News last week that the LEGO Group has been ranked as the most highly regarded company in the world in the annual Global RepTrak 100 survey has inspired my writing for Products of Change this month.
In a statement celebrating the achievement, Niels B Christiansen, ceo at the LEGO Group said that it was an honour to be named the World’s Most Reputable Company and that it was reflective of “the unwavering passion and commitment” of his colleagues who helped the Group ‘keep its promises during a year shaped by significant challenges.’
“Children are our role models and inspire us to make choices that make their future world better,” he said. “This means not only innovating LEGO play but also constantly striving to have a positive impact on environment and society.”
If you take a look at the rankings, you can compare company performance from 2022 with how they have placed in the table this year. Last year, LEGO was third, behind Rolex and Ferrari with Rolls Royce in fourth.
This year’s Top Four are LEGO, Bosch, Rolls Royce, and Harley Davidson. Rolex has been knocked down to sixth and Ferrari has – seemingly – ‘plummeted’ down the table to 13th.
The whole chart makes for some fascinating reading. One could obsess over it. And invariably, it prompts some questions to arise; what did Rolex and Ferrari do over the past year that caused them to fall from their leading positions? And what did LEGO get so right? Why does it matter? Why do I care? What does it mean to customers? Investors? Employees?
The phrase that sticks with me from within Niels’ comment above is his reference to the promises made by his colleagues. For me, he puts it perfectly when he calls it ‘the unwavering passion and commitment… to keep our promises during a year shaped by significant challenges.’
Growing up, the word ‘promise’ was not used lightly in my family and if a promise was made, a promise was kept. We spent many a day sat on a beach in driving wind and rain, coats buttoned all the way up because someone had promised a ‘beach day’. It taught us that a promise was something you delivered on – whatever the circumstances.
Today, promises are made an awful lot by the many different and influential aspects of our lives. Some are never met, some are simply broken, and some form the basis of real cultural change. Language like this engenders trust and trust is not something – in our personal lives or in business – to be taken for granted. It must be earned and reaffirmed with consistent action, for once trust is lost it is very hard to regain.
When it comes to matters of the environment, the pledges made to achieve key targets must be realistic and honest, because if they are not, how will they be trusted by customers? By investors? Or by employees?
Reputation is hard earned yet easily damaged and once that happens it is a long road to regain for any business, brand, or individual.
You can view the full Global RepTrak report here. The Global RepTrak report ranks the 100 Most Reputable Companies and is recognised as the world’s most comprehensive reputation study compiled for the last 12 years using RepTrak’s in-depth analysis. RepTrak gathers data from more than 230,000 ratings surrounding perception on a variety of elements of reputation including ESG, Workplace fairness, leadership, branding, and more.
