The difference between PERSONAL REPUTATION and PERSONAL BRANDING I didn’t know at 25

We often read articles who use the words "Reputation" and "Personal Brand" as if they are one and the same.

But is this really the case? In academic literature, marketing magazines and in business, Brand and Reputation, though strongly linked to one another and radically upset by the advent of the Internet, are two different concepts.

Theory and technicalities? Better having a useful distinction

I don't like to dwell too much on theory and definitions, but I have come to understand that a few well balanced distinctions can be of help to those reflecting on their work and careers. This is exactly the case when it comes to the distinction between Personal Brand and Personal Reputation.

In fact the typical distinction we mostly read would be to think of Personal Brand as the story you actively tell the world, while Personal Reputation is the story the world tells about you. I don’t really find it useful and modern at all. Also because in the post social media era the conversation is the Brand!

In an attempt to boil the concepts down to their constituent parts to get to something USEFUL, we could say that:

• Personal Brand is about influence and constitutes a strategy one could define as a form of an "attack" on the market, to, for example, seize a once in a lifetime job opportunity or a big client.
• Personal Reputation, on the other hand, is more about the approval of others. Managing reputation is, in fact, typically more "defensive".

In fact, there are people who have excellent Personal Brands but so-so reputations, especially when it comes to the (larger) public option.

On the other hand, many workers might have good reputations (hopefully) but poor Personal Brands positioning them as mere commodities to customers and / or colleagues and / or managers.

Reputation: Defend it!

Reputation is a much discussed concept in the realm of sociology. Simply put in that realm reputation regards our role within the society, community, enterprise, team or industry to which we belong. Having a good reputation means to be considered a "good" person or “worker” – one who shares certain values, ethics or skills in a certain environment. In a work context, for example, you might be regarded as a “good skilled professional always doing a good job”.

Reputation must be managed very carefully, as it generally – at least hopefully – determines your ability to develop an effective Personal Brand. For many of us today, our reputations can be influenced by our online presence and are still closely linked to our own Personal Brands.

Personal Brand means Influence

Personal Brands are all about our ability to influence those who interest us professionally. We can use our Personal Brands to affect their opinion of us or make them choose us over others.

Consequently, Personal Branding can be seen as a proactive “attack on the market”, one that aims to ensure we are regarded as being the right person by our audience in order to get an important "job" done. The emphasis is on controlling the professional image we want to project and strategically managing impressions. We want to be considered as the solution to the problems of our potential customers or employers - and to all those we want to attract.

Why is this distinction useful?

Returning to my initial observation, each professional needs to ask themselves this very, very important question:

"Am I considered 'only' a good person / good professional by a large group of people, or am I considered the right professional by the people I am interested in influencing?

I wish I knew this distinction at the beginning of my career: so much focus on doing things properly, so little on making sure people knew about it

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Great Personal Brand, Bad Reputation

I have always been struck by a scene from Tony Gilroy's film "Michael Clayton". George Clooney (Michael) is abruptly asked by Walter, a colleague in a large law firm, to help one of Walter’s biggest clients, a Mr Greer - pictured below, who needs urgent help to solve major problem:

Michael Clayton: I don't know what Walter promised you but...

Mr. Greer: A miracle worker. That's Walter on the phone twenty minutes ago. Direct quote, okay, "Hang tight, I'm sending you a miracle worker."

Michael Clayton: Well he misspoke.

Mr. Greer: About what? That you're the firm’s fixer? Or that you're any good at it?

Michael Clayton:… I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor. The math on this is simple. The smaller the mess the easier it is for me to clean up.

Michael might have a bad reputation but he has an excellent Personal Brand!

Fortunately, reputation is usually "conditio sine qua non" - an indispensable condition. But that's not always the case...

Do you know anyone who has a bad Reputation, but a great Personal Brand?