really being the face of the company.”
The CEOs of the Big 3 Auto Companies get a mention:
“They are being very transparent and accessible whether on social media, or in the general media, giving interviews, etc.. You see a lot stepping up and coming up with solutions. GM has done a good job with their FastLane blog where they have different executives go on. They’re pretty straightforward. They’re out there. I expect tech companies to make the best use of social media, but when you see manufacturers making use of it, that is different……. there is a lot of anger and lack of trust about CEO compensation and I think also there’s a sense that CEOs in some sectors were not prepared and looking for the early warning signs they should have, the signs that could have helped prevent this financial crisis. So many employees have lost their jobs, so many families affected.”
‘Reputation management‘ is one of those issues that has been gamechanged by the internet and social media (the system used by e-bay is arguably the company’s greatest asset).
How it will impact upon elected politicians and their relationships with senior permananent management is anyone’s guess, but it’s interesting how highly engaged interlocutors – in this case, employees – can determine the reputation of a CEO – and presumably, by extension, a politician. Reputation – in this instance – can be the aggregate result of micro-judgements on daily conduct, civility, and honesty.
But anyone who has ever sat in a crowded livingroom watching the news knows what every TV anchor knows: Sometimes, wearing a stupid tie can drown out the most serious story.
Being seen to be highly interactive, open and honest in the way you deal with people will undoubtedly become more important than it was. Surely, for senior decision-makers, it’s as important a question as involving people in the details of your decisions?
Either way, if I were working at the TUC, I’d be looking at the way that employee’s hostility towards poor employers could be harnessed in a damaging way. And – having worked around politicians in the past – I’m pretty sure that some of the more privately unpleasant MPs could be damanged by the people who work for them.
