This month, however, the ostensibly ordered world of UBS was rocked by the revelation that ‘You & Us’ might have failed to represent the full relationship on offer. There was certainly ‘You’, the client and ‘Us’ the bank. But there was also – apparently – Mr Adoboli, the rogue trader. And for a private bank trading on trust, this proved a stunning blow, the reputational cost of which will undoubtedly exceed the £1.3bn trading loss witnessed to date.

 

The 6% immediately wiped off UBS’s share price is a spectacular example of the damage rogue employees can wreak when they stop representing their employer and start representing themselves. But we’d be mistaken in thinking that only such dramatically errant behavior has an impact on the way a company is viewed or valued by the market. On a reputational basis, a rogue trader is simply an employee that doesn’t properly represent your proposition to market. And most businesses have plenty of those.

 

In fact, the vast majority of reputational damage inflicted upon businesses today is incredibly banal. It stifles growth rather than causing spectacular collapses. It takes place in everyday customer conversations, sales pitches and press releases. It takes the form of conflicting messages delivered by marketing teams that don’t speak to one another. And it rarely comes down to the sort of reckless abandon witnessed at UBS – but rather to a lack of understanding and strategic direction.

In understanding why this is the case we need to remind ourselves that corporate reputation is built – and undermined – on an iterative basis. Action by action. Interaction by interaction. Taking control of such a complex web of actions and interactions can feel like an intimidating challenge, but it’s one that’s more than achievable. And at its heart lies the simple concept of keeping employees informed about how to represent your business and actively helping them to do it across everything they do.

 

This involves setting a vision for the business that’s as motivational outside the boardroom as it is within it. It involves establishing and maintaining a strong internal culture that lets employees know who they work for and how to behave. It involves establishing and maintaining a strategic overview of all outbound communications, whether above the line advertising or investor relations. Make that happen and your employees’ actions will not only paint a clear picture of your business – they’ll paint one that supports shareholder value.

 

This is a challenge that requires board-level buy-in to fully address. And rightly so, we would argue, as recent studies indicate that 32% of FTSE100 market capitalisation can be attributed directly to corporate reputation. With that level of impact dependent on the degree to which staff are educated and motivated to pull in the same direction, the implications of getting it right or wrong demand the attention of senior business leaders.

 

A parting shot: every hour of every day, your employees are determining the way that customers, suppliers and investors think about your business. If that thought instills you with confidence, chances are you’re one of the few businesses that has taken active steps to define and shape the way the world thinks about you. If not, it may be time to ask the question: if you’re not taking active control of your corporate reputation, who is?