Reputation Excellence: Creating, preserving and advancing coporate reputations http://blog.morrisseyco.com/ We strive to stay upbeat in this blog - this can sometimes be a tall order as you read the page after page in the news each day of oil spills, political corruption hearings and other assorted nefarious flotsam and jetsam of modern society. I'm told if you wish to remain an optimist, never read the newspaper at the beginning or the end of the day. This also can be a difficult task as we have prog... Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:46:55 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=279 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=279 The immortal line from Mario Puzo's The Godfather comes to mind-BP needs a wartime consigliore to get it out of the oil slick mire it finds itself wallowing in. The crisis BP faces is a reputational tar-baby of extraordinary proportions-one that they may never recover from.Tony Hayward's departure today from the helm of BP was deigned the day of the tragedy. By all accounts, he is a peacetime CEO ... Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:53:17 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=273 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=273 No, I'm not the real deal as an environmentalist, ecologist or carbon cruncher. I leave that to the committed tree huggers and "free the whales" evangelists among us. I draw the line well short of the Al Gore "Inconvenient Truth" club standard. I still drive a car (30 MPG), eat grain-fed beef and have been known to grab a Styrofoam cup now and again. But yesterday I joined the throng at Boston Uni... Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:29:02 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=272 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=272 This Monday I saw the running of the 114th Annual BAA Boston Marathon, the greatest human footrace on earth (we cannot forget the animal world is running out there somewhere 24--7). But our entire ambulatory prowess (a world record was set by the male winner in the race in the mind-boggling time of 2:05:82 for 26.2 miles), cannot overcome the power of Mother Nature. Humans think they rule the worl... Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:38:18 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=271 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=271 Our bodies are wonderful machines when they work, when they're young and looking their best. This week's New Yorker has a fun article about beauty and keeping the wrinkles away. The article reminded me about the fleeting nature of physical beauty, how superficial our society has become and how the pursuit of the perfect thin body dominates much of the news these days. Earlier this week, a group ... Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:21:33 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=268 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=268 When it comes to worshipping a hero in a young boy's life, there were few heroes who reached the heights of Davy Crockett. Crockett had a reputation for frontier justice and doing the right thing in encounters with "savages'" scoundrels and the unknowns and perils of the woods, forests and mountains of this young country.There were few TV show characters that could raise the pulse of young viewers... Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:37:27 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=266 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=266 Mattel announced that it will release a new "Mad Men" doll collection, which celebrates another back to the future theme. Adults, particularly baby boomers, certainly can't get enough of the television series, which follows the goings-on of the advertising world of the early '60s. The characters are so authentic to the period, we could all blink and be transported back in time. The series' most re... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:19:48 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=264 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=264 The Scott Brown political train, was a pickup truck. I have been watching with wonder and interest the triumph of the underdog Scott Brown, who swept away the expert political naysayers in his victory to win the U.S. Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for so many years. Brown is a straight shooter, and the insiders of Beltway politics still cannot believe this virtually unknown guy in a pickup truck ... Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:20:22 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=263 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=263 Over the past few weeks, I couldn't help but be struck with the contradictions all around us in our global society. In particular, the tragedy of one of the world's poorest countries, Haiti, as it is being plagued by a natural catastrophe of untold proportions. While on the other side of the globe in modern day Dubai, the world's tallest building at 2,717 feet, the Burj Khalifa, was being dedicate... Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:53:53 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=262 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=262 Well, what would Santa do post-Copenhagen? For starters, if he does not want to go against the global trends, he would continue to drive his car instead of his sleigh. The rest of the world plans on buying more vehicles in 2010 - particularly in China and India. Bicycles are being turned in for polluting scooters and the newly prosperous won't be denied a car, so Santa has to fit in and not be a k... Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:14:34 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=261 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=261 Leadership requires decisive action in certain circumstances. For example, when trying to save a person's life, a take-charge person moves with dispatch and authority. The hero automatically moves into action. There is no time for hesitation or equivocation. The challenge is thrust before him and he acts. Those of you who follow Reputation Excellence understand that a basic tenet of reputation is ... Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:23:35 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=260 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=260 Two of the world's most prominent multi-cultural public figures are experiencing opposite reputation fortunes today: President Obama and Tiger Woods. Barack Obama's buzz is all positive as he is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Nobel Committee in Sweden. Meanwhile, another Swedish melodrama is unfolding back in the USA, as Tiger Woods, the world's most visible athlete, engages in messy marital... Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:33:45 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=259 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=259 President Obama's recent trip to the Far East reminds us of just how far our nation has come as a truly global country. America is multi-cultural and multi-racial. It is the melting pot and the polyglot. We welcome visitors from far and wide, and as Americans travel the world, labeled as ugly Americans or Hollywood stars, we are rapidly becoming global ambassadors -- more tolerant and less xenopho... Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:07:58 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=258 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=258 Common wisdom is that you learn from your mistakes. Behavioral research shows you actually learn more from your successes. Sometimes trial and error and experience are better teachers than books or the Internet. So why as a human race do we appear hell-bent on killing one another? I don't ask this as a dove or a hawk, but as a pragmatist. The act of war has few beneficiaries and many casualties. C... Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:49:19 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=257 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=257 Women are disappearing from the executive suite in companies all over the United States, but there is a pronounced shortfall in Massachusetts, as reported in the latest study by the Boston Club, an organization of women executives based in Boston. The Boston Globe reported that 60 women have top-level positions in the 100 largest public companies in Massachusetts, a decline of about 27 percent fro... Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:30:22 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=256 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=256 John Kerry earned the right in the Vietnam War through his heroic acts to be called an American patriot. He has been an effective senator, but probably always operated in the shadow of Massachusetts's leading political and national figure, Ted Kennedy. Kerry now may be poised to emerge from the shadows. Where Kennedy has been described as "The Lion of the Senate," Kerry has a reputation more as ... Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:31:08 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=255 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=255 Trying to keep track of the ups and downs of the media is like watching the Florida and Arizona real estate markets of recent years. Of late, it goes hot and cold like Red Sox hot dogs on Lansdowne Street (dead cold as of October 11th). Most recently, the owner of The Boston Globe, the New York Times Corporation, has been engaged in a much publicized sale of its venerable and reputable newspaper. ... Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:51:23 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=252 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=252 If you are like many Americans who still watch late night TV, you have been both surprised and titillated by the David Letterman scandal (or should I call it the After Hours Sexcapades?). And I thought David was too smart for all this. My hero is about to commit reputational hari-kari or celebrity sepuku. No, this is not a late night order of sushi, but ritualistic, self-imposed suicide, for those... Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:33:18 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=251 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=251 Yesterday morning I attended the Life Science Forum hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the breakfast is to acquaint the business community with the important work being done in biotechnology and medical research in the Greater Boston area. Boston's advantage and reputation has been achieved through actions and leadership and not just words or marketing slogans and cam... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:18:49 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=250 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=250 President Obama has demonstrated he is not a shy and retiring CEO. He weighs in on the difficult issues and controversial topics -- bringing the country back from the brink of financial ruin, championing health care reform and deciding whether to venture even deeper into Afghanistan with more troops - all while trying to unwind from the entanglements in Iraq of the Bush legacy. Any one of these de... Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:13:11 CST http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=249 http://blog.morrisseyco.com/index.asp?blogid=249