“Your reputation is what you are perceived to be; your character is who you really are,”
– John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach, 1948-1975
That is a profound statement that has taken on new meaning in light of a string of recent crises that have confronted major global corporations like BP, Apple, Toyota and others.
Is it time for communications and marketing professionals to move from simply managing brand and corporate reputation to more actively asserting themselves — at a board level — in the stewardship of institutional character? If not these professionals, then who should assume the role of truly looking at institutional character, not at a transactional level, but at the DNA level of the organization?
