Do People Know You Care; Public Judgment Errors; Comfort or Growth and Staying Out of the Dangerous Gray Area
Relationships, Premature Judgment, Personal Development and Rejecting the Gray
Do you want respect, buy-in, followership and loyalty? Do you want a reputation that attracts, or is a repellent?
“The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring. The best leaders in any profession care about the people they lead, and the people who are being led know when the caring is genuine and when it’s faked or not there at all.”
The late Dean Smith
2-time national champion coach at the University of North Carolina
Student athletes achieved a graduation rate of 96.6%
Michael Jordan’s college coach
Member: Basketball Hall of Fame and College Basketball Hall of Fame
Many of Smith’s former players revered him years after they played for him, calling him “Coach Smith” in a tone that echoed respect and appreciation. Smith didn’t just coach them, he built relationships with his players that stood the test of time.
He recognized and valued them as individuals and people and didn’t just see them as a temporary means to an end (winning) while they were college students. His reputation for humanity and compassion was strong, with them and in society as an advocate.
All leaders can choose this approach, benefit others and yes, benefit themselves too by how they will be experienced and judged (favorably).
“Public condemnation, even in the absence of evidence, can be enough to damage a life… There is no court of appeals if the offending party believes (he/she) was wrongly or unfairly accused.”
Pamela Paul
Opinion columnist
New York Times
Jumping to conclusions is human nature. We’ve likely all done so, at least once, and later learned our perceptions and judgment weren’t accurate. Maybe we felt poorly afterward and apologized, maybe we didn’t.
Damage gets done to people and pain inflicted, sometimes at least, that was not deserving. Patience, humility, curiosity and conducting research, even if it needs to be done immediately, in a moment where judgment is easy might be a better approach.
Comfort centric vs. growth centric
We often hear about this when it comes to success, yet what about when it comes to constant character building, relationship building and how it impacts our reputation, professional and personal?
Growth centric is the challenging, hard road, and the better one, for what we will most appreciate in our relationships, reputation, success and legacy.
How we conduct ourselves professionally matters, not only for whom we work with but really, ourselves, because how we are perceived and judged is our reputation. Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway talked about how he views ethics, conduct (personal governance) and compliance.
“Lose money and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
Being “ruthless” is somewhat vague because Buffett didn’t elaborate but we can assume he wasn’t overstating his fury and intent. That’s extreme and not necessarily admirable yet he gets the message across: you’ve been warned.
Is Buffett overreacting in a controlling nature, oversized ego and out-of-control anger or is he wise and merely stressing how critically important that personal and organizational governance is by always doing the right thing?
He clearly knows just how much ethical decisions and behavior affect perception and reputation with investors and media, and how it acts as either a respected calling card or devastation for the Berkshire Hathaway business.
Buffett has learned something invaluable and he believes and stresses that the company, as individuals and a team, can achieve satisfactory and impressive financial goals without wading into impropriety.
“I don't want anything around the lines,” he says he communicates to his partners and employees. “I tell them there is plenty of money to be made in the center of the court.”
As long as the executives model this demand, the people underneath them need to do the same. Everyone benefits when everyone meets the ethical standard in practice.
Reputation Notes is written by Michael Toebe, founder and specialist of Reputation Quality, a practice serving successful individuals and organizations, helping them further build reputation as an asset, or when necessary, ethically protecting, restoring or reconstructing its health and strength.