Integrity vs. reputation
“It’s never too late to become the person you could have been.” -George Eliot
Reputation is how people perceive you. Integrity involves doing the right thing for the right reasons. Please don’t confuse integrity with reputation. As you develop into the person of character who is capable of influencing followers, it’s sometimes easy to get sucked into thinking that as long as your reputation is outstanding, then you’re fine. This fallacy is simply not true.
Sometimes a leader has an excellent reputation, but there is little or nothing to his character. Have you ever worked for someone who everyone thought was the most amazing person, but you knew they were different? That is a classic example of integrity and character building reputation or popularity. With good marketing, reputation can be built in the short term, but it always fails in the long run. People who are not honest to the core have a hard time finding a committed following. They may have people who stay with them for many years, but those people are usually following a paycheck, not a person. These people are not committed to the vision. In fact, deep down, they may actually dislike the job and their leader, which in turn may cause them to speak ill of your organization. This eventually destroys the false image of reputation.
The antithesis of this is when a person has tremendous integrity but their reputation has sunk. This can happen for a variety of reasons, perhaps unpopular elections or difficult situations have taken their toll on your organization. If you find yourself in this position, it is very important that you act with integrity in everything you do if you ever expect things to change… and they will. Reputation is fickle; character is enduring. The tide turns with reputation quite often. It is more volatile than the New York Stock Exchange right now. The unfortunate and harsh reality is, if this is something you can’t handle, you may want to reconsider being in a leadership position.
But if you’ve decided you can handle it and realize it comes with the territory, then the best thing to do is try to ignore it. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but you must decide who you are going to become and head boldly in that direction. Never stray from your core values when making decisions based on how it might affect your reputation or how people might see you. In the end, sincere integrity will always trump reputation.
