Unhappy is the man whose reputation is greater than his work

Reputation is how the public sees you. It is a component of your identity as defined by others. There are varying ways of defining reputation. One president’s reputation, for example, may differ over another’s, or one celebrity’s status may be labeled dissimilarly from another’s, and the publics you interact with or serve delineate the definitions. Reputation can be your road to power, but it can be also be your path to oblivion. Oscar Wilde was right when he wrote that, “One can survive everything nowadays, except death, and live down anything except a good reputation.”

The public can be a many-headed monster with many eyes for envy and many tongues for chattering slurs. It can spread a rumor that can crop up and disfigure the best character, and if the buzz is the destructive kind, it can stick to you like a nickname and your fame (and fortune) can perish. Positive hums, on the other hand, can spell celebrity.

The public can also grab hold of your outstanding failings or vulnerabilities, or some ludicrous, outlandish imperfection. It can use these potentially toxic dossiers for harmful murmurings. At times it is your spiteful adversaries who sneakily concoct these flaws. But if your reputation is managed well, you can achieve distinction and superstar or pop idol status, with the cash register loudly clinking.

The public can be mean and deliberate in opening its malicious mouth. Truly, it can annihilate a great reputation fast, maybe with a joke that spreads like wildfire or with a shameless, bold-faced lie. In this instance, you have to identify your own weaknesses, work around them, and be prepared to turn the tables on rivals — exposed or hidden — to defend or protect your own persona.

If you are an endorser, your personal reputation can cast a long shadow over the product you are promoting. Your testimony can radiate a halo over the product that can help build awareness, preference and eventual sales. Psychologically, you create a mental bond between the product and your credibility, which rationalizes why the product must be considered and bought. Thus, personal reputation is a most valuable intangible asset founded on the way you deal with your public. Trust is key in earning an admired status as a result of your good deeds — an admiration that can translate into sales and support, and in improving your flexibility and steadfastness as a person faced with challenges and opportunities.

The foundation of a strong personal reputation starts with trust in who you are (your unique persona), what you say (your key messages) and what you stand for (your beliefs). This trust is trailed by how you handle responsibility and accountability with grace and dignity, and is capped by your resiliency in leveraging good news to your favor, and withstanding bad news without major damage.

Reputation is like the weather. It exists, irrespective of whether you measure its effects. It dictates what activities and goals are realistic, and how you should package and present yourself to be believable, strong and supportable. It is prudent to check the weather before you go out, and even more helpful if you know how it is changing. So it is with reputation. The main disparity between the two is that while you cannot control the weather, you can design the course of your reputation. And that is a clear case for managing it.

You can build reputation by constantly checking your behavior, living your values, directing your roadmap, and communicating well. These elements are critical and must be carefully aligned and made consistent with each other. Behavior is the rightful starting point. And, however cleverly crafted your communication is, it will sustain a well-built reputation only if your actions against plan stand up to scrutiny. How you project yourself is crucial. Talking is worth doing when you’ve done something worthy to talk about. Issues are staples in managing your reputation. They are analogous to swirling clouds, constantly appearing and disappearing again, only to reappear in another form.

Using communication strategically to link up with your publics is vital. You must be able to effectively connect with a significant general stakeholder group or niche clusters. The interests and expectations of these audiences are sometimes in conflict, requiring you to strike a balance in what to do first and how to connect your actions to them. More often than not, it is sound advice that the two are always in tandem, with integrity and honesty in walking your talk kept intact. A good reputation built by good communication is key, but this reputation must be matched, if not exceeded, by concrete achievements. As Silvanus said, “Unhappy is the man whose reputation is greater than his work.”

Why does reputation matter? The answer is simple. It makes you well admired, which most people desire anyway, and a well-admired persona generally commands a greater following and loyalty from these followers. You face fewer risks of crisis as well if you are positively received, since your publics give you greater latitude for understanding. Public approbation commands respect, and respect can bring you stability and “winnability.”

Key in the demanding task of building and maintaining a good reputation is a clear understanding of who you really are, putting your words into action, and telling your story. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

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