A degree of reputation

The University of Cambridge has spent more than 800 years building its reputation. It only takes one story to make people question it.

The recent controversy surrounding the appointment of Professor Jason Arday has generated plenty of discussion about the individual involved and the circumstances surrounding his appointment. I don't want to add to that debate.

What interests me is what the story does to Cambridge.

Because when the story broke, one of the most obvious questions wasn't simply about the person at the centre of it.

It was: How did Cambridge not know?

That question matters because Cambridge isn't just any university. Its name represents academic excellence, intellectual rigour, credibility and extraordinarily high standards.

When Cambridge appoints a professor, most of us don't independently investigate their qualifications or academic record. We assume Cambridge has done that.

Why wouldn't we?

It's Cambridge.

And that is precisely what makes this such an interesting lesson in branding.

A strong reputation creates expectations

Every successful brand creates expectations about what people will receive from it.

If a business becomes known for exceptional service, customers expect exceptional service every time. If a professional firm builds its reputation around expertise, clients expect everyone representing that firm to demonstrate it.

The stronger the reputation becomes, the greater those expectations become.

Cambridge isn't being judged against the standards of an average organisation. It's being judged against what Cambridge has taught us to expect from Cambridge.

Your reputation doesn't simply make people think more highly of you. It creates a promise about what they can expect from you, and every decision you make either reinforces that promise or contradicts it.

People buy the reputation as well as the product

A degree is a qualification, but a Cambridge degree means something more.

Students compete incredibly hard for a place, invest years of their lives studying there and pay significant tuition fees. Part of the value they receive is the education itself, but part of it is also the reputation attached to the name on their degree.

That's brand equity.

It's no different in business.

Why will someone pay considerably more for one professional adviser than another who appears to offer broadly the same service? Why will someone wait months for one particular tradesperson when somebody else could start next week?

Because reputation changes the perceived value of what they're buying.

People aren't simply buying what you do. They're buying confidence in what you do.

They're paying for the reassurance created by everything you've done before. When people choose you because of your reputation, you have a responsibility to deliver the standards that reputation promises.

Your reputation belongs to everyone representing you

There's another important lesson in this.

Organisations naturally divide themselves into departments, roles and responsibilities. Customers don't.

If someone answering the telephone is rude, the customer doesn't blame the person answering the telephone. They blame the company.

If a subcontractor does a poor job, the customer doesn't necessarily distinguish between your business and the company you appointed. You chose them.

If a junior employee produces poor work, the client doesn't separate them from the partners who won the account. Your name is on it.

The same applies to suppliers, employees, partners and anyone else you allow to represent your organisation.

Every time you associate your name with someone or something, you're lending them some of your reputation.

A strong brand makes that endorsement incredibly valuable. But reputation travels both ways.

Their behaviour can reinforce everything people already believe about you, or it can make them question it.

Reputation takes years to build but moments to question

One controversy isn't going to destroy Cambridge's reputation. It has more than eight centuries of history, achievement and accumulated goodwill behind it.

That's an enormous reputational bank account.

But even the strongest reputation isn't inexhaustible.

Every great piece of work, successful appointment, satisfied customer and fulfilled promise makes a deposit. Poor decisions make withdrawals.

For most businesses, the uncomfortable reality is that the account is considerably smaller.

You probably don't have 800 years of accumulated credibility protecting you when something goes wrong.

That's why reputation needs protecting long before there's a reputational crisis. It happens through recruitment, quality control, customer service, supplier selection, leadership, processes and culture.

Because branding isn't simply about deciding what you want people to think about you.

It's about continually giving them reasons to believe it.

There's a tendency to think that once a strong reputation has been established, the hard work has been done.

In reality, the stronger your reputation becomes, the more carefully you have to protect it because people aren't judging you against your competitors anymore.

They're judging you against yourself.

Against the service they've received before, the quality they've come to expect, the promises you've made and the reputation that persuaded them to choose you in the first place.

Your reputation is one of the most valuable things your business owns. It influences whether people trust you, choose you, recommend you and are prepared to pay more for what you provide.

And every decision you make either strengthens it or spends a little of it.

If an 800-year-old reputation can suddenly find itself being questioned because today's decisions don't live up to yesterday's standards, imagine how carefully the rest of us should protect ours.