Take care of your character and your reputation will take care of itself…

Reputation capital is the quantitative measure of your personal brand or an entity’s reputational value. 

Reputation capital is often seen as a generated respect within the society in which the capital is generated. Your reputation is an asset that can be managed, accumulated and helps build trust. 

It’s a legitimation of a position of power and social recognition, asking a premium price for goods and services offered, a stronger willingness from stakeholders to stick to you as the brand in times of crisis, or a stronger readiness to invest in the brand.

Thus, reputation is the overall estimation in which you or your organisation is held by its internal and external stakeholders based on past actions and probability of its future behaviour. 

A reputation is formed by all your publics, not you. Take care of your character and the public and stakeholders will take care of your reputation.

You or your organisation may have a slightly different reputation with each stakeholder according to their experiences in dealing with you, or in what they have heard from others.

The two main sources of reputation are experience and information – a person’s past dealings with you and the extent and nature of their direct and indirect communication with you. 

So the only time you would need to manage reputation is when these sources deliver harmful and disruptive messages about you or your company. Reputation can therefore not really be managed but should always be upheld and maintained.

The main benefits of a good reputation are:

• Customer preference in doing business with you when other companies’ products and services are available at a similar cost and quality
• Your ability to charge a premium for products and services
• Stakeholder support f in times of controversy and crisis
• You or your organisation’s value in the financial marketplace

A favourable reputation requires more than just an effective communication effort… it requires an admirable identity and character that can be moulded through consistent performance over many years.

A US study showed there are main components of reputation used in measurement systems:

• Ethics: behaves ethically, is admirable, is worthy of respect, is trustworthy
• Employees/workplace: has talented employees, treats its people well, is an appealing workplace
• Financial performance: is financially strong, has a record of profitability, has growth prospects
• Leadership:  is a leader rather than a follower, is innovative.
• Management: is well managed, has high quality management, has a clear vision for the future
• Social responsibility: recognises social responsibilities, supports good causes
• Customer centered: cares about customers, is strongly committed to customers
• Quality: offers high quality products and services
• Reliability: stands behind its operations strategy, products and services, provides consistent service
• Emotional appeal: feel good about, is kind, is fun
• Value: provides value to people, and is good for the planet

Reputation is shaped more by operational practices than by communication practices – actions speak louder than words.

These six steps can strengthen a reputation through a stakeholder relations program:

• Conduct research to know key stakeholders better
• Assess stakeholder strengths and weaknesses, and focus on the gap between internal realities and stakeholder perceptions
• Research the main factors comprising your reputation and align them with policies, systems and programs in all functional areas. This produces a powerful re-orientation of priorities and behaviours
• Set plans to exceed stakeholder expectations

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. 

In the social realm, appearances are the barometer of almost all judgments. Your reputation will protect you in the dangerous game of appearances, distracting the probing eyes of others from knowing what you are really like, and giving you a degree of control over how the world judges you — a powerful position to be in.

A strong reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without you having to spend much energy. It can also create an aura around you that will instill respect, even fear. 

In the fighting in the North African desert during World War II, the German general Erwin Rommel had a reputation for cunning and deceptive maneuvering that struck terror into everyone who faced him. 

Even when his forces were depleted and the British tanks outnumbered him by five to one, entire cities would be evacuated at the news of his approach. 

As they say, your reputation inevitably precedes you, and if it inspires respect, a lot of your work is done for you before you arrive on the scene, or utter a single word.

How To Build A Reputation?

Take care of your character and your reputation will take care of itself

In the beginning, you must work to establish a reputation for one outstanding quality. This quality sets you apart and gets other people to talk about you, your credibility, and why they trust you. 

Focus on credibility, customer needs, alignment, meaningful differentiation, substance, listening and trust.

Then make yourself known to as many people as possible (subtly, though, take care to build slowly, and with a firm foundation), and watch as it spreads like wildfire. 

Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded. Especially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on it.

Casanova used his reputation as a great seducer to pave the way for his future conquests. Women who had heard of his powers became immensely curious, and wanted to discover for themselves what had made him so romantically successful.

Remember, you don’t really have power over your reputation – people’s opinion of you is what your reputation becomes