PEr Chronicles: To have real impact, build reputation capital

Hare Jordan. Nike’s limited-edition release for the Year of the Rabbit is in line with rabbit sneakers from Adidas, New Balance, Vans, Gucci, Givenchy and Ferragamo. Watchmakers like Chopard, Dior, Tag Heuer, Piaget, Breguet and Blancpain created special edition timepieces adorned by the zodiac animal.

If 2022 felt fast, hard or busy, the Year of the Rabbit 2023 should offer downtime from the impact of the “fierce, strong and powerful” tiger. A Chinese idiom points out that “a crafty rabbit has three burrows.” This implies that the rabbit is good at adapting to the environment and can move very quickly, allowing it to protect itself during times of danger.

The trademark of my personal career so far has been negotiating change – change that, at the time, was not planned for. I can recall a number of bonehead decisions I made (and there were quite a few of them). I put myself on the verge of going broke four times in my life, mostly when I was young and just starting out. Looking back, I recognize that I was hasty, impetuous and often guilty of jumping to conclusions. I’ve suffered job loss when I least expected it and navigated the sharp edges of starting a small consultancy business from scratch. In each transition, there have been no safety nets.

In some ways the biggest question of our time is: How do I remain relevant in a rapidly changing world and workplace?

Some say the answer is education; others say it is being adaptable and resilient. As with most things in life, maybe the answer is more complex.

Our role in this wide world of change is to remain upbeat, to retain social connections, to hone skills, to scan the horizon for opportunities.

A Harvard lecturer once said that “the only stable part of leadership is knowing who you are.” In a new way of working, where we have less opportunity to network and less visibility with colleagues, the reality is, it’s not enough simply to know who we are – we need others to know too. It starts with building reputation capital, because this is the new measure of trust.

More hiring decisions will be made without us in the room or on Zoom. What people say about is when we’re not present is now a career make-or-break. Background checks will gravitate around three elements that make up the DNA of trust: character (how much does this person care about my interest?), competency (does this person have the skills and resources to deliver?) and consistency (will this person behave dependably?)

Our reputation will have a far greater real-world value. We’re already recommended on LinkedIn. A testimonial from a high-ranking director from Deloitte will still bring potent influence, but a sincere recommendation from a smaller business with its own highly trusted reputation could potentially carry almost as much weight. Our real-world presence will need to align with our online narrative.

We simply cannot expect a manager or client to have confidence in us if we cannot communicate our skill-set and describe how we create value, and establish trust remotely.

Try to acknowledge the possibility that you are not as smart as you might think you are. If you think yourself as too smart, you will probably make some mistakes you could otherwise avoid. You may need your coworkers friendship someday, but you could lose it in an instant by being too overbearing, cocky or arrogant. A little humility will go a long way. I never knew anyone who learned anything by listening to himself talk.