Thomas L. Friedman cheats on his wife
Mr. Freidman does NOT cheat on his wife, but he does write a damn good op/ed in the NY Times about how your reputation is always on.
In the article, Mr. Freidman muses about how careful he must be in reacting to ordinary situations. The world is full of critics, and they have blogs, cell phone cams w/ audio and 3500 people in their myspace friend list.
You can read the op/ed here on reputationXchange.
The article said a good many things about how “transparent” our personal and business lives have become, but his initial anecdote about his run-in with a reader in Boston’s Logan Airport, got me thinking about how important perspective is in a cultivating your reputation. Your intention maybe the best in the world and have only your clients best interest at heart, however, through the blurred lens of “perspective†your actions may be received very differently. How can we every defend our precious reputations against such things?
COMMUNICATION!
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! and then Communicate some more!
Your weekend homework is to consider, how quickly your actions, both on and off your job will affect your career, and what you would do with negative feedback.
What type of actions do you think are the most damaging?