The world’s largest corporations, a ‘mom and pop’ restaurant in a Milan back street and a sole-trading electrician in Slough all have a crucial asset in common: their good name.
Nowhere should the value and importance of reputation be better recognised than in a family office. Arguably the management of reputation is even more important than protecting financial assets. Money comes and goes but a good name, possibly built up over centuries, can be damaged beyond repair by one careless slip.
In the past it was relatively easy for embarrassing and inappropriate conduct to be ‘hushed up’ but bad news can no longer be consigned to the dustbin. ‘Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapping’ is a cliché that will never be true again, with Google and other search engines providing links to stories that will last as long as the internet does.
Today, we are hyper-mediated - from paparazzi to social media stories, pictures and even video can be passed around the world in the blink of an eye. Once unleashed, bad news is hard to contain and can spread like a virus. Note the emergence of scandal-mongering blogs and websites such as ‘Perez Hilton’ and Gawker Media in the United States.
The media landscape has now changed forever and the revelations regarding phone hacking and ‘blagging’ of private data by British tabloids that has given rise to a major public enquiry in the UK, will undoubtedly change it further.
Of late there has been a tendency by high profile individuals to use lawyers (and the Courts) in an attempt to manage reputation, often with disastrous consequences, principally due to the uncontrollable nature of the internet and the globalisation of news.
In my experience the task of reputation management has become much more complex in recent years, to the extent that no single set of skills is now fit for the task. The approach I have developed relies on an old maxim from my own family: proper preparation prevents poor performance.
What this means in practice is easier to illustrate with examples than to explain. However, as our clients value discretion above all else, a real life case study would be wrong. So instead, I’ll share with you the experiences of a fictional client - let’s call him John - whose example is based on a series of real situations we have handled on behalf of clients.
John is a self-made man. His success and business interests have led to repeated exposure in the international media and frequently this has been a useful tool, both in business and in establishing his personal brand. But, especially as his children grew up, he recognised his privacy was also becoming increasingly important to him. He wanted to prevent press intrusion into his non-business life and had also started to think about the family as a brand that would live on beyond him.
We advised him that his monthly private office management meetings should start to put reputation management as an agenda item. John readily agreed to this and at the first meeting we discussed how he saw his own reputation, as well as his concerns
for family privacy. Having established his objectives we agreed with him that research and intelligence-gathering was essential to give us the information we needed to craft a well-informed strategy to deliver the desired results. We agreed to carry out an audit.
At Tavistock, we have a growing intelligence team led by a former investigative journalist and corporate intelligence consultant. Having agreed the scope, the team arranged for
a ‘360 degree’ scan of our client, starting with an examination of public records such as media cuttings, litigation records and corporate registry filings. We also looked closely at social media, such as various blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
John was not expecting any surprises. In the event he was shocked to learn that a foreign language blogger had been monitoring his career for several years and had also started to pay close attention to his wife’s profile in running the family philanthropic activities.
At this point we had the delicate task of persuading John that similar ‘coastguard’ tasks needed to be carried out in relation to public information on his wife and three children ranging in ages from 11 to 20 years old.
It was decided the youngest did not have sufficient exposure for this to be necessary and instead her mother warned her about the potential dangers of the internet. We did check her school website to ensure any school pictures from trips and so forth did not tag her and agreed that was sufficient.
The eldest son was delighted to co-operate and even gave pointers towards acquaintances who he felt had made it clear they were more interested in his family money than in being his true friends. He played a full part in his privacy and reputation audit and as a result of our findings, cut a few people out of his life and started to think far harder about the kind of social events he would attend in the future.
The 17-year-old middle daughter was more difficult. She felt the exercise was going to be a real intrusion into her own developing personal life. Luckily John and his wife were able to handle the matter with great sensitivity and our report was delivered to her personally with the simple advice that if we could see something, anyone else could too. No one had to be ‘unfriended’ but she persuaded her circle to stop ‘tagging’ her in photographs posted to the internet. The message had hit home.
From that point on, our engagement with the family became far deeper. John continued to consult us regularly on both business and personal matters. We were involved
in media management around key family events, business developments and we were frequently drafted in to assist his legal and business team before decisions were taken, to provide counsel on the possible external impact of them and any likely public reaction.
One serious issue that repeatedly cropped up was the behaviour of John’s brother-in-law. He had previously been warned about using our client’s name in attempts to strike business deals. Always a black sheep, the brother-in-law ended up in a serious legal dispute, which involved an investigation by regulatory authorities. There was a serious danger of the family name being dragged into the affair.
John was understandably furious - but even apparently cataclysmic misjudgement by a ‘black sheep’ can be managed in such a way that the rest of the family do not get tarred with the same brush.
When the inevitable media calls came we were able to present an accurate account of events, which downplayed any potential newsworthiness leading to the case going virtually unreported and without the family connection being mentioned.
Bringing in an unfamiliar firm or individual to manage reputation is something that high profile business people and family offices find understandably difficult. Our experience is that we are most often brought in to offer an independent view from those trusted advisers who have been with the family for many years. We serve to give a different perspective directly to our clients and also offer practical advice for dealing with something deeply personal and individual.
We understand our role is somewhere between confidante and counsellor and our approach is guided by five golden rules of reputation management.
• The family must understand that reputation is a key asset which must be managed to protect both legacy
and wealth.
• Reputational risk should be just as much a part of regular management meetings as security and wealth protection.
• An audit must be carried out on key family members; this should include
a close look at social media websites. Regular checks must be made into
on-line profiles.
• A family crisis team should be created including key family members, lawyers and reputation managers. A telephone tree should be created and kept up
to date.
• A crisis plan should be made and all family members kept informed.
At least one family member should be designated as spokesperson and receive media training.
Much of the above may well appear to be just plain old common sense. It is. But with proper preparation, coupled with a clear understanding of where the threats might lie, hard earned reputations can be protected and potential threats can often be eliminated.
