RESET
Business and Society in the New Social Landscape
As consumers, our access to―and appetite for―information about what and how we buy continues to grow. Powered by social media, increasingly we look at the companies behind the products and are disappointed when their actions do not meet our expectations. With engaged citizens acting as 24/7 auditors of corporate behavior, one formerly trusted company after another has had their business disrupted with astonishing velocity in the wake of what, in the past, might have been written off as a bad media cycle. Gone are the days when a company could hide behind “socially responsible” branding or when marketing controlled the corporate narrative. That control has shifted to engaged stakeholders in the new social landscape, requiring a more radical change to company practices.
James Rubin and Barie Carmichael provide a strategic roadmap for businesses to navigate the new era, rebuild trust, and find their voice. Reset traces the global decline of trust in business at the same time that the public’s expectations for business’s role in society is increasing. Today, businesses must bridge this widening gap at a time when online stakeholders are committed to holding business accountable for its behavior, with unprecedented internal and external scrutiny. This requires strategic solutions anchored in a critical outside-in understanding of the stakeholder footprint of the business model. Reset offers case studies of reputations lost and found, suggesting fundamental strategies to mitigate risk and build the corporate brand. In this new era of instant transparency, corporate behavior has become the proof of corporate character for recruiting and retaining both customers and the next generation of talent. Offering essential advice for managing brand, reputation, and risk, this book is a guide to navigating the pitfalls and taking advantage of the opportunities of the reset.
“James Rubin and Barie Carmichael remind us of a timeless truth that could not be more timely. Reset: Business andSociety in the New Social Landscape shows through cogent analysis and compelling examples how corporate characteris destiny. This is now essential for business success — even survival — in a new world of radical transparency, empowered constituencies and global society undergoing profound change.”
—Jon Iwata, Senior Vice President and Chief Brand Officer, IBM
“[A] must-read for corporate management as well as consumers and the public seeking to affect corporate change. . . . Rubin and Carmichael provide important and innovative insight on how millions of readers/viewers on social mediahave “reset” the landscape of business-society relationships, prodding companies to perform responsibly and profitably.”
—Patricia Werhane, Professor Emerita, DePaul University and University of Virginia
“James Rubin and Barie Carmichael have done a fantastic job of mapping the challenges for corporations to get it right in today’s reset relationship with stakeholders.”
—Ken Sternad, Retired Vice President UPS Global Public Relations and President of The UPS Foundation
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