A CEO is ultimately responsible for the growth of a company as evidenced by its financial performance, its capacity for self-renewal, and its character. The only way you can measure character is by reputation.

1. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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SUSTAINABLE
LEADERSHIP

2. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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“A CEO is ultimately responsible for the
growth of a company as evidenced by its
financial performance, its capacity for self-
renewal, and its character.
The only way you can measure character is
by reputation.”
Former Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta

3. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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The short term, metric-driven
obsession to outperform competitors
this quarter, even if it requires
taking aggressive risks to generate
quick astronomical returns, has
been tempered by the realization
that sustainable market leadership
requires consistency, transparency
and trustworthiness. Companies that
are surviving and succeeding in this
new reality have embraced sustainable
leadership as a management
imperative.
Sustainable leadership is less about
dollars and more about sense. CEOs
have seen firsthand that companies
built on the bedrock of positive
reputation are more likely to withstand
financial maelstroms. Apple,
Fortune’s Most Admired company
for three years running, experienced
explosive growth even during the
depths of the recession.
With some experts estimating
that intangible assets account for
70 percent of the value1 of public
companies, CEOs are refocusing on
reputation as the most direct route
to long-term growth. Research
shows that culture, communication,
citizenship and other intangibles that
enhance stakeholder trust and earn
reputational equity have dramatically
risen in priority during the last two
years.2
Sustainable leadership, however, is
more than reshuffling the deck on
corporate investments. It is a mindset.
An effective CEO understands that
trust is transactional and can be
gained or lost with every stakeholder
interaction. Therefore, the care and
feeding of reputation must become an
institutional discipline that is nurtured,
evaluated and rewarded along with
other dimensions of performance.
During the last few years, the world of business has undergone a game-changing
transformation. The perfect storm of a shrinking domestic economy, global
recession, limited capital and unprecedented competition has swept through the
markets, upending conventional notions of risk, reward and leadership.

4. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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The sustainable leadership paradigm also redefines the hierarchy of leadership
attributes, placing a premium on nimbleness and flexibility, collaboration,
authenticity and accountability
Warren Buffett is the prototype for sustainable leadership. He is known for
empowering staff, making prudent decisions, acknowledging mis-steps and
communicating regularly.
REPUTATIONAL ROI
A superior reputation is synonymous with corporate sustainability and has been
proven to yield numerous benefits including:
• Customer/client preference/loyalty
• Faster recovery from crises
• Increased investment
• Support from influencers and opinion leaders
• Enhanced employee engagement and productivity
• More opportunities for partnerships and transactions
• Greater pricing power and lower credit costs
Conversely, the cost of a compromised reputation can be steep. Toyota’s
poorly managed safety issues resulted in extensive criminal and civil litigation,
plummeting sales (16 percent drop in January 2010, lowest level in a decade)
and three percent dip in market share. Total losses to market cap are projected
to be in the $25 billion dollar range. The fact that Toyota even remains in
business after one of the largest recalls in automotive history is a testament to
the historical strength of the company’s reputation.
There is no magic involved in reputation. Simply put, it is the ability to cultivate
and maintain trust among key stakeholders. Trust builds on several intrinsic
elements, such as product and service excellence, corporate citizenship, work
environment, financial performance and leadership that ladder up to ultimate
value. These building blocks are dynamic and delicate and will crumble quickly
if organizational behavior fails to align with the brand promise and stakeholder
expectations.

5. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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BUILDING BLOCKS OF REPUTATION
DELIVERABLES
PRODUCTS/
SERVICES
PARTNERSFINANCIALS CAREERS MANAGEMENT
COMMUNITY
GOVERNANCE
POLICY
PHILANTHROPY WORKPLACE SUSTAINABILITY
INNOVATION VISIONCONSISTENCY LEADERSHIP
INTEGRITY
AUTHENTICITY
CSR
INTANGIBLES
There is no magic involved in
reputation. Simply put, it is the ability
to cultivate and maintain trust among
key stakeholders. Trust builds on
several intrinsic elements, such
as product and service excellence,
corporate citizenship, work
environment, financial performance
and leadership that ladder up to
ultimate value.3 These building
blocks are dynamic and delicate and
will crumble quickly if organizational
behavior fails to align with the brand
promise and stakeholder expectations.
It is widely accepted that among the
reputation drivers, leadership quality
is a cornerstone. Research shows
that confidence in management can
account for as much as 14 percent
of a firm’s profitability and heavily
influence buy/sell decisions.4
The CEO bears the brunt of the
reputation burden because he/she
is a stakeholder’s most tangible
connection to the organization. Aside
from being the familiar name and face
from the news, as decision maker-in-
chief, the CEO is held responsible for
setting the direction that ultimately
shapes financial performance, work
environment, culture and other
outcomes.
Because a CEO is so integral to
corporate reputation, his/her
judgment is constantly under scrutiny.
Consequently, the ramifications of
personal and professional decisions
often bleed together as evidenced
by the 10 percent hit HP’s stock took
after news of Mark Hurd’s sex scandal
broke.
… There’s one critical job only a CEO can do: link the
outside world (society, economy, technology, customers)
with the inside world (your organization).
A.G. Lafley, Chairman, Procter Gamble

6. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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Sustainable leadership means
understanding the fragile,
encompassing nature of reputation
and embracing a holistic, enterprise-
wide approach to reputation
management. A sterling CEO
reputation is a foundation not a
solution.
Trust is transactional and every
interaction with the company has the
potential to strengthen or sabotage it.
A customer service gaffe, technology
failure or employee indiscretion can
be as damaging as a management
misstep. In an era of instant
information, reputation stewardship
must be implemented as an
institutional discipline that is nurtured,
evaluated and rewarded along with
other dimensions of performance.
Though not a silver bullet,
communications is an extremely
powerful weapon in a company’s
reputation management arsenal.
In today’s 24/7 global media
environment, communications can
destroy as much as defend and must
be handled with utmost dexterity. As
with leadership, communications
rules have been rewritten. Sustainable
communications is predicated on
three core principles:
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNICATIONS
To be persuasive we must be
believable; to be believable
we must be credible; credible
we must be truthful.
Edward R. Murrow

7. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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Perceptions are shaped every
minute by the myriad conversations
happening across multiple networks
of influence — mainstream media,
social media, peer-to-peer. For
corporations, the price to participate
and potentially influence these
perceptions is consistent, real-time,
honest disclosure. Whole Foods CEO
John Mackey learned the hard way that
there are no secrets in cyberspace.
After posting more than a 1,000
times on a Yahoo message board
under an alias, he was called out by
other members of the board and the
incident was covered in The Wall Street
Journal.
The importance of TACTful
communications is further validated
by the findings of the latest Reputation
Quotient Survey from Harris
Interactive. The research found that
a number of financial firms topped
the list of companies whose products
are least likely to be purchased or
recommended, despite an aggressive
push by corporate communications.
Robert Fronk, SVP Harris Interactive,
surmised that this disconnect occurred
because the [firms were] not seen as
being sincere, transparent, accurate,
or consistent in their communications,
all of which have a very high
correlation with positive reputation.”
Moreover, the power dynamic with
stakeholders has changed. Just
like consumers own the brand,
stakeholders have become arbiters
of reputation – and they know
it. Force-fed, one-way messages
and generic press releases are no
longer acceptable as stakeholders
increasingly demand direct dialogue
and engagement.
Adapting to this model requires
a fundamental shift not only in
the content and character of
communications but also in platforms.
Forums that are most likely to
resonate will encourage stakeholder
feedback and demonstrate a
willingness to listen.
BE TACTFUL (TRANSPARENT, AUTHENTIC, CONSISTENT, TIMELY)
The way to gain a good
reputation is to endeavor
to be what you desire to
appear.
Socrates

8. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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Spin is no longer an acceptable substitute
for substance. Leadership’s job is to
demonstrate acumen and ability to create
value. Communication’s role is to fan the
flames of support and enthusiasm for
corporate initiatives and help contain crises.
The quickest way to undermine stakeholder
trust is using communications to camouflage
a lack of strategy, or lack of action.
BP is a classic example of when
communications and action do not function
as a partnership. As one of the greatest
oil disasters snowballed, BP hid behind
its “green” messaging as an environment
leader and pointed fingers at other parties.
Not only did the Company fail to present
a cohesive and decisive plan of action, the
CEO failed to demonstrate any genuine
concern, which in turn undermined its
“reputation rehab” advertising and public
relations campaign.
60% of all
management problems are
due to faulty
communication
Peter Drucker
The globalization of business and
proliferation of social networking has broken
down information silos and rendered the
traditional notion of message mapping
obsolete. Stakeholders no longer stay in their
lane – they communicate, connect and cross-
cultivate. There are no secrets. Consumers
have access to SEC disclosures. Analysts
can reach customers and employees are the
unspoken hub that touches all of a company’s
stakeholder spokes.
Utilizing a total stakeholder approach
enables companies to leverage the
influence that stakeholders have over each
other to tell their story effectively, generate
goodwill, engage influencers and reinforce
trust.
Total stakeholder engagement is not
without challenges. The process and
speed of information sharing has not
altered the fundamental human interest in
“what is in it for me?”
Yet, those “me’s” rarely have fully aligned
values and interests and often include
conflicts where good news for one group
means bad news for another. Attempts
to customize content can be viewed
as pandering, or worse, dishonest or
manipulative behavior. A CEO’s challenge
is to keep the respective demands and
rewards for each stakeholder group
balanced and to encourage each group to
buy-in to the overall strategy.
ENGAGE YOUR TOTAL STAKEHOLDER UNIVERSE
WELL DONE BEFORE WELL SAID

9. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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By many measures, it is clear that the
business environment has changed
profoundly over the past few years.
The global recession and the global
explosion in information technology
have come together in a game-
changing way – one that demands a
paradigm shift in leader behavior.
More than ever before, a company’s
success – its sustainability -- is rooted in
its reputation and its ability to generate
trust among its many stakeholders. And
more than ever before, the CEO is central
to this equation.
But to build and sustain a strong
reputation – and the trust at the
center of it – the CEO must be willing
and able to communicate in an
effective way. Transparent. Honest.
Substantive. Collaborative. The CEO’s
communication must be all of these
things … and more.
CONCLUSION
Simply stated, this is sustainable leadership, and this
is the new normal for success.

10. SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP
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SOURCES
1.Reputation Leadership, Its More Valuable Than You May Think, by Nir Kossovsky, Leadership Excellence Magazine May 2010.
2.From findings in IBM’s biennial Global CEO Study of 1.541 CEOs, general managers and senior public sector leaders across 28
countries, fielded between September 2009 and January 2010 as well as the 2008 Management Action Programs Inc. (MAP) Quarterly
CEO Survey conducted by Vantage Research.
3.The Reputation Institute uses these criteria in its annual survey to assess the strength of the world’s 600 largest companies (by revenue)
in their home countries. Harris Interactive also assesses similar drivers, namely emotional appeal, social responsibility, financial
performance, products services, vision leadership and workplace in its Reputation Quotient™ (RQ) survey
4.Tough at The Top, Economist, October 2003 – statement of Professor Nitin Nohria, current Dean of Harvard Business School (HBS) and
former co-chair of HBS’ leadership initiative.

11. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Michael W. Kempner
President and Chief Executive Officer
201.507.9500 | mkempner@mww.com
Carreen Winters
Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications Reputation Management
201.964.2410 | cwinters@mww.com
MWW
304 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10010
212.704.9727
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