I want to talk to you about trust.
In 2024, more than ever, trust is what will allow companies to remain strong and have the strength to adapt and prosper, regardless of the changes that will impact the business.
Trust, today and for the future, is what will ensure public preference, both to maintain leadership and continue growing and to block the advancement of competition. Furthermore, another very relevant point for Brazilian companies: trust can make a difference and guarantee resilience in difficult times.
“Trust is a prerequisite for a strong reputation that generates value.”
Ruptures and profound transformations
The last 12 months have not been for amateurs. We live in complex times, of ruptures and profound transformations. It was not a period favorable to improvisations, to clinging to deep-rooted convictions or to predictive models. You probably didn't imagine a third of everything we've seen in recent months. Shall we remember?
- We watched, in disbelief, the invasion and depredation of the Planalto, the Congress and the STF, in Brasília, on January 8th.
- Climate change, with landslides and floods in the Southeast, droughts in the North and excessive rain in the South, in addition to temperatures well above average throughout almost the entire country, caused deaths, destroyed homes, roads and company facilities, generating losses, shortages and delay in deliveries. They also contributed to record fires in the Amazon.
- The popularization of Generative Artificial Intelligence added a new layer of challenges and opportunities to companies' strategies, with an impact on costs, ethical discussions and the future of work.
- Around the world, we have seen the resurgence of terrorism with the indefensible atrocities that occurred in Israel on October 7, which began the war against Hamas and the humanitarian tragedy in the Middle East. In addition, Russia's war against Ukraine continues.
These and other events are beyond the control of company leaders, but, in some way, they also have repercussions on organizations.
Image and reputation crises
This was, without a doubt, a turbulent year in the business scenario, from the point of view of image and reputation crises. Many companies have paid a high price for their inconsistencies and vulnerabilities. Have you ever stopped to think about how much of the headlines have been taken up from January until now with scandals, accusations and misunderstandings involving company names, entrepreneurs and C-Level executives?
- At the beginning of January, we received news in all WhatsApp groups about the accounting distortions at Lojas Americanas and the inaction of the reference shareholders, so respected until then.
- Right now, before the year ends, we are following the outcome of a tragedy announced in Maceió: the sinking of an entire neighborhood and the compromising of several others, with social and environmental repercussions, caused by a Braskem mining project.
Between these two most notable cases, we witnessed many others of different dimensions throughout the year, some of which could have been avoided or mitigated with appropriate risk or crisis management:
- You will remember, in the first quarter of the year, we learned of allegations of work analogous to slavery involving the traditional Aurora, Garibaldi and Salton wineries, as well as cases linked to rice producers in the Western Border of Rio Grande do Sul and during the Lollapalooza festival . All episodes are related to outsourced workers, although the impact ends up affecting contractors more.
- Lack of preparation and little attention to diversity and inclusion issues caused damage to companies of different sizes and sectors throughout the year. In addition to accusations of racism linked to Carrefour, cases related to ageism, sexual orientation, discrimination against women and even restrictions on hair, clothing and behavior have polarized social media.
- In an environment of fierce political polarization in the country, it was left to Mondelez (with Bis, from Lacta) and Nestlé (with Kit Kat), which had nothing to do with it.
- One of Taylor Swift's most anticipated tours of the year ended in tragedy, with death, fainting, burns, as well as robberies and kidnapping. T4F took its time, but it had to go public to apologize and commit to improvements.
Of course there are positive examples. Many Brazilian companies surprised us with new approaches.
Yes, many companies in Brazil took advantage of the year to get closer to their audiences by focusing on production on a more sustainable basis, launching innovative products and advancing digital technologies.
But even Artificial Intelligence, which opens up perspectives never made possible before in areas such as public health, has generated a series of problems for companies, mainly due to reports of prejudiced biases. And OpenAI itself, responsible for the pioneering ChatGPT, found itself facing a governance crisis.
New methods for thinking about the future
Recent facts indicate that we no longer have as much control over many variables as we imagined until recently. Unpredictability tends to be permanent and the speed of change is already greater than our capacity to absorb, learn and adapt.
In this environment, it starts to seem unproductive to dedicate our time, energy, focus and money just looking back, crossing data and doing dozens or hundreds of analyses, trying to guess what will happen. And, comfortably, believing that, with this, we will prepare our companies to face it.
We need, with new methods, to ensure ways to guarantee protection, strength and power to companies, regardless of the scenario in which we will be inserted in the future. And I am convinced that the name of this game is trust.
Start with the 3Cs
Trust is a prerequisite for a strong reputation that generates value and a stage prior to admiration, one that will guarantee differentiation, premium price or sales volume, attraction and retention of talent and longevity.
Always keep in mind that gaining and maintaining stakeholder trust in your company, brand and people needs to be intentional and the result of working with methods, processes, indicators and accountability. But we will talk about this later, at other times. one to one.
For now, make it a priority to look very carefully at what we here at ANK call the “3Cs”:
- Competence: Does the company fulfill what it promises and deliver with superior quality, compared to its competitors?
- Commitment: Is the company correct, fair and ethical and demonstrates commitment to contemporary causes, beyond the core business?
- Communication: to build trust, you and your company need to BE and APPEAR. In this sense, communication is an urgent necessity and needs to be clear, consistent, redundant, human and engaging. And, of course, it needs to reach those who really matter.
I hope 2024 is an incredible year of growth and dreams come true.
Anik Suzuki is CEO of ANK Reputation
anik@ankreputation.com.br
