A friend of mine called me recently for some career advice. He has been at the same company, a large multinational corporation, for the past 12 years. He has kicked some goals but hasn’t made the career progress that he was hoping for. He’s not sure why.
I asked him whether he considered himself “engaged” in his work. By that I meant whether he believed he was consistently operating at a high level with the company’s interests first and foremost. He struggled answering this question. I pointed out that if he wanted to progress he had to engage fully and “do the extra bits” – things that the average person won’t do. This will make him stand out from the crowd and get noticed. The more you are noticed, in a positive way, the more opportunities will open up for you.
I then asked him how he perceived himself. He rattled off – honest, trustworthy, smart, hard working, well-connected etc – the usual stuff that people say about themselves. Unbeknown to him, I was actually asking what he thought his reputation was. I then asked how his peers, bosses and customers perceived him. Stony silence followed. He didn’t know. I pushed him and repeated the question. He confirmed again that he didn’t know. He said that he hoped that they shared his view of himself. I asked whether he would be prepared to ask them. He wasn’t comfortable doing this as he feared they, in fact, may have a different view to his own.
This is not an uncommon problem in business – i.e. what you think about yourself might not be what others think. This is the essence of your reputation. Your reputation is the only asset that you have in business and the only thing that you can actually control. Money, success/failure etc. can all come and go – your reputation doesn’t. It takes years to build but can be damaged by one dumb act. Consider the current Tigers Woods situation.
For the brave among you it is a good discipline to understand exactly what your reputation is and what makes you unique in the business world. A good way to do this is to ask people that you trust to give you their honest view (of you). This can be done anonymously, if necessary. You might not like what you hear, but that isn’t the point. The point is what you do with the information. If your reputation is different to what you thought it was (or hoping it was) then you have the chance to make some changes. In any event, wouldn’t you rather know?
When your reputation is compromised it is almost always related to your failure to be honest; your failure to deliver what you promise, or your failure to engage fully (or a combination of all three). This can manifest itself in many ways but the result is that you fail to “walk the talk”. When enough people realise this your reputation is no longer an asset and it becomes a liability. Some people never recover from this.
Protect your reputation by building deep reservoirs of trust and credibility with everyone you are associated with. Put the business first (don’t forget you get paid a salary to do this!) and perform at the highest possible level every day. Walk the talk. Remember your reputation is not what you think of yourself, it is what others think of you.
This is simple advice, but not too simple to do. Good luck!
Terje:: Flawless reputation.
3 minutes a day on business | marketing | strategy | design | people
Design by [6.2] an innovation lab
Subscribe to entries
Subscribe to comments
All content © 2010 by uncluttered white spaces
