Reputation insurer Steel City Re is offering boards of directors access to its proprietary reputation volatility metrics (RVM) reports as a standalone product in response to recent bank crises. Reputation value volatility case studies. “Volatility can indicate shifting stakeholder expectations preceding stock price collapses.”
The U.S. Department of Labor has now launched an investigation and said it will hold not only companies that employ child labor accountable, but the larger, better known companies that have child labor in their supply chains. The new regulatory stakeholders in companies’ supply chains bring with them investors and litigators, who had material financial consequences to activities already being followed by activists.
The settlement with Activision Blizzard could have widespread implications for how companies choose to manage risk, according to Nir Kossovsky, CEO of Steel City Re, which provides insurance for reputation and assists companies in establishing risk management functions. Kossovsky said that companies should create “reputation risk leadership committees” composed of representatives from “every silo” of the company that interacts with a critical stakeholder group…“No one can argue with thoughtful risk management and dutiful oversight, but you need a demonstrable, effective process to make that claim.”
Demonstrating Quality and Effectiveness. In this recent post by the National Association of Corporate Directors, the lawyer authors write, “Documenting the board’s activities is a critical component of demonstrating management’s efforts to monitor relevant risks and board review of these efforts.” Under the DoJ’s enhanced enforcement guidelines, simply demonstrating effort is not sufficient. Demonstrating effectiveness—not merely effort—is crucial; and it is one of the strategic benefits of ESG and reputation insurances.
All risk is connected. As in Dirk Gently’s world, everything in the risk world is now connected, but without the humor of Douglas Adams. The consequences of operational perils between and among employees—the sorts of things that might have triggered coverage with Employment Practice Liability insurance, is now a matter for derivative litigation and the SEC.
Risk Strategy Authentication and Communication.If you oversee an effective reputation risk strategy process, but no one knows it, is it actually effective? This is a vital question boards of directors, senior executives, and risk professionals need to ask themselves in this era of enhanced regulatory enforcement. Building resilience requires a demonstrably effective, insurance-authenticated system.
The military, and many corporate leaders, think in terms of an ‘OODA loop’ — the amount of time it takes to Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. We live in an era where weaponized social media has compressed OODA time frame for reputation risk management dramatically, especially when institutional investors are on tenterhooks.
Culture limits risk strategy. Southwest was overwhelmed and unable to adapt as a severe storm swept the US. But behind those specific issues is an insular management team that critics say lacks the imagination and technology expertise to help avoid such crises. […] The carrier has a long-standing reputation of being slow to adopt new technology, and spent years implementing a new reservation system and updating its maintenance operations.
Reputation risk emerges when the expectations of a critical mass of stakeholders shifts, and the value of favorable expectations transforms into the costs of emotionally-rich disappointment. Twitter’s blue check “chaos” shows that the velocity of reputation risk boosted is approaching military-grade speeds.
In San Jose, Calif….on Jan. 1, the city will begin requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance to compensate victims harmed by the negligent or reckless use of a firearm. The behavioral economic properties of insurance have long successfully nudged social change.