What are you known for?

Perceptions of others, the dangers of "buts," and looking beyond reputation...

Imagine you have 150,000 troops at your command and you need to capture a small city where the gate is wide open and you only see one man dressed in religious robes on the city wall playing a lute.

What do you do?

During China’s War of the Three Kingdoms, the great general Chuko Liang had sent his army away to a distant camp while he remained behind in a small city with only a few soldiers. 

Scouts arrived with news that an army of 150,000 troops, led by his rival Sima Yi was marching toward the city and would arrive soon.

Liang ordered all of the flags taken down, the gates to be opened, and the men to hide. He then went to the most visible part of the city gate dressed in a Taoist robe and began to strum his lute and chant. 

Soon an army of endless soldiers was at the gates with Sima Yi out front. He immediately recognized Liang. The soldiers were ready to lay siege to the unprotected city.

Sima Yi studied his enemy on the wall and ordered an immediate and speedy retreat.

This is the power of reputation.

Liang was known as the sleeping dragon. He had won many battles through careful planning and clever tactics and when Sima Yi saw him on the wall with the city gate left open, he immediately sensed a trap.

On that day, Liang’s reputation saved his life. 

The question for each of us to consider is — what are you known for?

What they say behind your back (or in anonymous feedback)

Whether you like it or not, your reputation is based on perception. It’s what others say about you when you’re not around or what they say directly to you when you ask for anonymous feedback.

Think about your relationship with different companies.

• Do you trust their ad?

• Do you trust 1,324 five star reviews from strangers on Amazon?

• Do you trust your best friend’s review?

• Do you trust your own experience?

Personal reputation is not so different. People run their mouth the way companies run ads. They say and project the things they want to be known for. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, especially near the beginning as you establish yourself. But as people get to know you better, the ads have less impact. Now they’re working with their own perceptions and the perceptions of mutual friends and colleagues. 

You might be running personal ads that say, “look at how hard I work.”

But your colleagues may have weeks, months, or years of personal experiences that contradict the ad you’re running. Their perception is different from the ad.

This is why companies hold focus groups and send endless surveys. They want to know their brand reputation.

What if we did the same thing for our personal reputation?

Would it be worth knowing how people around you saw you?

I did a very low-stakes fun activity in several different settings recently called the Johari Window. You choose six words from a list to describe yourself and then share the link with others and have them describe you in their own six words. The site then shows you where you overlap and where others see you differently. It’s a simple pulse check on how others see you.

Look, you’ll never be able to control perceptions. You can only control your actions. Decide who you want to be, what you want to be known for, and then act accordingly. 

At the very least, your perception of yourself will begin to resonate internally. 

More precious than gold

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. 

Proverbs 22:1

In 2004, Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway acquired McLane Distribution (a $23 billion dollar company) from Wal-Mart. An acquisition of that size could take months or even years and cost millions in accountant, attorney, and auditor fees to verify all of the facts in the deal. Instead, the deal was made in a two-hour meeting and was made official less than one month later. In his annual report letter that year, Buffet said, “We did no due-diligence. We knew everything would be exactly as Wal-Mart said it would be—and it was.”

Just as valuable as a good name is the negative impact of a well known poor character trait. As we consider what we are known for, it is worth looking for our “but.”

“But’s” are deal breakers, career killers, and relationship enders. They are the character flaw that makes people think twice about you.

Have you ever said something really nice about someone and then said “but?”

It looks like this…

Allen Iverson was one of the greatest basketball players of his time.

But he had ongoing run-ins with law.

But he couldn’t be bothered with things like practice.

But he wasn’t a great influence in the locker room.

As you try to cultivate your reputation for positive traits, keep an eye out for the “but” that might be lurking in the shadows.

Look beyond reputation

I know. I just told you how important reputation is and how much energy you should put into carefully creating the reputation you want. You should. 

And….

You should be careful when judging others solely on reputation. How often have you judged someone based entirely on reputation? This week, as I thought about this question, I realized I do it more than I would like.

It’s good to be mindful of someone’s reputation and at the same time allow them the opportunity to change instead of keeping them boxed in forever.