The Importance of Reputation to an Executive Interim Manager

As any experienced interim knows, when you're operating your own business, "reputation is everything" and an executive interim manager is only as good as their last assignment and the references and referrals that can be obtained from them.

A pointed remark or two from a client to either an interim management agency or another prospective client can mean the difference between being in demand or "on the beach".

Ethical standards are an extremely important component of an executive interim manager's reputation, and whilst all of us would have no hesitation in agreeing about certain practises which would not be ethical, there are certain issues that to one person would be questionable, yet to others wouldn't.

Take for example post tender price negotiations after sealed bids have been invited with the implication that such bids would be final. In some organisations, such practises are applauded for delivering greater value, yet in others the same approach attracts immediate condemnation.

What about invitations to tender where new suppliers are encouraged to participate but with the sole intention of negotiating a price reduction with the incumbent: the harsh realities of a commercial market; or as some see it, a questionable practise for an executive interim manager to be involved in?

In some areas there will always be different views about what's appropriate and what's inappropriate behaviour, but particularly because the executive interim management community is a small one, the knock-on effects of an executive interim manager's reputation and indeed a interim management service provider's reputation can be amplified considerably.

That's why Executive Interims - Supply Chain Practice puts a great deal of emphasis on the quality of its reputation, and that of any executive interim manager; so much so that we have turned down business rather than risk our reputation.