All We Have to Lose is our Reputation

They say that reputation is your only asset. It can take a hundred years to show that you have integrity and can be trusted, and a moment in which it is all lost.

I learned this lesson early on in 2008, just two years after joining the storied investment bank Lehman Brothers. In a mere weekend, history swallowed all of the goodwill built over decades of thousands of people working together towards a greater vision. Then – collapse and ruin. College graduates and MBAs fought tooth and nail to be recruited into the firm. Now I can’t say the name without a self-deprecating joke.

It’s a sad state of affairs that issues of human rights need to be framed as brand management in our current political climate. It goes without saying that the Executive Order banning human beings from our country based on a difference of religion from the ruling majority is immoral, unconstitutional, and antithetical to the history of this immigrant-built country. Those who are most in need find themselves in a Kafkaesque nightmare instead of a shining city on the hill. There are too many times this has happened before, and it is heart-breaking to see it happen here. History will not be kind to those that institutionalize discrimination, and thankfully we already see our courts defending the Constitution. 

My family immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1994. We escaped a crumbling economy and flagrant abuse of state power. Only a few years before, the USSR was America’s main rival on the world stage. Every Hollywood movie had a snarling Russian villain.

And still, I landed on this soil, was welcomed, and taught American values like diversity, education, persistence, optimism, and entrepreneurship. My teachers were of every race, nationality, religion and gender, and we were one team. As a result of America's investment in me, I have worked in our enterprises, paid taxes and school tuitions, built companies, created jobs, empowered innovation, and spread America's values to others. 

This is our brand as Americans. Yes, there is the hard power of our military. But more importantly, there is the soft power of our ideas. The narratives we shape and the technologies we create empower billions of people to learn and improve the world around them. Our global leadership has been one of inspiration and grace. 

Reputation is lost in a mere moment. Can we afford to lose the privilege of the reserve currency? Or being the premier beneficiary of the brain drain? Can we afford to lose Steve Jobs, a child of Syrian refugees? Or the laborers whose hands built the country? Or the seat at the table of global governance? Can we afford to turn our eyes from atrocities when we have the power to prevent them? Can we close our doors to the people—those fleeing war and religious persecution—similar to those that founded this country? Can we treat fellow humans as bodies to be held without due process? 

It is said that history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. This dark rhyme is not for us. We cannot deal with unemployment resulting from technology by scapegoating our global partners. We cannot conduct the work of securing the nation by discarding our ideals. We cannot cheat in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, hoping to sneak a short-term win, because our reputation is our most important asset. The world is watching. 

The above view is personal and not associated with any firm or institution, and is shared in good will. Photography credit is due to the NYTimes. I welcome your thoughtful and respectful discussion, either here or on Twitter @lexsokolin.