Enlightening webinar on the importance of CEO reputation

Dr Prita introducing herself

The Centre for Corporate and Community Development (CCCD) collaborated with UTAR Unovate Centre and the Communication & Business Institute to organise a live webinar on 18 May 2022 via Zoom and Facebook Live. Titled Your CEO & Your Brand is Your Reputation, the webinar was held as part of the UTAR CEO Talk Series. Invited to the webinar to give a talk was Dr Honorary Council Prita Kemal Gani, MBA, MCIPR, APR, the founder and chief executive officer of LSPR Communication and Business Institute. Meanwhile, Chin Ying Shin, a lecturer from the Faculty of Arts and Social Science was in charge of mediating the webinar.

The webinar kicked off with an introduction video of Dr Prita, giving a brief explanation about her background and achievements. She then began her segment by talking about CEO charisma, a key trait that every CEO of an iconic brand should possess. Dr Prita stated, “Employees in an organisation should be able to feel the CEO’s charisma, and this can be done by having the CEO work with them; in facing problems, finding solutions and planning projects together. It is also important that the CEO shares his vision and mission of the organisation to the employees so that they would have the same passion as their CEO for the organisation.”

Dr Rita explaining about CEO’s charisma

Dr Prita continued the webinar by detailing the seven reputation stages of a company by Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist. The seven stages include the company history, financial history, company achievements, logo, building, uniforms and facilities, management and staff, Board of Commissioner, and the CEO.  She then moved on to elucidate the importance of the CEO to the reputation of an organisation. Dr Prita also talked about the “Social CEO”, which refers to a CEO who gets involved in social matters, such as environmental issues, prevention of animal cruelty, etc. “When a CEO partakes in positive social affairs, they tend to boost their reputation amongst the public, especially if their actions are genuine. Thus, if the CEO is well-liked, people are more likely to support the organisation by purchasing the products because they trust the CEO,” said Dr Prita.

Speaking about a CEO during a crisis, Dr Prita explained, “The CEO must also be present during a crisis so that they can assure the employees and the public that the situation is calm and that the organisation is doing everything in their power to fix the crisis.” She also explained that when an organisation’s CEO has a good reputation, attracting potential business partners becomes easier. Dr Prita then went on to emphasise that it is vital that the CEO has humility and humanity as people will continue to remember them, even after they pass. Finally, an established brand’s CEO needs to be a master storyteller, meaning that the CEO should be able to properly convey the brand’s history and background to the public so that they know what the brand stands for.

Dr Prita explaining the importance of a CEO reputation

The webinar ended with an insightful Q&A between Dr Prita and the participants.



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