I have jury duty next week which brought to mind my last experience.
That was the time I sat in a room with a huge number of potential jurors for eight hours straight. The case was about a woman whose home had been foreclosed and she was suing a well-known bank.
The lawyers were having a hard time seating the jury, and I soon realized that while the case was about a foreclosure, what it was really about was that the bank’s reputation was on trial.
The comments that came from my fellow citizens during questioning were more fascinating and revealing than any marketing survey could ever capture. It took a full day to finally find twelve people who could seemingly hear the facts of the case objectively.
No matter the industry or size, business reputation is always on trial. From the smallest of actions to customer service to decision making there are unseen eyes watching and forming judgments – fairly or not. Similar to computer security and virus protection running silently in the background, it is beneficial to include reputational risk in every business step.