Built in boardrooms. Grounded in trust.

From C-suite messaging to executive support, Reputation Matters is the work of someone who’s lived it—corporate, creative, and quietly relentless.

Paul Thomas, founder and principal

Paul Thomas spent decades leading global communications for multinational firms, from UBS to Thomson Reuters. His experience runs deep—from boardroom messaging to customer onboarding systems—and broad, across internal, external, and operational comms.

In 2012, Paul launched Reputation Matters as a personal experiment. It started as a blog, faded, and then came back—much as reputations often do. In 2020, amid a global pandemic, he revived the firm into a focused consultancy for organizations, leaders, and individuals who want their words, actions, and outcomes to align for a greater good, however they choose to define that ethos.

Paul Thomas, principal

Guiding principles

Human first

People come first, with canines and felines vying closely for second. Preserving humanity in an age of AI-driven shortcuts is our priority. Technology supports strategy—but it never replaces it.

Clear, not clever

We align our public promises with what we can actually deliver. No marketing spin. No overpromising. No gimmicks.

No hype, no hedging

We ask hard questions early to prevent reputational damage later. Protecting your credibility starts with honesty behind closed doors.

Truth earns trust

If audiences don’t think, feel, or act differently, it wasn’t communication. It was just noise—and we traffic in truth, not noise.

Respect your communication preferences

Phone, email, text—you choose the channel, and we match it with urgency and care. Responsiveness is one more way we show respect.

Things I know now that I didn’t before I had grey hair

Reputations are slow to build, fast to lose, and always earned.
If you’re explaining too much, the real issue is upstream.
People don’t hear what you say—they hear what makes them feel safe enough to act.
Usually, the best way to build trust is to say: “We got it wrong. Here’s how we’re fixing it.”
And we generally fix it—and thank the people afterward who cared enough to point it out.

Continue the conversation
I share occasional thoughts—on leadership, service, trust, and the odd insight that might brighten your day. No pressure, no spam. Unsubscribe anytime—and I’ll actually honor it.

I built Reputation Matters because communication is where strategy succeeds—or dies trying.

If the message doesn’t line up with what’s real, people will feel it. And they won’t follow it.