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Recently I got the chance to catch up with Rachel Griffiths. Rachel and I have known each other since we both

studied at Loughborough University. While I moved into the world of IT, Rachel worked in public relations and

public affairs before co-founding Reputation Consultancy in 2010. Rachel also holds the Associate Certified

Coach credential from the International Coaching Federation and it’s her work on reputation that drew my

attention, not only for my professional interest in HR, but also as contributor to SCN. You’ll see why …

Hi Rachel, thanks for talking to me today. I saw you recently writing about “personal reputation”,

tell me more …People and organisations understand that reputation is important and they’re often not sure exactly what it

actually is. There are two realities around reputation; the first is that people are assessing you at any point in

time, from colleagues to friends, potential bosses and clients. It is really quite a natural process and part of 

being human. The second reality is that everyone has a reputation and no one owns their own; they can simply

influence it. Reputation cannot be faked. But manage it as an asset and you will have a greater impact,

wherever  you are. Welcome to your personal reputation; a rich and exciting ground for the contemporary

prof essional!

 So, clearly reputation is important but your point (and work) is really about trying to measure its

importance and hence, I guess, value, right?

That’s right. For a company, the intangible asset of corporate reputation is estimated to account for a third of 

its market value. It is a precious and vulnerable asset that has traditionally been protected in times of crisis

and protected through ‘risk’. Increasingly it is being viewed and valued as the asset that it is . Forward thinking

or ganisations are beginning to manage it as an asset at board level as a differentiator. Understanding how they

are being assessed and the reasons why at given point in time allows them to actively enhance their reputationamong stakeholders, not only allowing them to prevent or predict risk, but to unleash a third of their market

value and safeguard long term success. We work with global and UK based organisations who are serious

about being around for the long term and who truly wish to serve all their stakeholders. Essentially we take

their “reputation fingerprint”, allowing them to understand the emotion and behaviour of stakeholders that is

giving them their current reputation. We then work with them to unleash their internal capability through

reputation coaching across their organisational relationships, process and systems before designing significant

communications that have the specific aim of reputation change.

 I'm sure we can all relate to how a strong reputation (can I also say “brand”?) can help sell, but also

how it can help grow a company in other ways (e.g. attracting talent). At a more individual level,

how is “reputation” best explained?

Before I answer that, may I just offer some clarity on the terminology of “brand” and “reputation”? The two are

quite different. Brand is the distinct attributes that the organisation wishes to portray, from their inside world to

the stakeholders outside. Reputation is how all those with an interest in the organisation (the outside world) are

assessing the organisation on many key qualities and strengths. Brand is simply one of seven reputationstrengths on which an organisation is assessed, reputation is far broader so it is important not to confuse the

two terms.

 To an individual, personal reputation is just as valuable an asset and your ability to maximise it is often referred

to as your ‘reputation capital’. Think of it as your contemporary, real-time curriculum vitae (or “resume’ ”). It

changes by the day and the minute, each time you interact with others whether through face-to-face contact ,

via email, in social media or on the telephone. Unlike a CV, your reputation capital is anything but a

retrospective, one-dimensional look at achievements accomplished; it is a living, 360-degree picture that

indicates the person behind the achievements and provides clues as to your qualities, interests , values and

personality.

 In the same way organisations are no longer able to “fake” their reputation because of the connected world in

which we live, individuals who enhance their reputation capital are those who absolutely understand what they

are about, and both communicate and behave in a way that is consistent.

Personal Reputation - Your Greatest Asset?

Posted by Stephen Burr  in Career Center  on Mar 5, 2014 11:00:44 PM

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Stronger personal reputation for an individual ultimately allows them to be far more effective in their performance

for many reasons, including more positive relationships, a clearer sense of purpose and the ability to have more

impact both personally and professionally.

 A lot of the contributors on SCN are very active in other ways through social media; I'm guessing this

has had a big impact on people’s perception of someone’s reputation?

 Absolutely. In this digital and connected world of online content and social media, never has personal

reputation been more significant. Conversations, emotions, sentiments and values that you project unknowingly

in everyday interactions are frequently mirrored online and available for all to view, thanks to our digital lifestyles

and working practices.

 The ultimate aim of personal reputation is transparency, to be seen and understood with integrity, and to

remain open and responsive with total consistency .Think about how commonplace it is now for individuals to "Google" each other before meeting in person . Each

search reveals the reputation capital held by an incoming CEO, a prospective employee, a conference speaker 

or a potential new supplier at that moment in time and over the previous years. Blogs are an open invitation to

others into your thoughts, views and interests; a LinkedIn profile is now virtually part of professional etiquette.

 All are contributing to your reputation capital.

 Is there a risk here that a reputation can be “generated” in today’s social media world? Does it

make it easier or is it just a quicker way and all the same qualities shine through?

I don’t think it’s a ‘risk ’ Steve. The risk comes only if the reputation is ‘faked’ or ‘inauthentic’. Reputation can

certainly be generated in social media and more broadly online. Without doubt it is a powerful space to shine

and without doubt it is in the digital world where reputations are often played out and change very quickly . I was

recently in a head of communications’ office when a very negative story broke. The head had the role of 

reporting to the board on the extent to which the story was having impact on the organisation. His approach, in

terms of keeping up to speed, was not to wait for the morning’s papers to be published, but to listen to the

online conversation. Social media was one powerful channel for this, as a careful and structured approach to

“listening” showed up emotion and behaviour which offered some vital context at a time when the organisation

needed to know how to respond appropriately.

 As my example showed, social media is s imply another powerful channel through which to establish, maintain

and enhance your personal reputation. When you do choose to make use of all of the available channels

(social media, telephone calls, face to face meetings, emails, etc.), that is when you can have the most

significant impact on reputation.

So what qualities lead to a strong and positive “personal reputation”?

"Reputation" is a term increasingly used, yet rarely truly understood . Mistakenly referred to simply as "trust" or 

"personal brand", it is not a single metric, but a combination of assessments about you from those who

engage with you. Within those assessments it is the extent to which you are associated with a collection of 

qualities, strengths and attributes.

 Those individuals considered to have a high level of reputation capital have six key qualities:

1. Seen. They are visible in their role, being both confident and comfortable to show up as ‘who they are’ in

‘what they do’.

2. Understood. They know what they value and what motivates them, and craft each interaction based on

those principles. They take great care to make sure that their intentions and the motivations behind each

of their communications are clearly understood by others.

3. Different. They understand what their unique strengths are, how those strengths differ from those of 

others and they are able to project them for maximum effect.

4. Open. They are transparent and authentic in their actions and behaviour, displaying high levels of honesty

that serves to constantly build levels of trust . This creates safety for others to suggest, improve, comment

or criticise.

5. Consistent. Understanding their values, motivation and unique strengths, they effortlessly demonstrate

consistency in the language, behaviours and tone that they use. Those who work with them can predictthe nature of any interaction with them and often what the response may be.

6. Responsive. They are quick and adept to respond to others in a suitable and appropriate manner .

 These six qualities are as important offline as they are online.

I recognise those all as good qualities, some of which I know I could improve on myself. What about

other highly regarded qualities such as leadership? Is it important that others perceive qualities like

this in you?

Besides holding the above six qualities, those with strong reputational capital are perceived, by others, to

display the following seven attributes:

1. Lead. They are perceived as leading from ‘character’ and not from ‘coping’, from a place of purpose and

possibility and not from one of fear and ego . Guided by openness and inclusion, they are able to create

an ease of presence in which others can flourish .

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2. Create . They move things forward, suggesting and creating new ideas, proposals and thoughts that will

always take things a step further in the collective aim.

3. Belong. They display a strong sense of belonging and loyalty to a task or cause that is bigger than

themselves, for example, their team, their organisation or their project.

4. Care. They are perceived to be fair and caring, with an unfailing ability to hold others in unconditional

positive regard. Often with a highly developed level of emotional intelligence, they are able to consider the

position of others and empathise with them.

5. Perform.  Committed to the cause, they are strongly associated with ongoing success. Individuals can

rely on the fact that they will gather all the collect ive strength of others in order to achieve the shared

objective.

6. Deliver . In every personal interaction with others and in each task, they consistently not just meet, but

exceed expectations that others may have of them.

7. Steward. They unfailingly do the right thing (for the long term benefit of the organisation, but in line with

their personal values) and consider the longer-term effect .

 You said at the start that w e can’t own our personal reputation and “controlling” feels like the wrong

word to use. How would you describe the relationship with your personal reputation - is

"influencing" a better word to use?

Yes. Remembering that you do not own your personal reputation, an individual can influence it through their 

behaviours and interactions with others. Getting conscious and intentional about how you choose to behave

and interact is a really effective way of enhancing your personal reputation through stronger relationships with

others. Understanding exactly who is having the greatest influence on your reputation is also a key step to

enhancing it. From the individuals and teams with whom you interact to your social media channels, there are

people, channels and content that can influence your reputation.

 

So, in that regard, and given where I am posting this, a good example is SCN itself. Are

communities generally a good place to influence your reputation?

 Absolutely. Those com muni ties are a channe l for your personal reputation. Choos ing which of those communities

you are seen in, how you are understood within them , what you want to bring that is different are all part of it. As long

as you are consistent in what you do, this will help people make a cons istent asses sment of you and (assuming you

are interacting in a positive way) will enhance your reputation.

 So, now the killer question … what can each of us do to enhance our personal reputation?

The answer is actually quite simple and offers those reading this a very real opportunity of getting where they

want to be with more ease. Personal reputation is about conscious choice. Knowing what is important to you

and choosing to behave in a way that is true to that. You know when you have it right because it feels easy

and good.

 Begin by looking at the strengths and qualities that we talked about a minute a go and do an honest appraisal

of which of those are both important to you and those that present an opportunity or area of focus for you. Then

ask yourself four questions.What is my current reputation? Begin by discovering the current reputation you hold. Choose five

people from different areas of your life and ask them what you should ‘start’, ‘stop’ and ‘keep’ doing.

What is the reputation I aspire to have? Understand what your values and motivations are and what is

really important to you, then begin to explore where you do and don’t demonstrate these values, and why.

Check that your values and motivations are showing up consistently in the way you are seen in person,

online and across social media. Where are you inconsistent?

What do I wa nt to change? What will stop me? We all have negative voices that prevent us from

behaving how we really want to behave. Get to know what triggers those voices, the impact of them and

learn how to ignore them. Know what you want to change and begin to introduce everyday practices.

What qualities and strengths need most work?  Simply becoming aware of, and beginning to employ,

some of the reputational qualities and strengths that are outlined above is a good starting point.

 In the HCM world we constantly hear (and say!) “People are a company’s greatest asset”, so how

important is it to a company to have employees with strong personal reputations?That is a very easy question to answer Steve. Vitally important and this is why. People being a company’s

greatest asset has never been truer than it is today. Strong reputations are dependent on an organisation’s

external reputation being aligned with their internal reputation. Remember that nothing can be faked; the

organisation has to “be” what it tells the outside world it “is ”. Having staff who are clear about their personal

reputations and who act, work and behave in a way that is aligned to them, both personally and professionally,

simply unleashes an organisation’s entire reputation capability. Talent attract ion and talent retention are just

two of the many benefits such alignment brings.

 In a nutshell, an organisation with staff that has enhanced personal reputations will benefit from stronger 

internal relationships, greater levels of innovation and ultimately secured, long term success .

 And what can a company do about it?

Technology means an organisation can be better equipped to listen and so can develop a greater level of 

understanding. Our Reputation Tracker allows organisations to see and understand their current reputation and

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analyse it up to five years retrospectively. That brings all sorts of new intelligence to the organisation.

 Once an organisation has listened and understands its current reputation it can work internally to unleash all

the reputation capability it already holds so that it is able to understand how and where to influence reputation

from the inside, out.

When this happens, and it is aligned with organisation’s strategy, the whole organisation becomes more

effective at its very reason for being and its impact on both its internal world and the external world becomes

greater. I think we’ll see reputation forming a significant element of a CxO’s performance targets in the next 2-5

years.

 

Thanks Rachel, great to speak to you today and I appreciate you taking the time to share your views

for the SCN community.

You are very welcome Steve. We’re really passionate about personal reputation and the impact it has on an

individual and the broader organisation. It’s been nice talking to you and no doubt see you again soon, in

person and on Facebook!

 

Rachel Griffiths is partner at Reputation Consultancy, an associate certified coach specialising in leadership and

reputation, and an organisational and relationship systems coach. Rachel has spoken at international

conferences and been interviewed by both Sky News and The Guardian.

You can find both Rachel and I on Twitter: @GriffithsRachel and @BurrStephen.

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11 Comments

Like (2)

Ravi Sankar V enna Mar 6, 2014 1:13 PM

Brilliant blog Stephen.

Rachel - Your contribution to this subject is invaluable.

 Best Regards,

Ravi

Like (2)

Stephen Burr  Mar 6, 2014 1:32 PM (in response to Ravi Sankar Venna)

Many thanks Ravi, and I'll be sure to pass on your comment to Rachel.

Like (1)

 Aparajit Banik Mar 6, 2014 7:22 PM

Great to read this write up...

 All valuable words jo tted together.... Truly said Personal Reputation , ones greates t asset

Thanks for sharing..

With Great respect to Rachel and Stephen

-Aparajit!

Like (1)

Jonathan Tempest Mar 7, 2014 9:22 PM

Boils down to doing a good job for the client in my sim plistic view. What reputation I have has been

built that way.

Stephen Burr  Mar 11, 2014 9:58 A M (in response to Jonathan Tempest)

Hi Jon,

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 Certainly right ... the "doing" part is vital and can't be "faked" as Rachel s ays. Thanks for 

reading and taking the time to comm ent.

 

Stephen

Like (1)

Jon David Mar 12, 2014 9:17 PM

My key takeaway from this is Personal reputation and brand must be actively built. Doing good work

is not enough. Heads down programmers need to remember this.

 P.S:- If a tree falls in the forest and noone hears about it, it did not happen.

or If you are good at what you do, but noone knows, it did not happen.

Like (0)

Jonathan Tempest Mar 12, 2014 11:43 PM

Continuing the forest analogy. Someone has decided to employ you to chop down the tree, chances

are they'll check whether you chopped it down or not and whether it brought down another tree in the

process, which l et's say they wanted to keep. In s uch ways are reputations built and trees felled.

Like (0)

Jon David Mar 13, 2014 3:30 A M (in response to Jonathan Tempest)

 Agreed. Reputation or brand should have a solid foundation .

 I realize this is stretching the argument a bit too far. But, you want the whole community of 

employers to know about your personal reputation. In dysfunctional organizations, one

must "work it" or network actively to build reputation. I have seen too many good peopleignored, while the people who know how to yap well get ahead.

Like (0)

Jonathan Tempest Mar 13, 2014 8:43 AM

Sound advice indeed Jon for all shrinking violets.

Like (1)

Jarret Pazahanick Mar 15, 2014 6:29 AM

Just catching up on my reading after and action packed HR2014 conference and really enjoyed this.

Great job

Like (1)

Vishnu Kumar Subbarayalu Mar 16, 2014 11:22 AM

Stephen,

 What a nice blog you gave to us.

I found it hard to control analyzing myself while reading the words of Rachel.

 Thanks for giving a excellent blog that everyone should read to understand what reputation means to

them to excel in their life.

 With Best Regards,

Vishnu