Things you don’t want to hear as a reputation advisor

When you’ve been in the business of reputation awhile, there are a few phrases that raise alarm bells. They are indicative of an approach that has been known to create obstacles.

• We’re designing the logo ourselves
• No one goes to the website so we don’t need to worry about it
• The legal team is running the comms
• We’re compliant so we’re safe
• The issue was raised but resolved with that one employee
• We need to be seen as taking action on diversity and sustainability
• Pick a cause that the company can get behind
• Let’s let the data speak for itself
• We don’t need a crisis management plan, we’ve never had a crisis
• We’ll just wing it
• I had an off-the-record chat with a journo
• We sent the journo the questions we want to be asked
• Can we get the journo to send my quotes through for approval?
• Let’s wait and see if the dust settles