2018 Thunderbird Opinions Most Admired Companies Survey
Admiration is Innovation’s Venture Partner
The five significant insights we discovered about corporate reputation.
Sep 1, 2018 · 2 min read

- Corporate reputation waits at a traffic light. Public opinion determines whether it flashes red or green.
- When society feels confidence in a business, it hands over the car keys. It has the freedom to create, and equally important, to fail. Innovation seems to happen by chance, but in fact, it happens through society’s admiration.
- This is why Apple is the most admired company in America. This was done in an era of free lunches and foosball games. The daring leadership that propelled the company from near bankruptcy to trillion dollar valuation was able to do so by moving the scrimmage line between earth’s reality and ‘what we might be’ was worthy of our patience.
- When society mistrusts business, it takes away the car keys and sets a curfew. It is why there is noise about regulating Facebook, America’s least-admired company in high tech, after Mark Zuckerberg’s Senate hearing.
- The conclusion is that the intersection between business and society is temperamental and requires the highest level of integrity, vision, and attention to the needs and wants of stakeholders. Everything else is secondary, including foosball.
THUNDERBIRD OPINION CUSTOM RESEARCH
- Corporate reputation research and strategies
- Customer strategies and insights
- Leadership style development
- Media and social media influences
- Demographic and attitudinal trends


