Reputability is the leading consultancy specialised in reputational risk and its root causes. Our research demonstrates that most major crises are predictable, particularly to well-informed outsiders; and most are avoidable. This is where our insights will bring you valuable foresight.
“Rethinking Reputational Risk: How to Manage the Risks that can Ruin Your Business, Your Reputation and You”, written by our Chairman Anthony Fitzsimmons and our late partner Professor Derek Atkins is a ground-breaking exposition of the field in which we work: behavioural, organisational, board and reputational risks. The Financial Times review is here.
Our research shows that the root causes of most reputational damage and many corporate failures are behavioural, organisational and board risks. These fundamental vulnerabilities evade conventional risk analysis. Long-term success depends on leaders who understand and deal with these risks.
Using eight case studies, our book ‘Rethinking Reputational Risk: How to Manage the Risks that can Ruin Your Business, Your Reputation and You’ explains and illustrates these risks, before outlining how to deal with them.
The latest guidance from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) expects companies it regulates to pay attention to behavioural, organisational and reputational risks. Such companies are expected to disclose and describe in detail Principal Risks including those with behavioural and organisational origins and reputational consequences
The FRC also expects boards to consider whether they, board committees and management have the skills knowledge and experience to assess the risks the company faces. Skill gaps are to be filled.
Boards should consider how to comply with this guidance and bring these risks within their risk management systems.
It is common to find that vulnerabilities with the potential to threaten the survival of a firm are well known to people within the firm - whilst the leadership remains in the dark. Internal politics, hierarchies, taboos, culture, incentives and glass ceilings often obscure these risks. This situation is made worse by the inability of people and organisations to see themselves as others can – what psychologists call cognitive biases.
We call this the ‘Unknown Knowns’ problem.
Our report, ‘Deconstructing failure – Insights for boards’ confirms that previously unrecognised classes of behavioural and organisational risks both cause crises and tip them into reputational catastrophes. The report goes further, finding patterns and concluding that these potentially lethal risks typically have their origins in the board.
It is especially difficult for boards to uncover these destructive risks because classical risk management hasn’t evolved far enough to find them. That is how boards find themselves with a dangerous hole in the risk management systems for which they are ultimately responsible. And it is why the widely promoted 'Three Lines of Defence' risk management model gives boards a dangerous delusion of security.
Board Vulnerability Evaluation is a new tool designed to help boards to see into this foggy area.
We combine confidential peer review with the know-how we have accumulated from extensive research into reputational risk and its behavioural and organisational drivers. We add the experience each of us has gained in senior roles, in diverse fields over many decades, to bring you fresh and compelling insights.
We use two main approaches. First, we provide tailored education for boards and risk professionals so that they gain the skills needed to meet the FRC’s expectations.
Second, we help boards, executives and risk leaders to develop an 'informed outsider' perspective which can reveal previously unrecognised risks and opportunities.
Our multi-disciplinary team shares deep and broad know-how which has been accumulated through diverse careers and thought-leading research. Each partner brings to bear a lifetime's experience and a different perspective to consideration of your issues.
Together we can offer clear insights and an attractive and persuasive proposition to all those who are seeking protection from, and mitigation of, reputational risk.
View the biographies of our team to see more:-

Anthony Fitzsimmons
Anthony read engineering at Cambridge, then became a solicitor specialising in international liability and insurance law.
He spent decades in a firm specialised in handling international disasters. He refined strategies to manage the legal fallout from crises whilst minimising reputational damage to clients. He advised major brands in the wake of severe adverse events.
Following his retirement from the law, Anthony founded Reputability, of which he is Chairman. Anthony is a co-author of ‘Roads to Ruin’, the seminal Cass Business School report for Airmic and, with the late Derek Atkins, of "Rethinking Reputational Risk: How to Manage the Risks that can Ruin Your Business, Your Reputation and You" Anthony is an regular speaker and participant in seminars in the field.

Jane Howard
After graduating in economics from the LSE, Jane joined a team, which sold into Saatchi and Saatchi. She went on to head the Leedex PR Group, joining the board of its parent company, Birkdale plc.
One of only a few Chartered Communicators, Jane has 30 years’ international and award-winning experience. Republic, the corporate communications business she founded was sold to Engine, the UK’s leading independent marketing services consultancy.
Jane is a partner at Reputability, a fellow of the Chartered Institute for Public Relations, a founding Fellow of the Public Relations Consultancies Association, a trustee of Fair Trials International and a Quantum NED.

John Tyce
After leaving Manchester University where he was a Research Fellow in Monetary Economics, John trained as an equity analyst at Philips and Drew, which later became UBS.
He has dedicated most of his working life as an investment analyst covering banks and financial companies. He was a partner at Laing and Cruickshank and was appointed as Head of European Research at Nomura, before moving on to Société Générale as senior bank analyst in London.
Today John is a partner at Reputability and Chairman of Blue Planet European Trust – a quoted Scottish Investment trust.

Peter Ayton
A Professor of Psychology at City University, Peter’s research centres on the psychological theories of judgement and discusses how people make decisions and judgements. His published books include ‘Subjective Probability’ and ‘Judgemental Forecasting’.
A member of the European Association for Decision Making, Peter has been a visiting Professor at the Anderson School of Business UCLA, Princeton and Carnegie-Mellon universities in the USA, as well as the Max Planck Institute in Berlin.

John Hurrell
John Hurrell has gained immense experience over nearly 40 years spent in the risk and insurance sector.John joined our team after 9 years as Chief Executive of Airmic, the renowned London-based association for everyone who has a responsibility for risk management and insurance in their organisation. Before that he spent nearly 30 years at Marsh and McLennan group companies, most recently as CEO of Marsh Risk Consulting for the UK and Europe.
At Airmic he commissioned several pieces of ground-breaking research, including ‘Roads to Ruin’ and ‘Roads to Resilience’ and is a regular speaker on risk governance.
John is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a Chartered Insurer.

Vanessa Sharp
Vanessa started her professional life as a solicitor in a city firm specialising in handling multinational commercial and insurance issues.
She joined KPMG LLP as an in house lawyer and became General Counsel, a role she performed for 17 years. She advised on a wide range of legal, risk and reputational management issues, and as board secretary advised on, and managed board structures across UK and Europe.
She is now a Non Executive Director at ICE Futures Europe Limited, Companies House and Newable and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committees of each as well as being chair, or a member, of other board committees. She is also a charity trustee and a Council member and Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee at Goldsmiths College, University of London. In all of these positions she plays a role in governance and risk issues and board effectiveness.
We help boards to promote long term success and meet the latest standards for good risk governance. Our minimally intrusive processes help your board and leaders to see what intelligent outsiders would conclude if only they knew what insiders know. Our aim is to help you see reputational, behavioural, organisational and governance risks and their roots so you can fix them before they cause harm.
Reputational Risk Evaluation delivers our analysis of your organisation's exposure to reputational risks, identifying strengths as well as weaknesses and how to fix them.
Our Masterclasses and Workshops for Boards and for Risk, Internal Audit and Human Resources specialistsbring you practical insights into the hidden behavioural and organisational risks that underlie reputational risks.
Please email our Chairman, Anthony Fitzsimmons, at ajef [AT] reputability.co.uk or telephone 020 3755 3309 for a confidential preliminary discussion.
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The feedback on [Anthony Fitzsimmons] was highly favourable. A lot of plaudits for the content and delivery of [his] talk.
Organiser of Keynote speech to senior management professionals
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"Anthony Fitzsimmons is a major-league blogger on the subject, as well as the co-author of [an] important book on the subject, "Rethinking Reputation Risk”."
Andrew Hilton, Director of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation
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"Splendid performance in front of our highly appreciative NED audience. ... You conveyed your message in a clear and highly convincing manner which obviously impressed the delegates. ... After your delivery many of the attendees used the same words ... "enjoyable" and "thought-provoking"."
Organiser of Keynote speech to NED forum
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"Anthony Fitzsimmons [is a] corporate reputation sage"
Maggie Pagano writing in 'Board agenda'
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"Timely... valuable ... direct"
C-suite FTSE100
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"Quite superb. You packed a great deal into the short period available."
Senior Actuary and Active Investor
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''It exceeded my expectations and we now have something to build upon. As I said, the timing could not have been better''.
- Non Executive Director of an international energy company.
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''Let me thank you cordially for your excellent workshop [for Chief Risk Officers] on organisational and behavioural risk management. We had planned your contribution to be the climax of the event, and so it was.''
- Organiser of International Round Table for Insurance Chief Risk Officers
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''Many thanks again for your presentation.......we got very positive feedback from the Committee members, who found your presentation highly interesting, relevant and well presented.''
- Intergovernmental Conference organiser
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''I thought it was a (well moderated!) fascinating discussion and it was great to get so many different perspectives. ..This topic is obviously relevant to a large number of boards and I suspect we're at the beginning of a significant change in the way they address their duties''.
- Venture Capitalist
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''Your presentations were uniformly well received and highly valued. We are most grateful to you all for making this event such an unqualified success......The feedback from delegates was uniformly positive. ''
Organiser of training event for Non-Executive Directors
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Facing up to the misuse of personal data
Brian Groom
Racconteur with The Times April 2018 -
A resolution for UK Plc and people who can help
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard December 2017 -
Boardrooms’ missing voices undermine risk management
Stefan Stern
Financial Times November 2017 -
Reputation for the long term requires a change of attitude
Maggie Pagano
Board Agenda October 2017 -
Worried your reputation is like Bell Pottinger’s? Then don’t do bad things
Stefan Stern
The Guardian September 2017 -
Cost-cutting has opened the door to hackers
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard May 2017 -
'We're only human': a review of 'Rethinking Reputational Risk'
Richard Bacon
Civil Service World May 2017
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Review: Rethinking Reputational Risk
Lord Owen
The House April 2017 -
Review: ‘Rethinking Reputational Risk’
Richard Jukes
Spear's Magazine March 2017 -
Review: ‘Rethinking Reputational Risk’
Stefan Stern
Financial Times January 2017 -
When the workforce is the weakest link
Brian Groom
Finanical Times November 2016 -
Corporate governance lessons of VW affair
Andrew Hill and Michael Skapinker
Financial Times October 2015 -
Martin Wheatley’s FCA exit raises questions
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard July 2015 -
The ‘devil’s advocate’ directors who could wake up boardrooms
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard July 2015
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Give the Devil a Voice in the Boardroom
Stefan Stern
Financial Times July 2015 -
Learning from Mistakes
John Kay
Financial Times April 2015 -
Time for a clean boardroom sweep?
Stefan Stern
Financial Times March 2015 -
Learning right lessons from FCA’s own goal
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard December 2014 -
With great power comes great responsibility
Stefan Stern
Financial Times November 2014 -
"It is the board’s job to monitor behavioural risk"
Mark Goyder
Financial Times November 2014 -
Too Big to Jail
Chris Blackhurst
Evening Standard October 2014
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Boards will Struggle to Manage Hidden CEO Risks
Andrew Hill
Financial Times October 2014 -
Boards need Trust
Stefan Stern
Financial Times May 2014 -
Big bonuses bring risks
Anthony Hilton
Evening Standard April 2014 -
Getting real on reputation protection
Anthony Hilton
Evening Standard January 2014 -
PR is not always the best response
Anthony Hilton
PR Week 26 July 2013 -
Reputation at risk
Ace European risk briefing 2013 July 2013 -
There's no strength in ignoring flaws
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard 17 July 2013
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The risk of boards
Seb Morton-Clark
Financial Times video June 2013 -
A new tool to sniff out boardroom risk
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard June 2013 -
Deconstructing Failure - Insights for boards
Better Boards by Peter Whitehead
Financial Times June 2013 -
Embattled bank's troubles far from over
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard July 2012 -
Common Core of Corporate Culture Risks
Evan Davis
BBC Today Programme July 2011 -
Here's how firms can learn from Murdoch
Anthony Hilton
London Evening Standard July 2011 -
Boards can be Blind to Risk
Carly Chynoweth
Sunday Times July 2011
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Rethinking Reputational Risk:
How to Manage the Risks that can Ruin Your Business, Your Reputation and You
Anthony Fitzsimmons and Derek Atkins -
Catching confirmation bias before it catches you
Anthony Fitzsimmons
Management Today April 2018 -
Snakes Who Charm
Financial World
Anthony Fitzsimmons April 2018 -
Reputability Response to the FRC Consultation on the UK Corporate Governance Code and Guidance on Board Effectiveness
Anthony Fitzsimmons February 2018 -
Deconstructing the FRC's new Governance Proposals
Anthony Fitzsimmons January 2018 -
Designing Better Boards
Anthony Fitzsimmons November 2017 -
Challenging the way we think
The Actuary Magazine
Anthony Fitzsimmons and Derek Atkins November 2017 -
Learn from Mistakes – the Key to Flying High
Financial World
Anthony Fitzsimmons August 2017 -
Predictably vulnerable: Why do seemingly sound organisations unexpectedly fail?
Enterprise Risk Magazine - Institute of Risk Management
Anthony Fitzsimmons and Derek Atkins July 2017
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A Test of Leadership
Financial World
Anthony Fitzsimmons June/July 2017 -
United Airlines: Predictably Vulnerable?
Governance and Compliance Magazine
Anthony Fitzsimmons and Derek Atkins May 2017 -
NHS hack: Lessons for the Civil Service from WanaCrypt0r Cyber Attack
Civil Service World May 2017 -
The Work of the Civil Service
Reputability Evidence to the Parliamentary Public Administration Committee April 2017 -
Rethinking Reputational Risk:
Discussing the Unmentionable
Governance Magazine March 2017 -
Understanding behaviour is key to protecting reputation
Airmic News
Anthony Fitzsimmons and Derek Atkins January 2017 -
Prevention is Better than Cure
Board Agenda
Anthony Fitzsimmons November 2017 -
Don't Overlook Human Fallibility
Management Today November 2016 -
Reputational Risk Revisited
Governance September 2015
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Whitehall's neglect of people risks is wasting public money
Civil Service World April 2015 - Reputability Submissions to OECD Consultation on Corporate Governance January 2015
- Reputability Submissions to Basel Committee Consultation on Bank Governance January 2015
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Behavioural and Organisational Risk: The New Frontier for Boards
EY Independent Intelligence November 2014 -
Risk for Chairmen, Chief Executives and Boards
International Corporate Governance October 2014 -
Behavioural Risk in the UK Government Service
Civil Service World October 2014 -
Behavioural and reputational risk for insurers
Journal of the Insurance Institute of London September 2013 -
Deconstructing failure - Insights for boards
Download the report by Reputability June 2013 -
Roads to Ruin, the Cass Business School report for Airmic
Download the Analysis July 2011
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Roads to Ruin
Full Report by the Cass Business School for Airmic July 2011 -
Catastrophe risks - the Boardroom perspective
Governance December 2011 -
'Soft' risks - the risk managers' perspective
Geneva Association Risk Newsletter November 2011 -
Reputational Risk for Chairmen and Company Secretaries
ICSA International June 2010 - Policy and Governance for Risks to Reputation November 2009
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Reputational risk - A question of trust
Professor Derek Atkins, Ian Bates and Lynn Drennan 2006
Blog
Reputability LLP are pioneers and leaders in the fields of behavioural, organisational and reputational risk. We help business leaders to find the widespread but hidden behavioural and organisational risks that regularly cause reputational disasters. Our process also helps them to find unrecognised strengths.
Here are our thoughts on some recent stories which have captured our attention. We are starting to include views from guest bloggers. We are always interested to know what you think too.
Contact
Please get in touch if there’s anything you’d like to discuss – in confidence, of course.You can call us on +44 20 3755 3309 or email us at enquiries@reputability.co.uk
Reputability LLP
Amadeus House, Floral Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DP
T:+44 20 3755 3309
Contact
Contact
DATE
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Reputability makes submission to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards20. 11. 2012
Reputability has made a submission to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
The submission made four points.Read more...- ‘Roads to Ruin’ reveals how a series of previously unrecognised, potentially devastating, behavioural and organisational risks, including board risks, lie at the root of many, perhaps most, crises. Such crises regularly destroy reputations and shareholder value.
- These risks are not captured by classical risk analysis let alone risk management. Most emanate from top echelons. Unmanaged they remain unnecessarily dangerous.
- These risks are recognised by important regulators, thinkers and some leaders.
- Reputability considers that it would be beneficial if the three yearly Board Performance Evaluation cycle currently required by the Financial Reporting Council were to be strengthened by using, every third year, a Board Risk Evaluation to evaluate board performance from a risk perspective.
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Anthony Fitzsimmons gives key presentation to Good Governance Forum annual conference28. 03. 2012
Anthony Fitzsimmons delivered a presentation ''Roads to Ruin': Lessons for boards' to the Good Governance Forum annual conference. The presentation explained the implications of 'Roads to Ruin', the Cass Business School report for Airmic.
'Roads to Ruin' was researched and written by a team at the Cass Business School. The team consisted of Professor Derek Atkins, Anthony Fitzsimmons, Professor Chris Parsons and Professor Alan Punter.Read more...
Professor Derek Atkins and Anthony Fitzsimmons are partners in Reputability LLP.
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Anthony Fitzsimmons contributes thinkpiece to the latest 'Good Governance Forum' guide15. 03. 2012
Anthony Fitzsimmons contributed a thinkpiece, 'Good conversations need good information', to the Tomorrow's Company Good Governance Forum 'Guide to improving the quality of boardroom conversations'.
The thinkpiece can be found at page 9 of the Guide.Read more...
Anthony Fitzsimmons will be delivering a presentation to the associated Tomorrows Company 'Good Governance Forum' conference explaining the implications of 'Roads to Ruin', the Cass Business School report for Airmic.
'Roads to Ruin' was researched and written by a team at the Cass Business School. The team consisted of Professor Derek Atkins, Anthony Fitzsimmons, Professor Chris Parsons and Professor Alan Punter.
Professor Derek Atkins and Anthony Fitzsimmons are partners in Reputability LLP.
Legal
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Reputability LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England.
Registration Number: OC371538.
Registered Office: 14 Westmead, London SW15 5BQ.
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VAT Registration Number GB 127 7787 71.
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