An interesting post by Michael Arrington on TechCrunch today called “Reputation is Dead: It’s Time to Overlook Our Indiscretions” makes the point that in today’s on-line world, it has become impossible to defend one’s reputation, and therefore society will adapt and become more accepting of people’s questionable behavior. In response, Fred Wilson on AVC wrote a post called “How To Defend Your Reputation“, which says that reputation is still important, and that the best way to maintain a positive reputation on-line is to have enough loyal friends around to come to your defense.
In the corporate world, managing your reputation is extremely important. Success or failure often comes down to relationships, and what you can influence others to do. People in larger organizations are by definition more susceptible to having others say negative, untrue things about them, and also more negatively affected by the hit to their reputation that this causes. In a smaller business, where everyone knows everyone, this is less likely to be an issue, since anything someone says can be challenged directly if required.
Many of the points that Arrington raises apply to the corporate world. As corporations adopt social media tools, these tools can be used by the ignorant or the malicious to write things that, while untrue, do significant reputation damage. And, of course, many corporate workers participate in public social media networks as well, so the problem is not limited to internal forums.
While Arrington might be right–that indiscretions revealed on-line will become less of a big deal, even within corporations–I think it will take a long time for society to adapt in this way, and I’m not sure where the line will be in terms of what behavior will be overlooked. So, because of how vital reputation is to success within a large corporation, the best approach here is, of course, not to do anything questionable in the first place. And if you do, be proactive in coming clean, and offering a meaningful explanation.
Of course, this will not prevent those with an agenda from saying negative things about you that simply are not true. In this case, I agree with Wilson that the larger your network of “friendlies”, the more likely it is that these statements will be detected and challenged. So in the end, the solution here is nothing new: act with integrity, honesty and good character, and at the same time continuously work at building positive, deep professional relationships with as many people as possible.
