by Dr. Cecil Clements (28th February 2012)
Consider this scenario. In the Belgian city of Antwerp, a man pulls his long black coat more tightly around him to keep out the cold chill of the winter wind that blasts off the cobblestoned streets like waves crashing against the rocks. As the wind gusts, he quickly grabs his black hat to steady it on his head and ducks into the doorway of a large building. Entering a long high-ceilinged room, he loosens his coat to free his long graying beard as he walked quickly past the 2 dozen or so fraying wooden tables that lined the high-windowed wall. He greets another man dressed in a white shirt and black vest and quickly takes a seat across from him.
Small conversations ensue: how is the wife, the children? And then they begin an animated discussion to talk in a mixture of Yiddish and English. Soon one of the men takes a little black pouch from his pocket from which he removes a small paper envelope. He opens the envelope very carefully and from it he takes out diamonds, one of the world’s most valuable commodities. The other man takes out a loupe that is always present in his pocket, squints through it and examines the diamonds that are in front of him. Then they talk to each other about a price, they shake hands and the traditional final words of a deal between diamond traders – ‘Mazel u’Bracha’ – luck and blessing. With the stones in his pocket and the instruction given, which was a paper with the address of a person who would buy it, a $240,000 deal is transacted. Just on a handshake!
One would think that this is a scenario from bygone days. But it actually does happen today in the diamond trade – one of the richest economic markets known to man. The reputation of people in transacting business is still so important.
Dov Seidman in his book ‘How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life)' paints this scenario. In the chapter ‘How We Behave’ he talks about reputation. He says, “Within these closed and semi-closed circles, word of misbehavior spreads quickly. Those who cheated or betrayed a trust run a very real risk of being ostracized from their families, faith and community. Their reputations and thus their ability to transact business destroyed. In fact, this form of self-regulation is so strong, that people are very careful in doing anything to spoil their reputation. Their word is their word done with an eye to eye contact and a shake of hands."
Reputation is so important. As we look at our own world today, as we look at how we are becoming more and more a glocal (global + local) society, more and more reputation is becoming important. How do people perceive us?
I remember seeing this quote about reputation and character by John Wooden. “Be more concerned with you character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
But more and more, in today’s world where everything seems to be so open, where it is impossible to hide behind façades. More and more who you are is beginning to precede you. The gap between who you are and how people perceive you is beginning to get smaller and smaller. No longer are we able to build a reputation that doesn’t have, as a foundation, who we really are.
This then brings us to the point that I wanted us to engage with this morning. We need to be careful about our reputations and the way people perceive us. Because the way people perceive us is the way more and more business transactions are done. A good reputation builds for good trust. And trust furthers reputation. Reputation plus all the positive experience that people have, builds trust in you. But reputation that has negative experiences only cause dissonance and distraction and that brings friction into play. You build a good reputation when those who encounter you, employees, co-workers, customers, trust you.
You know that today, reputation is quantifiable. There’s something called a Reputation Quotient. In 1998, Harris Interactive, a mega corporate and public interest research firm, in association with Charles Fibrin, who was Executive Director of the Reputation Institute at the Stern School of Business at New York University, designed the Reputation Quotient. Today, there’s a reputation tool that captures perceptions of corporate reputations. They published an annual list of 60 most visible companies ranked by reputation.
What do you bring to your companies today? Do you bring a good reputation? Do people in the market place, who deal with you and your company, deal with you because you have a good reputation? What’s your value to your company?
In the Bible, there’s a section on Proverbs – just wonderful pithy short sayings. One of them is: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
As we think, so we are. Who you are, is how you will behave. How you behave is what your reputation is built on. Your reputation is what precedes you in this ‘glocal’ community that we live in.
Warren Buffet, world-famous financier, says, “Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
More and more, companies are beginning to realize that reputation is so important in the way businesses are transacted. Today you can even quantify it numerically. Researchers did a test on eBay. They found that people were willing to pay 8.5% more to a seller with a good reputation than to a seller without one, for the same merchandise.
Dov Seidman says, “The presence of positive reputation, like trust, used to be a soft thing that we took for granted. But new conditions in the world have suddenly rendered it hard.” He asks this question. “Who among us couldn’t do with an 8% raise or an 8% premium for whatever we are selling?”
Reputation – it’s so important for you and for me. So I stand with you as I ask this question of all of us. How is your reputation? What are people saying about you? Do you have a good image? Are you trustworthy? Are you a man or a woman of your word? Maybe this morning you are saying, I could change something about my reputation. I think the way to do it would be to change who we are from the inside. Change with better values because then we will think differently. As we think differently, we will act differently. As we act differently, then we get better reputations.
A word to the wise – Reputation does count. Let’s do something about it.
God Bless Us All.
Resources
Consider this scenario. In the Belgian city of Antwerp, a man pulls his long black coat more tightly around him to keep out the cold chill of the winter wind that blasts off the cobblestoned streets like waves crashing against the rocks. As the wind gusts, he quickly grabs his black hat to steady it on his head and ducks into the doorway of a large building. Entering a long high-ceilinged room, he loosens his coat to free his long graying beard as he walked quickly past the 2 dozen or so fraying wooden tables that lined the high-windowed wall. He greets another man dressed in a white shirt and black vest and quickly takes a seat across from him.
Small conversations ensue: how is the wife, the children? And then they begin an animated discussion to talk in a mixture of Yiddish and English. Soon one of the men takes a little black pouch from his pocket from which he removes a small paper envelope. He opens the envelope very carefully and from it he takes out diamonds, one of the world’s most valuable commodities. The other man takes out a loupe that is always present in his pocket, squints through it and examines the diamonds that are in front of him. Then they talk to each other about a price, they shake hands and the traditional final words of a deal between diamond traders – ‘Mazel u’Bracha’ – luck and blessing. With the stones in his pocket and the instruction given, which was a paper with the address of a person who would buy it, a $240,000 deal is transacted. Just on a handshake!
One would think that this is a scenario from bygone days. But it actually does happen today in the diamond trade – one of the richest economic markets known to man. The reputation of people in transacting business is still so important.
Dov Seidman in his book ‘How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life)' paints this scenario. In the chapter ‘How We Behave’ he talks about reputation. He says, “Within these closed and semi-closed circles, word of misbehavior spreads quickly. Those who cheated or betrayed a trust run a very real risk of being ostracized from their families, faith and community. Their reputations and thus their ability to transact business destroyed. In fact, this form of self-regulation is so strong, that people are very careful in doing anything to spoil their reputation. Their word is their word done with an eye to eye contact and a shake of hands."
Reputation is so important. As we look at our own world today, as we look at how we are becoming more and more a glocal (global + local) society, more and more reputation is becoming important. How do people perceive us?
I remember seeing this quote about reputation and character by John Wooden. “Be more concerned with you character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
But more and more, in today’s world where everything seems to be so open, where it is impossible to hide behind façades. More and more who you are is beginning to precede you. The gap between who you are and how people perceive you is beginning to get smaller and smaller. No longer are we able to build a reputation that doesn’t have, as a foundation, who we really are.
This then brings us to the point that I wanted us to engage with this morning. We need to be careful about our reputations and the way people perceive us. Because the way people perceive us is the way more and more business transactions are done. A good reputation builds for good trust. And trust furthers reputation. Reputation plus all the positive experience that people have, builds trust in you. But reputation that has negative experiences only cause dissonance and distraction and that brings friction into play. You build a good reputation when those who encounter you, employees, co-workers, customers, trust you.
You know that today, reputation is quantifiable. There’s something called a Reputation Quotient. In 1998, Harris Interactive, a mega corporate and public interest research firm, in association with Charles Fibrin, who was Executive Director of the Reputation Institute at the Stern School of Business at New York University, designed the Reputation Quotient. Today, there’s a reputation tool that captures perceptions of corporate reputations. They published an annual list of 60 most visible companies ranked by reputation.
What do you bring to your companies today? Do you bring a good reputation? Do people in the market place, who deal with you and your company, deal with you because you have a good reputation? What’s your value to your company?
In the Bible, there’s a section on Proverbs – just wonderful pithy short sayings. One of them is: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
As we think, so we are. Who you are, is how you will behave. How you behave is what your reputation is built on. Your reputation is what precedes you in this ‘glocal’ community that we live in.
Warren Buffet, world-famous financier, says, “Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
More and more, companies are beginning to realize that reputation is so important in the way businesses are transacted. Today you can even quantify it numerically. Researchers did a test on eBay. They found that people were willing to pay 8.5% more to a seller with a good reputation than to a seller without one, for the same merchandise.
Dov Seidman says, “The presence of positive reputation, like trust, used to be a soft thing that we took for granted. But new conditions in the world have suddenly rendered it hard.” He asks this question. “Who among us couldn’t do with an 8% raise or an 8% premium for whatever we are selling?”
Reputation – it’s so important for you and for me. So I stand with you as I ask this question of all of us. How is your reputation? What are people saying about you? Do you have a good image? Are you trustworthy? Are you a man or a woman of your word? Maybe this morning you are saying, I could change something about my reputation. I think the way to do it would be to change who we are from the inside. Change with better values because then we will think differently. As we think differently, we will act differently. As we act differently, then we get better reputations.
A word to the wise – Reputation does count. Let’s do something about it.
God Bless Us All.
Resources
- Read about Dov Seidman on LRN
- More information on John Wooded on Wikipedia
- Link to the Reputation Institute
- Book of Proverbs
- Other quotes by Warren Buffet
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