Is your brand at risk? Branding carries economic risks that are, on the one hand, similar to other corporate risks—theft, fire, weather-related damage, etc.—but different in that they attack the value of intangible assets, like brands. If you are not yet affected by Brand Equity Risk (BER), it’s almost certain you will be, so you need to manage it like any other risk your organization faces.

The author recommends the board chair lead a discussion about understanding and protecting the board’s reputation. The discussion is about both the board’s internal and its external reputation—how to build it; how to leverage it; how to protect it.

The stakes for getting D&I right are high, both for organizations and individuals. Unfortunately, many of our familiar D&I ‘best practices’ are inadequate amid ever-evolving demands and complicated contexts. To advance D&I outcomes, we need next practices.

Are nonprofits—a crucial economic sector—getting the support they need to flourish? According to Independent Sector, there are over 1.6 million tax exempt nonprofit organizations in the United States—the third largest workforce in the country behind retail and manufacturing. Yet, the nonprofit sector is critically understaffed, under-capitalized, and overwhelmed. It needs support to fulfill its vital mission.

The Conference Board, in conjunction with Nielsen, has formally launched our latest economic indicator. The Global Consumer Confidence Index takes the temperature of consumers in 64 markets around the world—including how, what, and where they intend to spend in the months ahead.

Join this podcast series from The Conference Board called Conversations with …..- lively discussions around the role of Human Capital practitioners today. In this first episode, Dr. Rebecca Ray speaks with HR Management expert David Ullrich of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business about disruption in this profession.

How does an active wear brand become an activist icon? Deliberately or despite itself? Can product, purpose, profit, and politics mesh—or do they risk unraveling? And what’s the story behind the unconventional Patagonia beer? These questions and more will be answered in The Conference Board Marketing and Communications Center's April Monthly Chat.

How do you respond when someone publishes a story about you that isn’t true? Here’s how Mayo Clinic handled such a situation in August 2018 when CNN ran this: “Escape from the Mayo Clinic: Teen accuses world-famous hospital of ‘medical kidnapping.’”

What is needed is a radically new governance model aligned with the high-performance requirements of the current hyper-competitive business environment.

Do you have a firm grasp of the outcomes your societal investments are achieving, or are you still counting inputs and outputs? New research from The Conference Board, in collaboration with the Impact Genome Project and supported by Moody's, uses standardized metrics to measure social outcomes, enabling companies to more effectively report and benchmark the performance of their societal investments. Being able to compare social outcomes helps companies make smarter societal investments.