Who do you trust? Building a good corporate reputation. Who do you trust? Building a good reputation and managing it.
Kevin Money, Professor of Reputation at Henley Business School, spoke to T-Media’s invited guests about the relationship between trust and reputation—as well as capuchin monkeys’ sense of justice.
On Thursday, October 26, an enthusiastic crowd gathered at Hotel Lilla Roberts in Helsinki to hear a guest speaker from the United Kingdom. T-Media Relations’ Jirimiko Oranen opened the event by noting that reputation is not just a pipe dream, but the foundation of business success.
“Reputation is measurable, and it can and should be managed,” Oranen said.
CEO of T-Media Harri Leinikka delved deeper into trust as a driver of business in his speech. According to Reputation&Trust recent Reputation&Trust , Finnish consumers’ trust in companies and the business community has grown significantly. This is a testament to well-executed reputation management.companies have succeeded in developing their operations and in communicating them effectively.
A good reputation builds trust and stakeholder support—and ultimately boosts sales.
“Our analyses show that trust is a very strong factor in whether a person recommends a company to someone else,” Leinikka said. “That’s why communication should be increasingly people-centered and two-way. Being heard is of great importance.”
Positive Synergy in the Value Debate
A professor from Henley blew up the bank Kevin Money. Upon arriving in snowy Helsinki, the professor admitted to being charmed by the Finnish sauna, which he had visited the previous evening. Money said he had noticed that there is an atmosphere of mutual respect among people in the sauna.
“The greatest trust is born in those moments when a person has let go of—or been forced to let go of—all their defenses,” Money said.
Money encouraged the audience to join in the discussion. The seemingly simple question, “What are values?” sparked a lively conversation as participants shared their thoughts. Together with the audience, Money reflected on topics such as how behavior reflects values.
The relationship between values and actions is obvious, and these actions shape the prevailing culture. However, apparent contradictions between values and actions are inevitable, as human beings are contradictory creatures. The same values may lead to different actions in different contexts.
Even a monkey knows that
Fairness is important. The audience burst into laughter when Money showed a video in which a capuchin monkey protested after receiving a piece of cucumber as a reward for completing a task, while the monkey next to it was given a better treat—grapes. Unequal treatment stirs up strong emotions even in the animal world.
Fairness, impartiality, equality, and listening to employees are important values in the business world. Listening is not a passive activity, but rather an active form of interaction that leads to a deeper understanding of a company’s identity and its place in the minds of its stakeholders.
One of Money’s key findings was the importance of advocates in shaping a company’s reputation. It is pointless to imagine that direct communication with various stakeholders alone will lead to the desired outcome. Every organization has key stakeholders who dramatically influence the views and behavior of other stakeholders.
"Companies often make the mistake of thinking they are the center of the universe," Money said. They would achieve better results in their communications if they placed their key stakeholder groups at the center of their interactions.
The professor specifically praised the event organizer for emphasizing the importance of interaction in T-Media’s reputation model.
“T-Media’s Reputation&Trust is exceptionally well-suited to the times. It incorporates a crucial dimension of interaction that is missing from other reputation research models.”
Would you like to learn more about T-Media’s reputation model and how to use it to improve engagement and increase stakeholder support? Contact us:
Harri Leinikka, CEO, T-Media Oy
harri@reptrust-staging.fi-p.seravo.com
+358 40 505 5001
