Next week, I’m giving the first lecture at the THRIVE conference which convenes senior communications leaders from industry and agency. I’ve been asked to address ‘future-proofing’ comms. A great topic and honored to be selected to take it on.
Over my more than 30 years in this business, working from many sides—biggish agency-to-small corporate-back-to-biggish agency, founding and selling a consultancy, and now building a new, different one—I’ve created, experienced, invented, reinvented and survived a lot. What I see in the crystal ball may not be what others do but, from my perspective, that’s what makes our profession, and life, exciting. I’ll share details from the talk in the next column.
For this column, I wanted to shine the light on four aspects of communications that have always been differentiating to our discipline overall and specifically our approach to narrative and reputation, both of which are in the spotlight now and core to business strategy and growth. These are emotion, connection, clarity and responsibility and more urgent than ever given we “now live alongside AI systems that converse knowledgeably and persuasively—deploying claims about the world, explanations, advice, encouragement, apologies, and promises—while bearing no vulnerability for what they say.” That’s a phrase in an article published recently in The Atlantic that is still in my head and discussed emphatically online. One commenter wrote, “I think we’re way deep into already living in a world without accountability. LLMs are a perfect match for our vacuous time.”
Against this backdrop, it’s no wonder reputation is a strategic weapon for trust and public legitimacy. Company leaders say they feel it when they don’t have strong ones. According to the Reputational Capital Scorecard (2026), 78% of CEOs say reputational weaknesses have already hit company trading.
How to build and nurture reputation in an LLM-world? Consider four suggestions:
- AI tools have changed the game for research and analytics from which profound insights can be derived. Once confident in the findings, bring human emotion, connection and clarity to the fore in the interpretation and creativity, the vocabulary, and the storytelling that will bring the insights to life. To these, add responsibility. This needs to come through unquestionably and clearly in the leadership spoken, written and demonstrated.
- Underscore how narrative and reputation go together. A case of Tell AND Show. Too often, narrative and reputation are viewed as separate initiatives with narrative as a one and done, refreshed when there’s a change of some kind, and then employed for specific executions (e.g. refreshing the company website, directional content for social posts). AI-enabled tools can be used here to see the landscape, identify gaps, measure the “say and do” gap and reveal unmet needs. Efficient! But what you do with that information needs to be all human—the writing, finding the connections, evoking feelings. No probe expertise required.
- Present the business case for getting and staying on the front foot. This is an investment – listening and what I call organizational, market and leadership readiness. Given the risk and rapid uptake of misinformation and the potential for negative impact on reputation, staying on the front foot means having everything in place all the time, not just when an issue or crisis arises or when positioning for investment or exit. This includes having strong relationships with opinion leaders, third-party organizations and advocacy and professional groups in healthcare work. And knowing where the gaps are. A comprehensive approach can be the difference between spotting and nipping in the bud an issue before it becomes a problem or a full-blown, expensive crisis. The value of readiness cannot be understated and I’m very excited to have a new AI-enabled tool to share very soon.
- Focus measurement of reputation work on a balance of emotion and predictive analytics. Going deeper on the nuances of how stakeholders feel about a company or brand ensures the crucial human context is considered. Stakeholder (human!) beliefs and actions aren’t always rational. No news there. But they do drive outcomes. Metrics that include agreement, disagreement, frustration, fear, appreciation, resonance, belief, preference, and enthusiasm–and their intensity over time as well as at key moments–are revealing. Balancing these data with predictive modeling provides a comprehensive picture that demonstrates with clarity and evidence the value of the investment in reputation.
There’s plenty of support out there for an increasing number of CEOs and other members of company leadership believing in reputation, seeing its role in strategy and growth and what happens when it takes a hit. And in an LLM-world, all more important than ever.
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