Insight
Protecting a Reputation
Foundational principles to work + live by
Every name has a story. It is either a cherished asset or cumbersome liability. Just a few words can evoke meaning, emotion, understanding, association and significance—in other words, brand equity. Despite being intangible, an esteemed name is one of the most precious resources we can acquire.
Whether you know it as legacy development, brand building, image consulting, executive coaching or perception planning, reputation management is among the most critical practices for any individual or organization today. While there are many facets to the discipline, below we will share some foundational principles for identifying and protecting your desired reputation, whether personal or corporate.
Developing a “good name” is a deliberate, long-term endeavor that is grounded in three essential components:
The truth is, building a respected brand reputation is not an external-first, contrived or manufactured process, as we are often led to believe. It instead starts with substance and integrity. Much like how good public relations doesn’t begin with perception—but principles—a name that is revered is, at its core, about authenticity and character. Building on that foundation, we can then leverage best practices to bolster its strength.
Of course, any journey begins with identifying the destination. But in the case of determining a desired reputation, it should be more than compiling a list of attributes and accomplishments. Rather, what is the overarching narrative we aim to create; what meaningful impact will we or our organization have made; and what will live beyond us because of our decisions, effort and focus?
Reputation management must begin with an honest, thorough assessment of our reputational goals in order to orient us and guide every choice that we will make from now on.
For consideration:
You’ve likely heard the famous Mark Zuckerberg mantra, “move fast and break things,” which he touted at Facebook while designing and developing technology to beat the competition. That motto may work for some segments of the start-up sector, but when it comes to building and managing a reputation, we should heed the exact opposite advice and instead move slowly and protect things.
Policies, procedures and disciplines that have built-in guardrails, margin, boundaries, and checks and balances are essential to avoiding personal and organizational pitfalls. As the saying goes, “you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” so avoid hasty decisions and actions, and guard your reputation with wisdom and thoughtfulness.
For consideration:
No one wakes up and decides, “I’m going to ruin my reputation today!” And yet it happens all the time—avoidable decisions and situations eventually lead to a leader’s or organization’s downfall. It often starts with a few minor choices that are not in alignment with the ultimate reputational goal. These incidents may be fairly harmless in the moment, but too often they grow into a pattern of poor decisions with increasingly harmful consequences.
Therefore, an important aspect of brand reputation management is constant evaluation and course correction. Beware of any slight drift in personal or brand discipline; even if something seems relatively benign, a few degrees headed in the wrong direction will—over time—put you significantly off course and at an entirely different destination.
For consideration:
With our own personal news outlets in each of our pockets (via smartphones and social media), nearly everything today is recorded and online. Videos, audio recordings, photos and screenshots of images, posts, texts, emails and direct messages—everything has the potential to live forever. The reality of our modern era is that nothing should be considered private; therefore, we must all assume that if we said it, wrote it or posted it, it is or could be in the public domain.
There are no communication silos anymore. As a leader or an organization, everything you are doing and saying is “on the record” for the court of public opinion.
For consideration:
Often someone will ask us, “In all your years of seeing leaders and organizations in crisis situations, is there a common cautionary tale?” Our answer is one word that captures the root of most problems: isolation. When leaders do not have consistent, uninhibited transparency and accountability in their lives, they become a breeding ground for poor judgment and moral failure.
Surrounded by “yes” people who are afraid to speak the truth, isolated leaders can’t see reality clearly, facilitating blind spots. In our experience, almost everything in the shadows will eventually find its way into the light (a public crisis). Therefore, invite trustworthy, wise, peer-level individuals to know and speak freely into practically every aspect of your life. And on an organizational level, ensure the board is filled with faithful and independent members who challenge, ask tough questions and assess everything in light of the vision, mission and values.
For consideration:
It’s important to realize that most public relations problems are actually management (personal or organizational) problems that have become public. We should consider this fact in light of reputation management for two reasons:
First, understanding this reality should shape the development of postures, policies and practices (the “three Ps”) on everything—internally and externally.
Second, when a public incident or crisis takes place, your first move should be to look at these three Ps to see what failed and how you can fix it. Furthermore, the public will judge you based on your three Ps and no amount of PR can change this. Crisis communication is typically just communication about those three Ps; they should always be your offense, but will end up being your defense as well.
For consideration:
No individual or organization is immune to mistakes and self-inflicted problems, but how we handle a misstep is often the differentiator in the long-term impact and level of damage. People admire those who own their errors and take genuine steps to correct them. At some point you will likely fail to deliver on your reputational promise, but your response—in the form of taking responsibility, offering a genuine apology, making amends and taking steps to ensure it does not happen again—may regain, or even deepen, the trust and loyalty of your audience.
For consideration:
Everyone and every company has a reputation. What that is, is determined by how intentional we are at identifying, building and protecting it. With the above principles in mind, we are better prepared to take clear, intentional and consistent steps to create a personal legacy or public brand that is admired, influential and a reflection of our core values.
Want to know where your brand stands publicly? Learn more about our brand reputation monitoring capabilities.