Damaging Your Reputation and Going Down with the Ship

Knowing what not to do when in a conflict or crisis of reputation

There might be a time in life when we, as individuals and sometimes, organizations, are going to unintentionally — or recklessly and arrogantly — damage, maybe badly, trust, reputation and relationship. That’s an uncomfortable or painful place to end up.

The consequences or punishment may become extreme.

That’s not error number one — that already happened — but it is when the issue becomes “real” for us. What we want to do if we’re smart and willing to be impressively responsive is responsibly, ethically mitigate the situation and invest ourselves in thoroughly managing and solving, if possible, the conflict or crisis.

It may be a relatively simple task or it may prove to be complex and frustratingly slow, challenging and dangerous. Be prepared. Be resilient and courageous. Accept the assignment. It may not be one you want to tackle. It is one you should however and honestly, it’s one you need to focus on now and work through wisely and skillfully and likely, for the best outcome, with professional assistance.

Where people do more extensive damage to trust, relationship and reputation is when in a state of heightened conflict or crisis, they double down by hiding, getting defensive and arrogant, denying or minimizing what happened, pointing fingers at others and flexing their ego. This is not dumb. It is the behavior someone who is going to make their lives exponentially harder with extreme costs.