Blog — Leslie Gaines-Ross

Talk about Reputation...RBG

I cannot believe that one woman — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — could have such a profoundly significant reputation for the ages and for all ages.

Gendered ReputationLeslie Gaines-RossSeptember 21, 2020Reputation, Women, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gender equity

America's Reputation Nosedives

The pre-eminent Pew Research Center came out yesterday with its ongoing research on how 13 nations view America. The results are damming…

Country ReputationLeslie Gaines-RossSeptember 16, 2020America's reputation, Pew research

Rio Tinto’s Reputational Blunder

Unfortunately I have just been catching up to the story behind the departure of the CEO of Rio Tinto, the mega-mining company….it exposes lessons in corporate blindness for all to learn from….

Corporate Reputation, Corporate crisisLeslie Gaines-RossSeptember 15, 2020Rio Tinto, reputation, CEO departure, PRovoke, internal cultureComment

Employee activism in the age of Zoom

How does employee activism manifest itself in these Covid-19 days, weeks and months? All ways…in-person and virtual.

Employee ActivismLeslie Gaines-RossSeptember 13, 2020employee activism, reputation, Zoom, Julia Bond, coworker.org, Adidas

America's reputation for quality of life falters...

The Social Progress Index measures of quality of life —nutrition, safety, freedom, the environment, health, education and more—across 163 countries based on more than 7 billion people. America’s reputation for reaching its potential is woefully declining…

Leslie Gaines-RossSeptember 10, 2020America's reputation, research, wellnessComment

Keeping Corporate America Accountable

There will be a whole new world order for reputation in the year ahead. Accountability in response to COVID-19 and BLM will upset the best and topple the worst…

Corporate Reputation, RankingsLeslie Gaines-RossSeptember 9, 2020reputation, rankings, COVID-19, BLMComment

Can’t Keep Mum

Bank communications in response to COVID-19 made a discernible difference in reputation scores. Customers need to know what you’ve done, not just what you say.

Leslie Gaines-RossSeptember 8, 2020

Summer Time Off

Some time off….

Leslie Gaines-RossAugust 16, 2020

Why do companies and employees mobilize?

Looking at some new research, I wholeheartedly agree that when companies activate their voices to support sociopolitical issues in society, it is not solely a public relations or marketing play.

The past is no path forward for the future

A common question I have heard over the years is: Isn’t it best to remain silent when you do not have your house in order? In some ways, no.

Leslie Gaines-RossJuly 17, 2020Ben & Jerry's, corporate silence, corporate activism

Goya Food Fight

No matter whether you are buycotting or boycotting, the thought of it strikes terror in a brand or company’s reputation.

Leslie Gaines-RossJuly 15, 2020Boycotts, Buycotts, Goya Foods, Brayden King

Glassdoor's COVID-19 Filtering

I took a peek the other day at Glassdoor and was surprised to see that it had developed its own Covid-19 toolkit. One offering stood out to me….

Leslie Gaines-RossJuly 10, 2020COVID-19, Glassdoor, corporate accountability, reputationComment

Corporate Activism — Win Some, Lose Some

A useful study comes out of the University of Arizona on the impact of corporate activism on the bottom line.

Leslie Gaines-RossJuly 8, 2020Corporate activism, financial impact, customers

Pull Up or Shut Up

Pull Up or Shut Up is a new campaign that calls on companies to release the total number of Black employees in their companies as well as their employment levels within 72 hours of posting a message of support for Black people..it is a reputation game-changer…

Leslie Gaines-RossJuly 3, 2020Sharon Chuter, Pull Up or Shut Up, BLM, corporate accountability

Barron's Top CEOs of 2020 Unveiled

Barron’s list of top CEOs was just released. This year, understandably, they switched out the financially-oriented criteria for how leaders handled the multitude of crises that CEOs woke up to this year such as COVID-19…

Leslie Gaines-RossJuly 1, 2020Barron's, best CEOs, crisis managementComment

Corporate Accountability—Updated 7/23

I decided to keep track of the reputation-based and action-based lists that are being released that measure reputation and accountability of companies since COVID-19 and BLM. Updated regularly…

Leslie Gaines-RossJune 25, 2020Reputation-based, Actions Taken, Tracking of companiesComment

Reading tea leaves…

I found this analysis from McKinsey on emerging trends extremely smart for better understanding how companies and leaders might prepare for the risks ahead…

Leslie Gaines-RossJune 23, 2020McKinsey, emerging trends, employee activism, government relations

Word of the Year 2020?

It fascinated me then when I released my trends report at the start of 2019 that JUSTICE was the previous year’s chosen word according to Merriam-Webster. It could apply now too…

Leslie Gaines-RossJune 19, 2020Justice, Merriam-Webster