The Reputation Room

What does success look like for a Chief Corporate Affairs Officer? According to Dennis Larsen, it's when reputation stops being owned by one function — and becomes a shared accountability across the entire company.

In this episode, Javier Boix sits down with Dennis Larsen, Managing Director at Linq Advisors and board member of the European Association of Communication Directors, for a conversation that is as structured as it is candid.

Dennis brings a distinctly governance-driven perspective to reputation: the argument that cultural change alone isn't enough. Real shared accountability requires architecture — reputation committees, regular exec agenda visibility, board-level oversight. The kind of structure that ensures reputation isn't just discussed in a crisis, but woven into the fabric of how a company operates day to day.

The conversation also tackles the question that rarely gets asked openly in the boardroom: to what extent is a company willing to accept reputational cost for a business benefit? Sometimes the answer is yes — but only when everyone understands the trade-off before the decision is made, not after.

They also explore how AI and data intelligence are reshaping the corporate affairs function, and why the leaders who thrive will be those who own their own technology rather than depend on it.

A conversation about what it really takes to make reputation everyone's business.

In this first episode of this newly created podcast, I sit down with Joao Belo, Chief Communications Officer at Danaher Corporation, for a candid conversation at the intersection of corporate affairs, business and leadership. During the conversation we touch upon multiple topics. How did he get where he is (spoiler: nothing was planned!), what a CEO or a board responds well to when it comes to reputation management, what does the title not capture about the work we do, how transparency is non-negotiable in a crisis (with caveats!), the shift in corporate affairs from art to science, AI changing everything (obvious, I know!), and how you develop the most important intangible in our profession (judgment), among many other things. About The Reputation Room The Reputation Room podcast convenes senior corporate affairs leaders for candid, peer level conversations at the intersection of corporate affairs, business and leadership. Each episode goes beyond surface to explore judgment calls, trade offs, and leadership moments that rarely make it into public forums. The aim is to create a lasting body of insight that strengthens the credibility, influence, and strategic impact of the corporate affairs profession.