The rise of the Chief Reputation Officer: The next C-suite imperative

As I highlighted in my previous article – 'The End of Narrative Control: Reputation in an AI-First World' – reputation is no longer something organisations manage. It is something they reveal.

In an AI-first environment, narratives no longer wait for approval or carefully worded statements.

They assemble themselves in real time – shaped by algorithms, employees, customers, and markets – often faster than leadership can respond, and sometimes before leadership even realises there is a problem. Control hasn’t merely weakened; it has disappeared. This creates a dangerous vacuum at the centre of the organisation.

When reputation becomes an emergent outcome rather than just a communications asset, accountability quietly dissolves.

Everyone influences it, yet no one truly owns it. And in that gap, trust erodes long before leaders see the damage. The question, then, is no longer how narratives are managed, but who at the very top is accountable for the reality those narratives now expose.

Reputation is the most fragile asset on the balance sheet

Rightly so! Most organisations do not suffer from a lack of strategy or content. They suffer from a lack of coherence. CEOs articulate vision. CFOs speak in numbers. HR champions culture. Investor relations focuses on valuation. Regional and on-ground leaders add further voices. Each function performs its role well… But stakeholders experience one company, not a collection of functions.

When these voices are misaligned, clarity erodes and trust weakens. This gap explains why chief marketing officers and corporate communications leaders are increasingly being drawn into the inner circle – not as messengers, but as strategic advisors.

Their remit has expanded beyond “telling the story” to shaping the story the organisation must consistently live up to, particularly when decisions are complex, contested, or unfolding in real time.

What differentiates CMOs and CCOs today is not just creative but contextual intelligence. They sit closest to the fault lines of modern business…employee sentiment, customer trust, regulatory scrutiny, media narratives, and investor confidence. 

As a result, they often detect reputational misalignment before it shows up as attrition, activism, or valuation volatility. Increasingly, their value lies in being consulted before decisions are finalised to test coherence, anticipate interpretation, and assess credibility across stakeholders.

In the digital age, reputation is not what you say – it’s what the network believes…

Misalignment often shows up in familiar ways. Cost cuts are framed to investors as “margin discipline”, while employees experience them as unexplained belt-tightening. The share price holds, but morale slips. 

Or consider organisations announcing their IPO ambitions, followed quickly by waves of internal change.

Uncertainty spreads not because of the decision itself but because the narrative fails to answer the most fundamental question employees ask: what does this mean for me?

The same applies to declarations of being “AI-ready”. While markets hear innovation, employees hear ambiguity…about roles, skills, and relevance. Without a narrative that explains how technology and people grow together, transformation feels imposed rather than empowering.

What is emerging, therefore, is a role that may not yet carry a formal title but wields unmistakable influence – the chief reputation officer. This leader acts as the custodian of enterprise coherence, ensuring that strategy, culture, capital, and conduct reinforce one another. 

The role may sit within communications, marketing, strategy, or the CEO’s office. What matters is not designation but mandate…along with authority, access, and accountability.

In the decade ahead, competitive advantages will belong to organisations that can sustain clarity under pressure. Because in a world starved of trust, reputation is no longer something to be managed…it is something that must be led and definitely owned at the top.

And as someone rightly said, a brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time.

(Jagruti Kirloskar is a Brand & Communications leader with 20 years’ experience across industries, skilled in strategic communication, brand strategy, media, investor relations, and academia.)