Consistency, both offline and online, is key to curating your reputation and letting people know what you stand for.
Being authentic is essential to building your reputation and involves aligning your intended reputation with how others perceive you, demonstrating your values and qualities consistently.
Deep dives
Defining Reputation and Managing It
Reputation is defined as the echo that precedes you into a room and the echo that remains after you leave. It is like currency, working for you even before you enter a room. Building a great reputation involves being conscious of how you enter a room, making good first impressions, being present and attentive in conversations, and consistently showing up as your true self. Consistency, both offline and online, is key to curating your reputation and letting people know what you stand for.
Creating an Authentic and Trustworthy Reputation
Being authentic is essential to building your reputation. Your reputation is defined by others, so it's important to align your intended reputation with how others perceive you. To demonstrate your values and qualities, it's crucial to be consistent and mindful. Strategic actions such as setting alarms to be punctual can help change negative reputations. Developing trust is also vital for reputation management. Transparency, empathy, commitment, and expertise are the pillars of trust. Building trust involves being open, accountable, and solving problems while balancing warmth and competence.
Elements of Successful Communication for Reputation Management
Successful communication for reputation management requires understanding your audience, clarifying your intent, and delivering a clear message. Knowing your audience helps you tailor your message effectively and connect with them. Defining your intent, whether it is to entertain, inform, persuade, or fundraise, ensures that your message is coherent and impactful. Craft your message clearly and succinctly, repeating it to create a memorable impact. Aim, audience, intent, and message are the three ingredients for successful communication.
How others perceive us in person and via social media can impact our careers and social standing. But we can build the reputation we want through conscious communication. On this podcast episode, strategic communication lecturers Matt Abrahams and Allison Kluger share techniques on effectively improving and managing your reputation.