While both social media and social movements have provided vivid examples of the rising stakes of reputation risk, a recent report from Deloitte found many of the leaders best positioned to monitor and control such risk are failing to do so.In Illuminating a Path Forward on Strategic Risk, the firm surveyed 400 leaders from U.S. organizations with $1 billion or more in annual revenue, finding that fewer than half (42% of CEOs and 50% of board members) have discussed reputation risks in the past year.
Approximately 40% of respondents view reputation risk as “merely a by-product of breaches and other security threats” rather than a strategic threat, which the study’s authors noted is especially concerning “since market value largely stems from intangible assets such as brand equity, intellectual capital and goodwill.”
Further, even amidst the #MeToo movement, more than two-thirds of organizations do not provide regular reports at the CEO and board level on culture and conduct risks and three out of four do not intend to improve upon or establish such a reporting process.