Charlie Pownall

With news and commentary travelling at light speed across the world, reputation is now front and centre for organisations of all shapes and sizes in all corners of the world. Despite this, some organisations remain unprepared for the speed and, in some cases, the complexity of decisions that must be taken immediately in order to protect one’s name, image and reputation. It is essential to box clever in today’s open, networked and inherently distrustful world. This requires a team, structure and system capable of anticipating and handling known risks, and capable of dealing with the increasing number of unknowns. In this talk, Charlie Pownall digs into the nooks and crannies of risks online, identifies the critical components of a digitised reputation management system, and sets out what it takes to deliver an appropriate and effective response, fast.

Data breaches are a fact of life for all organisations and can prove immensely damaging. But not all breaches are equal, and it is difficult to get your response right when you've little idea who's attacking you or what they have taken. Compounding matters, regulatory regimes are tightening across the world. The fact that regulator, customer, investor and other stakeholder privacy requirements and expectations vary significantly across industries and cultures only makes life more challenging. This talk explores famous, infamous, and unreported data breaches to identify how organisations can respond appropriately to these insidious and complex challenges under GDPR and emerging data privacy regimes.

Understandably, start-ups and early-stage companies focus on product, customer experience and finance. But in the rush to market and scale they can overlook important potential reputational liabilities. Uber may be known for slick customer experience, but it has also gained a reputation for poor governance and overly aggressive behaviour. Amidst Apple-like secrecy followed by massive hype, Theranos promised a revolutionary product but came undone as journalists and medical professionals questioned the veracity of its claims. Up-and-coming digital bank Revolut stated mission was to ‘get sh*t done’. It ditched the catchphrase as soon as it came under fire for a slew of governance issues. In this far-reaching and insightful presentation, Charlie Pownall draws on his experiences of multiple sides of the start-up coin to set out seven key things every start-up needs to consider seriously before it moves into the public spotlight.