Day #36

Reputation

Do you know what your reputation is?

Whilst your Formal Power is held within your job title and role, your Social Authority is backed by your reputation. So what is it?

Use your sixty seconds today to write one sentence to yourself: the story of your reputation.

It’s ok: nobody will ever see this.

As you write it, consider this: does it make you proud or uncomfortable? Does it surprise you, or annoy you? Is it an easy exercise, or a difficult one?

Do you think that your reputation is global, or does everyone who knows you write it differently? Indeed: do you have one reputation or many different contextual ones?

And does it matter?

Can you be effective with a bad reputation? And does anyone actually believe that their reputation is bad? Or do we ALL think that our own one is good (even if we can see the rust or tarnish on others?).

One way to view Reputation is that it is a constant work in progress, and our work as Social Leaders is to have the humility to hear the story that is being told.