Creating A Formidable Reputation
Your reputation enters the room long before you do.
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A trait I’ve seen in some fantastic CEOs I’ve worked with?
They are fanatics about their reputation, they care deeply about it, they define it intentionally, and they guard it.
Don’t read this wrong. They are not in it for fame or vanity (well, most of them), but they understand that the power of who you are will enter the room before you ever step foot in it…and the same is true for you.
It’s very common for me to hear things from clients like, “Oh, I’m going to meet X, and I’m looking forward to potentially doing business with him - he’s known to play fair and he’s a straight shooter.”
What are people saying about *you* when you’re not in the room? Do you have a reputation that follows you around, leads from the front, and makes it seamless for people to understand your standards, what you want, how you operate, and what will meet the mark?
Off-handed comments made like the one above are powerful. It’s an aura created and solidified about themselves that opens doors, and it can make people bigger than life.
You can do that too…and it pays off in spades.
Imagine you have the opportunity to land a massive contract and the deal is mostly done before you even walk in the door. That’s the windfall of incredible reputation. People already want to do business with you - you just have to bring it home.
How does this setup happen? People of formidable reputations have personal codes of conduct and internal rules they follow, and this oozes through how others think about them.
Right now, you’re cultivating your own reputation - like it or not. Whether it is online or at your place of work, people already likely talking about you in a specific way when you’re not in the room. What do you want them to be saying, what are the perks, and - more importantly - how are you creating that?
You are bigger than allowing someone else to shape who you are.
Time to own that for yourself.
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