Reputation

How important is reputation?

I have been having an internal debate about this since a conversation a few days with a guy I do some work with.  There was a comment in the midst of the conversation wherein it was said that a “reputation was on the line.”  I thought about that for a while after the chat.  I have spent a long time building my professional reputation.  It is, with some notable exceptions, generally positive.  However, I know that it would not take much for that to change.

There are plenty of examples from the press where reputations are destroyed in literally an instant.  Anthony Wiener and Elliot Spitzer come to mind.  It can also happen to companies.  AirBnb had a stellar reputation until one bad experience that was made public forced them back on their heels and into the uncomfortable position of altering their entire business model to prevent it from happening again.

If a reputation can be severely damaged overnight, how much stock should we be putting in what everyone else thinks about us?  If our value is tied up in what everyone else thinks, it seems inevitable that we will experience some fall from grace in their eyes.  The question then is how to respond when it happens.  In the case of AirBnb, they seem to have survived by taking decisive action.  The same cannot be said for Spitzer and Weiner.

We have only so much control over how we are perceived.  It seems to me that the responsibility we have is to be true to our mission and, when appropriate, take corrective action.  Most people can accept lapses in judgement.  What seems to be unacceptable is not stepping up and owning it.

How much stock do you put in your reputation?  How do you handle challenges or negative comments about you?