A chief reputation officer (CRO) is an executive-level position at a corporation, company, organization, or institution, typically reporting directly to the CEO or board of directors and belonging to the executive board of directors.
The chief reputation officer is responsible for reputation, brand, public relations/public affairs, and the integrated management and effective and efficient coherence and consistency of all internal and external communications, throughout all physical and virtual touch-points, in order to create a favorable base for strong and lasting relationships with the stakeholders on which the organization depends.
The CRO is the corporate officer primarily responsible for:
- Developing and implementing an integrated communication policy actively embedded in the organization’s global business strategy.
- Helping the organization in deeply understanding its market, and stakeholders and providing knowledge and management tools on how to translate this understanding into differentiating, attractive perceptions and supportive behaviors.
- Assisting the organization in building and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders among all strata of society.
- Supporting the organization in creating global strategic alignment through company’s vision, mission, brand values and positioning, as the starting points for internal and external alignment with de organization.
- Helping the organization in creating a strong corporate brand.
- Assessing the organization in creating and enhancing a sustainable reputation
- Supporting the organization in the identification and mitigation of reputational risks and to advise and participate in decisions that may impact its
- Preparing top executives and management throughout the business for intense persuasive communication with relevant
- Advising and supporting the top executive / CEO in building and maintaining his/her personal
- Developing an integrated management dashboard to measure the corporate communications, brand, reputation and intangibles performance and to reveal accountability and value creation towards business and financial return.
- Fostering the organization in its permanent transformation using reputation management to achieve corporate excellence.
References
edit- Fombrun, Ch., Van Riel, C. (2004) “Fame and Fortune: How Successful Companies Build Winning Reputations” Financial Times Prentice Hall
- Riel, Cees van, Fombrun, Charles, (2007), Essentials of Corporate Communication, Routledge, 2007
Further reading
edit- Aaker, D. (2008) Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative, Harvard Business Press.
- Bronn, P. 2002, Corporate Communication – A Strategic Approach to Building Reputation, Gyldendal
- Grunig, J. E. 1991, Excellence in Public Relations, Lawrence Erlbaum Ass.
- Hatch, M. J. & Shultz M. (2008), Taking Brand Initiative. How companies can align strategy, culture and identity through corporate branding, Jossey Bass.
- Kotler (2010), Marketing 3.0 JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC
- Van der Jagt (2005), Senior Business Executives see Communication and Reputation as a crucial part of their leadership role, Corporate Reputation Review.