Activities and Highlights

The theme of the 2024 conference was 'Building Positive Impact in a Contested World'.

Participants heard from a wide range of speakers who have been hugely successful in their own domains, including Fatima Whitbread, Peter Molyneux, Mdu Dube and Dr James Robey. Each speaker reflected on lessons learned from their experience, how they navigated the different expectations placed upon them and what this could mean for people and organisations seeking to create positive impacts in the world today.

The conference also shed light on how leaders balance the competing needs of stakeholders in both the public and private sectors, as well as in the world of sport and how JMCR research has led to positive impacts beyond academia.

The theme of the 2022 Conference was 'Different Perspectives on Reputation'. Participants heard from a wide range of fantastic speakers, who have been hugely successful in their own fields: each speaker will reflect on lessons learned from their experience and knowledge and what this could mean for the world today.

In doing so, the conference went behind the scenes to the worlds of broadcasting, music, business and leadership, inviting Sir Michael Parkinson, Sian Philipps and John Cross. The conference concluded with a panel discussion, considering lessons learned from these different perspectives for the world today.

The theme of the 2017 Conference was 'Building Bridges in a Post-Brexit Britain'. The Brexit vote highlighted differences between various aspects of British society: young and old, people of different national origins, different socio-economic groups and people living in different geographical locations. In this conference, we started to build bridges between these groups, asking speakers representing different perspectives to share what would make Britain a more positive society for all. In doing so, we heard from speakers such as the former head of the Conservative Party, young people volunteering to make their communities better places, a CEO of a global communications firm and the chair of a charity providing end of life care. The day concluded with an interactive panel discussion inviting participants to share ideas on how relationships can be strengthened and bridges can be (re)built between societal groups.

The theme of the 2016 Conference was 'Creating and Evaluating Social Impact'. Creating positive social impact is important for corporations, public sector organisations and charities alike. But how can you create and measure social impact? How do you balance the competing needs of financial motives with a wider social purpose? And how do all these aspects play out in the public arena of developing reputations and creating social support? We heard from industry leaders and scholars who have experienced the positive and negative aspects of social impact. Issues under discussion included creating social impact through entrepreneurship, the social impact and reputation of private equity, destigmatising mental health, how the BBC creates a positive impact in a public service context and integrating theories of love to create positive impact in organisations.

The theme of the 2015 Conference was 'Reconciliation and Relationships'.

Strong and trusting relationships are the foundation of successful individuals, organisations and societies. But how can individuals continue to flourish in times of failure or trauma? We explored what we can learn from leaders and organisations that have experienced both stumbling blocks and successes to answer numerous. How can success and failure define our identities and relationships in a positive way? How can relationships become stronger through reconciliation and forgiveness? And what lessons can be learned when reconciling with yourself and others? The day drew on the experience and knowledge of industry leaders, as well as scholars who have studied success and the processes by which positive change can happen in organisations and society.

How to Set and Achieve Goals for Personal, Community and Organisational Benefit

In this interactive online event, Tori Gardner, the CEO of Coolplay, and Professor Kevin Money drew on insights from the Coolplay approach to allow the attendees to explore their relationship with goal setting and help them set better goals for themselves and their organisation.

You Know More Than You Think You Know - Exploring the Gap Between What You Know and What You Communicate

In this interactive online event, Professor Doug Saddy and Barry Van Zyl drew on insights from the world of neuroscience and music to help attendees make better sense of the world around them. The objective was to help participants better understand when and how they can trust their intuition and to consider how they could better resonate and connect with themselves and others.

Leading for Sustainability and Societal Impact

This was a personal leadership programme for people who wanted to better identify, label and communicate their strengths and purpose, with the aim for leaders to increase their orientation and effectiveness in generating positive societal and sustainable impacts. It connected both non-governmental organisations in South Africa and MBA participants from the Reputation and Responsibility Immersion visit to South Africa in a way that allowed the network to continue and have impact.

Morning Summary: A Human Approach to Sustainability and Societal Impact

Part one focused on helping participants define their purpose and legitimacy as a leader, covering several key questions. What is sustainability? What is a human approach to sustainability and societal impact? What are your key strengths as a leader? And how can you define your purpose in a way that builds on your strengths and fosters support from stakeholders?

Afternoon Summary: Sharing Current Challenges and Brainstorming Solutions

Part two focused on NGO leaders sharing their key challenges and issues in a safe environment, seeking insights from the wider group. Sub-groups were created to look into issues in more depth and consider how issues could be overcome in practice.

Leading a Successful Team - Building Motivation and Performance

In this interactive session, Professor Kevin Money shared insights about how to build and maintain team performance. The session allowed attendees to better identify and positively label the roles that members of their team played and to identify areas of collective weakness in their team. The session was interactive and there was space for participants to share and learn from each other.

The JMCR invites fellow researchers to join for regular research events, with the aim to support idea generation, collaboration and high-quality publications. We aim to meet once a month for a writing retreat, and once a months for a paper development group, the latter in collaboration with the Henley Centre for Leadership.

Henley Centre for Leadership and the John Madejski Centre for Reputation collaborate every year to host paper development group sessions, where the researchers get the opportunity to share the papers they are working on and seek ideas to improve research. We had a series of interesting papers and inspiring discussions last year and it is always a joy to hear success stories of papers getting accepted at conferences, journals etc.

Hence, we will be organising these sessions again for the 2024-25 academic year and one paper will be presented per month as per the following schedule:

3 September 2024

1 October 2024

5 November 2024

3 December 2024

14 January 2025

18 February 2025

18 March 2025

29 April 2025

27 May 2025

24 June 2025

15 July 2025