Your reputation certainly does precede you. But is yours a good reputation or a bad one? It’s not like most people are going to come out and have the gall to really tell you the truth.
Whether you realize it or not, you form a reputation based on your actions, or inactions, on a daily basis. When you forgot to say hi to Sally at the water cooler today, you may have just altered your reputation. Winning big on your latest project could do the same thing.
Over time people will all form their own opinions of you. The hard part of being a leader is that you can’t always make everyone happy, but you want to at least be respected. And in order to be respected and have a positive reputation, you have to be consistent.
The best way to form a good reputation is indeed consistently. Whether it’s the fact that you always speak to everyone you come in contact with, always are in a good mood, or always produce excellent results, you have to be consistent every day.
People don’t like a loose cannon in charge of things. Human beings are creatures of ritual, and they like to be able to know what to expect every day. So with you being their leader, they want to know that every day you are the same approachable, decision making rock that you always are.
The key here is to not start off on the wrong foot. No matter how funny you think that your jokes are or how great a personality you think you have, it’s best to test the waters before you go and insult anyone unintentionally. Sort of ease into things by being friendly and asking a lot of questions.
If you are stuck and already have a bad reputation, have no fear. These sort of things can be fixed, it’s just not easy. People have to see that you have changed for the better, and you just have to convince them. A little patience will certainly pay off, as it takes much longer to change your reputation than to create one.
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