While your reputation is, in essence, what others think of you, you have a lot of control over what influences their opinion.
As Richard Branson so aptly states, ‘All you have in life is your reputation: you may be very rich, but if you lose your good name, then you’ll never be happy. The thought will always lurk at the back of your mind that people don’t trust you.’
Your reputation comprises formal and informal factors, which we’ll discuss in more detail.
Formal Factors
Official qualifications from recognised institutions and endorsements from powerful people are formal factors that form part of your reputation. These things hone your skills.
In Outliers: The story of success by Malcolm Gladwell, he creates the 10,000 hours argument. You put a lot of time and effort into learning and developing your skills behind the scenes before you can apply them. Think about the Beatles: they played to different audiences in Hamburg around eight hours a night before they decided they were prepared to venture further afield.
While it certainly is doable to become a highly regarded leader without formal qualifications or institutional recognition, it is still the exception. In most fields, tertiary education is an important start.
Some institutions are regarded as having a higher level of recognition or value than others. That is, a business degree from Harvard, Oxford, MIT, London School of Economics, Cambridge, or INSEAD is recognised more highly than a degree from a smaller university that isn’t as well known.
Here are some examples more relevant in the Australian context:
the Australian Institute of Company Directors
the CEO Institute
CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia)
TEC (The Executive Connection)
YPO (Young Presidents Organization)
the Lowy Institute
the Business Council of Australia
Rotary
the Private Wealth Network
Informal Factors
The informal factors of your reputation are those that you establish yourself on a personal level, namely your values and actions.
As Henry Ford says, ‘You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.’ You need to establish your values and constantly maintain them through your actions.
Here are some ways to take action on your values:
Stay true to your word and do what you say you will. The best way to gain people’s trust is by being reliable and dependable.
Have a mindset of helping other people realise their potential and reach their goals. Go above and beyond thinking about yourself and your own advancement.
If you exceed people’s expectations, you will be noticed. Doing so will make you stand out as a positive role model.
Show and operate with integrity. Fight for the good and stand up against what is wrong.
Be consistent in the performance of your values. Steady and reliable behaviour leads to predictable actions.
Engage with your community by getting to know people. Be available to give back your time and resources.
Be thoughtful about your actions. Before you act, think about whether you’re proud of who you are and what you’re doing. Is what you’re doing worthy of your best self?
Take responsibility for your actions and be accountable for your mistakes and failures.
Key Takeaways
Everything you say and do in your life impacts your personal brand, and in turn, your reputation.
Some of these things we can control. The formal factors that influence your reputation include your qualification and from which institution.
The informal factors are also up to you to control, but they can be more difficult as they take continuous work to maintain. A simple slip-up can damage a reputation that has taken years to build.
A great way to maintain the informal factors of your reputation is by thinking before speaking or acting. If you wouldn’t want those words or actions to appear in a newspaper, rather don’t say or do them.
