A key focus of professionals both in the corporate responsibility and corporate ethics fields is reputational risk management. These words have become a fairly standard mantra lately. But as we all know, the challenge is in bringing them to life. I was reminded once again of the gossamer nature of reputation recently when I found myself reading yet another news story about the Duke University lacrosse team debacle. This story inspired me to write an article for Ethical Corporation on the fleeting and fragile nature of reputation, and on the expanding universe of people who can damage or destroy it.

I've attached a link to my new article, and hope you find it interesting. [http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4688] I'll note that the article wasn't on-line for more than a few minutes before I received an e-mail from a reader pointing out that the trigger for the damage to Duke's reputation wasn't so much the precipitating event itself (an alleged rape that may well have not happened at all) but the ham-handed way the matter has been handled by the University. This is a good point, though my article was making a slightly different point. Nevertheless, the reader's e-mail suggests the possibility of a follow-up piece that discusses how little issues can easily become major scandals simply because they were not addressed correctly when they were first identified. I suspect this has been done to death already. We'll see. Stay tuned.

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