Over the last ten years, I have worked with many people to help them to build their reputations in some very difficult organisations. Much of what I have learned in that time has been conveyed during this series of articles. I hope that it has landed well with you and that you have begun to implement the ideas, appropriately for you and your situation.
In this last article of the series, I wanted to pull out some of the key messages which I expect you to have gleaned from what I have shared with you. I am doing this because I think they are absolutely critical to the work you are engaged in. Pay heed — they might save you a great deal of time and pain. It would be a shame for you to miss these final points and suffer the consequences in a few years’ time.
And there are only five, so I won’t keep you more than a few minutes:
- Overcome any negative attitudes you may have about reputation building. This work needs to be done if you are to reach your full potential. Leave behind the notion that your results should speak for themselves. They should, but they rarely do. Adopting a positive attitude will make building your reputation much easier and more enjoyable.
- Right now you have a major opportunity. Many of your competitors are probably focusing on the immediate priorities or problems. Applying yourself to the ideas covered in this series could put you well ahead of the game, but you need to move fast.
- Make sure that the reputation you are seeking to establish is going to be valued and respected where you want to be successful. There seems little point in building a reputation that will move you further away from those you need to work with. So, make sure that when you arrive, people will be delighted to have you.
- You absolutely must take care of the substance to back up your reputational ambitions. If you haven’t got this behind you, you are likely to be heading for a fall. Years ago, it was relatively easy to fake it, and for quite a while before being uncovered. Having strong political friends may save you for a while, but not for long.
- Codify what you do. Chances are that when you learned to do your work you applied models, frameworks and ideas devised by others. As you learn beyond them, make sure and record your own advances. These quickly demonstrate your substance and are of increasing value as people wise up to the fakers. With your intellectual property written down, you can more easily demonstrate just how good you are. Who knows, maybe one day, you too will turn your work into a book, or two.
That’s it. I’ve nothing more to say right now. Except, what are you waiting for? Go on, get on with building your reputation!
The Gautrey Influence Blog
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