How to Ensure Strong Reputation Scores

I recently wrote on the Strategic Growth Lab about the need to stop the NPS Invasion.

This story from Axios caught my attention: Companies that kept DEI commitments saw higher reputation scores in 2025.

Isn’t it funny how when a company says they value one thing, and remain loyal to it when facing heavy headwinds, impacts a company in a positive way?

The Marriott CEO recently spoke about the impact of his standing tall in the wind impacted his worldwide employees. According to the story on AOL.com, Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano, said:

“The winds blow, but there are some fundamental truths for those 98 years. We welcome all to our hotels and we create opportunities for all—and fundamentally those will never change. The words might change, but that’s who we are as a company.”

The Axios story reported the following impact to overall reputation scores for those who retained their DEI programs:

Personal Note: My family is (and has been) avid Costco customers for years. We have increased our shopping there in recent months. I am also an investor in Apple, JP Morgan, and Coca-Cola. And we have been paying Netflix customers for a decade. Those things will continue.

No company is perfect or immune from the blow-backs from standing tall in the wind.

I think back to the Bud Light fiasco of 2023. They faced head winds, and broke. They appeased the loudest voices. But now, a case study of one and the impact of them breaking their own value-pact:

I was out with my family last weekend and wanted a beer. I wasn’t sure who owned the beer I was looking at, Stella Artois, an found it to be owned by AB-InBev. I went with a water instead.

The company leadership moral of the story:

Standing up for your values has impact.