Reputation is Also About the “How”

This Red Diamonds Features issue examines the important question of reputation and what it also consists of, what makes it what it is. Is it solely success as the world defines it or is it the “how” that matters, or both?

Six wise voices have reached out with their viewpoints on the topic.

The question posed today in this piece is inspired from a quote from writer and novelist Joseph Conrad (1857–1924):

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

What does that mean to you? Is reputation at least partially, if not significantly, relationship driven?

That’s the question the professionals below answer in this “Best Of” feature.

Delphine Cordié
Business Coach and Change Expert
DCC Coaching

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

This is true as a general rule.

However, there are key nuances when we start diving into how reputation is built, especially looking at where one is in their career and leadership journey.

In the earlier hours of a career, achievement is predominant in building a reputation. It’s the building skills phase of a professional journey and people will form opinions primarily based on what is delivered.

As leaders grow into executive roles, manners start to matter more than the rest. Indeed those roles are to lead, not do. People remember how leaders made them feel much more than their leader’s achievement.

So yes, manner and achievement matter, just at different levels depending on where one is on its leadership journey.

Terry B. McDougall
Executive and Career Coach
Terry B. McDougall Coaching

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

It matters how one gets results.

As a leader it is critical to leverage and care for the resources with which you are entrusted in a way that preserves and strengthens those resources.

For example, a leader can bully and abuse or lead and inspire their staff to meet the organization’s goals.

Someone who is strictly looking at the results won’t know which approach was used, but clearly leaders who inspire will develop a positive reputation that will ensure that the staff sticks around and give their best over the long haul.

Conversely, results delivered by a bully are not sustainable over the long term because people will leave or avoid working on their teams as word of their reputation gets around.

In other words, it matters not only what you do, but how you do it.

Christine Matzen
Leadership Development and Strategy
Founder of Oak Street Strategies, LLC

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

This quote is an important reminder to leaders that the way that you win is as important as winning itself, that the manner of your character will define your reputation.

The way that you conduct yourself in everything that you do and the way you treat others in every aspect of your life will determine your character and reputation. Are you the leader who treats people with respect and is true to your word?

These factors will inspire loyalty and trust and are far more important than pure achievement.

The win at all cost leader may be known for winning but the reputation that they build may be one that they cannot shake easily.

Although achievement is incredibly important for success, often the true measure of a leader is how they deal with the hard calls. How do they treat others during times of distress?

Do they blame others for failure or mistakes or do they take full responsibility and inspire their team to face the next challenge that comes head on?

In leadership it is important to define yourself daily to know who you are and what you stand for. Then to exemplify those standards in everything that you do.

Emily Letran
Dr. Emily
High Performance Leadership and Coach
and CEO, Exceptional Leverage, Inc.

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

I believe a reputation is defined based on your values and ethics. These pillars dictate your actions. Your manner, whether in business or life, shows the kind of person you truly are.

We all know stories of the executive who got promoted but disliked by his team, the successful boss who is miserable at home because he is so disconnected with the family, and the director who’s got no professional manner because he stepped on others to get to his goals.

This is also reflected on how a successful person may treat others and carry himself a certain way when no one knows of his special identity or ranking.

The manner truly defines the reputation and should be taken into consideration as much as the achievements.

It is, therefore, very important that we live our lives in a great “manner.”

Stuart Doughty
Personal Development Mentor

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

Who we are being and the way in which we relate to the people we are leading is far more important in the perception of others than what we have achieved.

While achievement is a significant indicator of our potential in accomplishing objectives, it does not reveal much about what we are like as a leader, and whether we are the kind of person others want to work with, and be led by.

Our achievements may stand as a legacy of our professional work, but they are not what people say about us or remember us for.

How we treat others, and the impression we leave them with, ultimately determines our reputation.

It’s how we make them feel, not what we accomplished together that matters most in the eyes of the people we lead and work with.

Aaron Sternlicht
Addiction Specialist and Recovery Coaching Specialist
Lin & Aaron Coaching, LLC

“As a general rule, reputation is built on manner as much as achievement.”

An individual’s reputation is comprised of many facets such as their character, morals and values, appearance, actions, and accomplishments.

Reputations are often subjective in that certain characteristics may be more meaningful for some than others, and therefore reputations of a single individual can vary greatly.

In this way, reputations live a life apart from you in that, while you may give birth to them, they ultimately are a mental construct determined by others.

It is one thing to build a reputation, and another thing to maintain it. All too often individuals are able to build a positive reputation only to be tarnished by one poor decision.

As Conrad eloquently points out, we can have the greatest achievements but our manners are often viewed as of equal importance, if not greater.

Poor manners can easily tarnish a reputation that is built on the greatest of achievements.

Michael Toebe is a specialist for reputation, professional relationships communication and wiser crisis management. He is the writer and publisher of the Red Diamonds Newsletter, a weekly publication on Medium on communication, decision making, behavior, conflict, professional relationships, courage and resilience, and reputation and crisis. He also writes and publishes Red Diamonds Features and hosts the Red Diamonds Podcast with the Michael Toebe.