The Reputation Game

August 21, 2017
Responding to Winston Churchill’s declaration that “history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it,” Waller, a consultant, and Younger, the director of Oxford University’s Centre for Corporate Reputation, observe that even the most powerful people can rarely control completely how others perceive them. Instead, the authors stress, reputations must develop naturally through the building of networks, the mastering of narratives, and one’s ability to manage crises. Exclusive interviews with Jay-Z and Bernie Madoff convey how reputations can, respectively, soar or plummet. Vignettes of disastrous responses to difficult situations, particularly of BP’s miserable response to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, show how not to handle crises; the authors use the example of the election of Pope Francis to show how an institution can partially restore its stained reputation. The story of British politician John Profumo’s career, from his involvement in a 1960s sex scandal that ultimately dragged down a prime minister’s administration to his return to the political establishment’s good graces 12 years later, contrasts well with the story of the dreadful collapse of former prime minister Tony Blair’s reputation. With this extensively researched book and its eclectic assortment of real-world applications and examples, playing the titular game will seem like a far less daunting prospect.